The Business Opportunity of Climate Change for Everyone

Perform Green’s CEO and Founder, Barney Smith explains how tackling climate change is good for business.

I have been involved in studying and working with the environmental sector for over 30 years: including senior leadership positions in both the public and private sector. Since setting up Perform Green over 8 years ago, we have enhanced and developed that capability. What we know is that tackling environmental issues, in particular, climate change, is great for business – and returns against the bottom line are surprisingly fast.

The environment is a really complex issue – we are talking about elements touching everything we directly or indirectly come into contact with; climate is simpler, but still confusing for many and complicated by emissions relating to every stage of the lifecycle of goods and services. Bundling in sustainable development which also considers promoting economic growth and other societal issues as well makes it no more easy to navigate. At Perform Green, we make it simple for businesses and ensure that you improve your environmental footprint and reduce costs rapidly whilst attracting talent and customers.

For Climate Change, as a society, we are told that we need to ensure no net emissions by 2050. This is a lot harder as technologies mature and are developed, but for certain types of business, progress is already achievable: with advisory services at one end of the spectrum and manufacturing and mining at the other – but drastic improvements are available to all, cost-effectively.

Some of the initiatives that we have been involved in have delivered returns on investment (at the smaller gain end of the spectrum) of just a couple of months, other (larger) opportunities can take a couple of years or more to get the return. Altogether, a programme will achieve a lot and not only reduce costs but also improve your positioning with customers and employees. Customers want improvements to their supply chain, consumers are making increasingly eco-conscious buying decisions and employees are attracted to businesses acting on environmental (and other sustainable development) issues.

Examples of successes include:

• saving £8m pa from an organisation from an operational spend of £90m pa within 3 years whilst halving carbon dioxide emissions and becoming one of The Times‘Best Companies to Work For’;
• reducing overheads by 15% within 3 months for a small consultancy with ROI of less than one month.

• 

There is a need for all of us to take action right now to prevent a potential catastrophe impacting our economic and personal futures is continuing up the agenda. In an increasingly competitive business environment, contact us now and let us help you.

Barney Smith is founder and CEO of Perform Green

Contact me now at barney.smith@performgreen.co.uk