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In the modern age, there is a lot of pressure on businesses to take the plunge and become carbon neutral. Whether you can achieve neutrality or not, as a business owner you should ultimately be aiming to reduce your impact on the environment, for obvious reasons, and also because your clients will be more likely to see your business as a source of good ethics and practice. If you want to aim for a carbon neutral business, follow these simple tips to get the ball rolling and your emissions lowered!

Be aware of where you buy supplies

If you’re buying products and supplies in order to keep your business afloat, then you need to find out where they are coming from, and what kind of impact they’re having on the environment. Sure, they may be the cheapest products and you may think that they’re not too bad for the environment, but factor in shipping emissions and the other machinery costs, and you could see why this just isn’t going to work out for your carbon neutral goals. Buy your products as locally as possible, and try to avoid things that have to be shipped long distances in order to get to you, as this will increase your carbon footprint.

Reduce paper usage

Whilst this seems to be something that everybody is finally getting a hold of, reducing paper usage could help to reduce your carbon footprint dramatically. Before you print something out, or use any packaging, ask yourself: do I really need to do this, and is it going to add onto the emissions levels needlessly? It may seem small, but this really is key to making sure that you have everything covered when it comes to being carbon neutral. You can use some eco-friendly companies to help you out in this if you need to, and invest in document management software, for example. This clever idea means that you can manage all of your documents electronically, avoiding the paperwork and the environmental impact.

Cut air travel time

If you’re a business owner, you may feel as though traveling is an integral (and pretty exciting) part of your job, and there is no way that you can cut this out. Whilst there are times when you just have to do it, this is another one of those situations when you need to ask yourself: do I really need to do this? If you can arrange a business conference over Skype, or you can have a meeting in different circumstances, make sure you save on those company air miles and take the eco-friendly alternative. This will help your company to become carbon neutral, and will also make you feel like a better person, so cut out the unnecessary traveling.

So, if you’re looking to make your business carbon neutral, try out these simple tips and see whether they help you. From being aware about where you buy your products, to reducing your paper usage, to cutting down on air travel, there are so many things that you can do to get your business – and your conscience – in the clear!