How can individuals and business collectively cut down on CO2 emissions?

6.8 million homes could be powered by electricity for a full year with the amount of extra CO2 emitted as a result of Christmas in the UK alone. Now we’re all in the Christmas spirit, what can both individuals and businesses do collectively to cut down CO2 emissions? Retail and consumers’ ability to influence each other creates a healthy tension between purchasing power and product marketing. Nearly 3 in 4 millennials are prepared to pay a premium for sustainable products, therefore businesses not prioritising an improvement in their environmental impact are at risk of losing a significant proportion of their market share. On the flip side, buyers yet to open their eyes to the environmental impact are being exposed to sustainable messaging and marketing from some of their favourite brands such as H&M.

Each year, our individual impact from Christmas equates to 650kg of carbon dioxide per person or 1000 Christmas puddings. There are numerous reasons for this, including:

• Food waste from over purchasing (it’s easy to be tempted by the Buy One Get One Free deals),
• Energy consumption from our bright and colourful Christmas lights,
• Purchasing gifts based on quantity, rather than quality
• Travelling to see loved ones, although that might not be such a contributor this year while we’re in the middle of a global pandemic.

There’s plenty that we do to reduce our CO2 impact over the Christmas period. We should all be turning off our flashing Christmas lights when we go to bed (I’m sure Father Christmas will still be able to find his way to our homes without our houses glowing). In today’s world, with the addition of AI assistants like Alexa and Google Nest, we don’t even need to remember to do this ourselves! We’re now able to turn off our Christmas lights via voice activated devices, and those of you with connected smart meters will be able to track electricity usage throughout Christmas to help make more sustainable energy decisions.

There is also the significant environmental cost of the presents we buy. This is magnified by purchasing gifts around quantity rather than lower emission quality. Young children can be especially difficult to buy for when taking sustainability into account. However, there are several toy subscription companies with what I would call a TaaS model (Toys as a Service…) and once your child is done with the puzzle, or bored of the toy, you exchange it for a new one!

However, a lot of individual behaviours are influenced by the businesses we purchase from. So, what changes can organisations make?

Shopping around Christmas time is certainly considered to be part of ‘getting into the Christmas spirit’. However, there are lots of discussions around retail, fast fashion and sustainability given each new outfit we purchase is equivalent to nearly 9 gallons of gas emissions, or 10,000 smart phones being charged.

But, the question is shifting away from whether retail has an impact, and more towards what can businesses do to reduce CO2? There are various technologies and changes to operations that organisations can use to answer this question. These include:

1. Detailed analysis of the supply chain and product life cycle with the help of AI to identify where waste can be reduced while simultaneously reducing costs and improving efficiency. To put this into context, approximately 20% of lorry journeys are either empty or partially full loads due to misalignment between shipment and carriers.

Large online retailers have fuelled the consumers’ need to have what they want, now! However, Amazon in particular recognise the impact this has on the environment by giving customers the option to group their orders together in one delivery. In addition, two ex-Amazon employees have created a start-up called Convoy that uses AI to arrange bundles more efficiently with the aim of drastically reducing the percentage of empty loads on the roads. More broadly, AI alone has helped cut greenhouse gas emissions across retail by 12.6% in the last 2 years.

2. Improving product transparency is key for consumers to make informed decisions. Companies can showcase what they’re doing to reduce their carbon footprint. Authenticity and credibility are essential and there are many ways that customers can check for this.

One example of this is the Certified B Corporation, a Not for Profit Organisation, where a business becomes a member by going through rigorous analysis and declares detailed information on their environmental and societal impact. Businesses that have the B Corp stamp are viewed as Leaders, driving the shift towards sustainable retail. While the B Corp stamp helps buyers differentiate between a genuinely good company, and just good marketing, there are many other ways to check credibility. Apps like Oroeco use real time data to help us as consumers cut through the marketing hype and track our impact based on our purchases, while suggesting ways that we can improve.

3. Alter consumer behaviour through targeted green messaging and social media content. I’m sure we’re all getting more than our fair share of push notifications in the lead up to Christmas, all encouraging us to buy more!

However, the content is shifting towards greener products. If we focus on buyer behaviours, there is a significant opportunity to think about how we can push consumers towards making more sustainable buying decisions and how we can help sustainable retailers pull consumers towards them.

There are plenty of ways we can enjoy ourselves at Christmas time without the hefty environmental cost. However, businesses need to take responsibility for helping consumers make the right decision for our planet by improving accuracy, accessibility and availability of product impact information. Christmas is a great opportunity for organisations to really step up their sustainability game and shout about the positive changes they’re making.

Author

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Steph

Steph is a Consultant in Invent’s People & Organisation capability. She has worked across both the Public and Private sector with her current role being Business Change Manager for a high profile technology transformation project within a large Government department. Steph has a keen interest in how sustainability responsibilities compare between organisations and individuals, and how the two can work collectively to protect our planet.