Communication with staff and with external stakeholders is an essential part of any business’s carbon reduction journey. James Staniforth, founder of Sustainable Business Services, shares his advice for increasing staff engagement and avoiding greenwashing.

Why is it important for staff within a business to be on board with the idea of reducing carbon?

Ultimately, what we see is that businesses that engage with their people get better results, understanding and can get to net zero faster.

This can be because they benefit from ideas from their team but it’s also because everyone needs to be involved in carbon reduction, whether that’s individuals thinking about how they travel to work or teams making changes to products or processes.

If you’ve already given your staff an understanding of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it they’re more likely to feel involved and play their part.

Why might employees be resistant to making changes to reduce carbon?

There’s a lot of pressure on everyone and we’re all running at 100 miles an hour just to do our day jobs so there can be resistance to getting involved in sustainability as well. But I think the most common reason is that people don’t appreciate the impact carbon reduction has on their individual roles.

Recently, I spoke to a room full of engineers about carbon reduction and climate change. It wasn’t until their commercial director told them that, for every tender the business goes for, they’re asked about their sustainability strategy that I saw lightbulbs go on, as people began to understand that they can’t do their jobs and win new business without also paying attention to and being involved in their carbon reduction plan.

So it’s clearly important to talk to people about the commercial impact of sustainability on the business and on their roles. What else can businesses be doing to make sure people are involved?

I always recommend businesses take a holistic approach to carbon reduction. So it’s not just about reducing emissions, it’s also about education, training and upskilling.

And that training and upskilling shouldn’t just be available for the decision-makers in an organisation, but for everyone. After all, it can bring opportunities for people to progress within their careers and to get involved in making changes in area they’re passionate about.

What about communicating with stakeholders? How should a business share what they’re doing externally? 

We’ve probably all heard the term ‘greenwashing’, and part of avoiding this is thinking carefully about how you communicate what you’re doing. We encourage all our clients to follow the Green Claims code which helps you protect your business’s reputation and stay on the right side of the law.

It’s also important for businesses to tell their story warts and all. If you’ve faced challenges along the way, don’t brush over them. Not only can other businesses resonate if they’re facing similar issues, the more people talk about the difficulties they face, the more quickly we’ll be able to find opportunities to overcome them.

What advice do you have for businesses in the North East who are at the start of their carbon reduction journey? 

In recent years, Brexit and the cost of living crisis have taken precedence for many business owners, but I think we’re now at a moment when it’s pretty much essential for businesses to have a carbon reduction plan in order to survive and thrive.

Suddenly, people are tendering for a framework and having to provide information on their sustainability strategy. Banks are looking at green credentials when they make lending decisions and new employees are asking about it during interviews. It really can impact organisations across the board.

So you need to take action but it can be daunting. Don’t be put off by thinking you need to invest lots of money or aim to reach net zero by next week. You can get started by taking small steps; it’s a slow process but it will pay off in the long run.

James is an expert in residence with the Business & IP Centre North East, offering free, one-hour sessions on environmental sustainability and 12 hour funded support to businesses based in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland via Citylife.

You can also find more resources in our Net Zero for Businesses toolkit.