All good businesses in this modern world where climate change is a reality and ethical practices are at the forefront of everyone’s minds should be aiming to be more sustainable.

Failure to do this could ultimately be catastrophic for your business as customers increasingly choose to use their spending power to support those ventures that are making the right choices for the environment and communities. If that is enough to convince you and really it should be if you want to succeed, then keep reading and find out our 4 methods you can use to make your business more sustainable.

1. Reduce face to face meetings

There is so much technology that we can utilise to help reduce our need to meet up face to face. Telecommuting solutions make it entirely possible to hold those all important meet-ups without anyone needing to travel, thus reducing the carbon footprint of your business. You could even take telecommuting to the next level by using it to allow employees to work from home. Doing this will reduce the need for your employees to travel to work, preventing them from adding to environmental damage by reducing their care usage.

2. Consider your suppliers

One way to make your business more sustainable is to consider the efforts that your suppliers and partners are making and if necessary make changes. Remember that your customers will reward or punish you based on your sustainability efforts, likewise, you should be doing the same for those you choose to work with. Plus, utilising the efforts that another company makes can be an easy way to improve your own sustainability record. Work with companies such as Vistaprint, where 95% of the paper used by the business is certified as being sourced through responsible forestry. Working with businesses who support such efforts is a great way to make the most of your own hard work.

3. Reduce your use of paper

Prevent paper from ending up in landfill by reducing your use. Often, the production of paper has an extremely negative impact on the environment too. As Time Magazine suggest, you can reduce this impact by creating a paperless office. Perhaps create policies that discourage the printing of emails and other documents. You could also invest in tablets or other portable devices so that your employees can access their documents on the go.

4. Become energy efficient

If you spend some time investing in energy efficient lightbulbs or appliances you could not only achieve increased sustainability but you could also reduce your costs. Indeed, cost savings usually pay for the cost of replacing equipment in just a few years, so they make good business sense as well as being beneficial for the environment. Reducing your energy usage isn’t just about replacing equipment though. It’s about being a bit smarter with your energy use around the office. Try switching equipment off at the plug when not in use, using low energy light bulbs and perhaps turning down the thermostat. Trust us, you won’t regret it when it comes time to pay the energy bill.