I teach ‘Sustainability’ every day, and as the days go by, I’m learning more and more that there are certain life laws that carry through across disciplines and industries. Almost everything I teach in one industry can be generalised and applied to another, no matter how different they are. Additionally, the principles of business that have become so entrenched in how enterprise functions are starting to form the very foundations of how sustainability works as well. This is why I think the business world and sustainability are truly a match made in heaven.
YES, we have been a bit greedy as a species. As a collective, we remind me of my late dog. (R.I.P.). She was a beautiful black Labrador, had a face that you could never get angry with. If she was left in the house and there was even a slight opportunity to get to food, she would find it and she wouldn’t stop eating until she was physically incapable of moving. It worries me that she never learned her lesson and maybe people won’t either. That’s been the human race for the past few decades now. Gorging on growth, growth, and more growth until there’s very little left.
Well, I work specifically with businesses; mostly small and medium businesses that form over 99.9% of private enterprises in the UK. I always knew that focusing on that sector was imperative in order to form any kind of sustainable future. They lacked the resources and knowledge available to larger corporations and I was determined to change that. It’s enough work for anyone to start a business, it wipes out all of your mental energy; never-mind trying to build sustainable values into it also.
When I work to build sustainability into the core of a company, I revisit the most simple principles of business. After all, the very definition of sustainability means that a company must be able to succeed in the long term as well as meeting environmental and social targets.
Anyone in the early stages of business will quickly learn about the importance of cash flow. In essence, how much money is flowing in and how much is flowing out. This balance ensures that a company can function.
So, what’s ‘Impact Flow’?
I’m glad you asked! Simply take the cash flow concept, and replace cash with carbon. We’ll call it ‘Carbon Cash’ (Took me a while to think of that). Now, how are you spending your CC each day? (Cash Out) How are you giving back or replenishing the resources you’re consuming/using? (Cash In). This gives you a great idea of how much negative impact you’re having as a business and how much potential and opportunity there is to strip back. Remember that reducing your spending of Carbon Cash mostly results in less spending on real-life cash too. Becoming more sustainable is almost always a great way of reducing your bottom line, improving profits, and becoming a more resilient business.
What am I spending my ‘Carbon Cash’ on?
Think of the energy you consume through electricity usage, gas, water. All of that is having an impact but that’s the easiest to quantify. To really get an idea of your Carbon expenditure, you must apply a CC value to less quantifiable or even non-quantifiable factors.
By evaluating how you’re spending your Carbon Cash, you can see how you can earn it back.
Look at the presence of single-use materials in your workplace or daily operations. How is that waste being managed?
Look at food waste in your company. What are you doing to prevent or redistribute it?
How local are your suppliers?
Do you know your supply chain through and through? How the producers are treated/paid? Is there anything more you can do for them?
Are you directly involved in fund-raising for any charities? How’s your money being used and what impact is it having?
How are you integrating into your local communities? How are you empowering local people?
How are you supporting minorities or those with less financial/moral support?
If you want to work through every aspect of your business, why not write them all down and apply a monetary value to each element that has an impact.
For example, you may have a drinks machine and each drink produced comes with a plastic cup. That can be 1CC.
Maybe you’re focusing on sending out a message of gender equality and female empowerment through giving greater weighting in more prominent positions of ownership or management. That might earn you 10CC per position.
That’s the concept in a nutshell; it may seem oversimplified and a bit reckless but that’s exactly the point. It’s supposed to get you to sit down and navigate your way through which parts of your company are the most harmful and which can be most easily altered. It forces you to apply weighting to each issue, and that’s completely up to you! A business cannot enforce meaningful change if it tries to do everything in a shallow manner. Some will prioritise social values and others will focus on environmental benefits. That’s the beauty of every business being different, we can cover all bases in a collaborative way.
Anyway, that’s enough from me. I guess now we should all just go and get filthy rich in Carbon Cash!