Carbon Down

‘It is a two‐way street' is a popular saying, but what does it mean in context to your business and the environment?

Let's consider your business' supply chain. If you look closely at your supply chain, you will begin to see that the environment is in fact a significant business risk to its continuity and endurance, and like any business risk, the more you know about it, the better you can manage it.

So, what exactly is a supply chain and how does the environment affect it, and, your business?

"Our supply chain is the complex system that takes materials and resources from the planet and turns them into the products and services we use," says Leigh Baker author of The Deep Green Profit Handbook.

Using this definition to think about the production processes of goods and services, you can see how the supply chain relies heavily on environmental resources.

For example, consider the resources needed to produce the chair you're sitting on. There's the cotton that's farmed and harvested to make the material that covers it, and the water and electricity used to run the machines that roll and spin the yarn. Then there's the fuel used to transport the finished material to the chair manufacturer.

For the plastic or metal components of the chair, there's the extraction of crude oils or natural gases
which are then refined to make petrochemicals, then heated and moulded in energy intensive
furnaces.

There's also the coal burned to power the manufacturing/assembly plant, that's everything from the actual machines to the lighting, heating/cooling, the computers and the kitchen appliances.

Then there's the fuel used to transport the final product to the retail store and finally to the end consumer.

From this, you can see how our current supply chain system is based on a one‐way structure, where natural resources are continually extracted from an ‘infinite planet' with endless resources and natural materials; it is a system we adopted from entrepreneurs of earlier centuries at a time where there did seem to be an abundant and endless supply of natural resources.

However, the reality is that our planet's resources are finite and we live in a world that has developed its industries and processes faster than one could expect and we now need to adjust for this.

So what can you do? Start by making simple changes, although they may seem small, remember the plethora of resources used to produce that humble chair. Your small change, combined with small changes from other businesses, will add up.

So the next time your business makes a purchase, ask your supplier if they have any environmentally friendly alternatives, if not, ask why not.

Secondly, you can introduce those same environmentally friendly principles into your business outputs, whether they are for goods or services. Ask yourself; are the strategies and processes used resource efficient? If not, reconsider and adapt so they are.

For example, if you're a baker, why not consider sourcing your flour from an environmentally responsible flour mill, one that uses organic pesticides or energy efficient processing machines. If you're an accountant, why not consider purchasing office paper that has an FSC logo. This means that your retailer purchases from a manufacturer that uses paper from responsibly managed forests.

It's that simple. It's a supply chain that works on a two‐way street, it draws from and gives back to the environment.

The great thing about introducing environmentally friendly business strategies into your supply chain is that it's not about sacrifice, it is about opportunity and working smarter not harder.

For more information on resource efficiency, check out one of VECCI's Business Excellence courses:
Sustainability In Action - Resource Efficiency Training. Simple ways to ‘green' your business and save money. Visit www.vecci.org.au/training for more information.