ESR – and your business – how to stand out from the competition (and increase profits!)
Personally when I started entering awards in 2009 I added an ESR policy to my company (not that it was called that then) and stopped sending paper documents to clients. I soon appreciated that not only was edocuments better for my office space, it was better for recall for coaching clients and easier remembering where documents are when the accountant calls!
It made life simpler and so since then I’ve always looked at what I do as a business owner to consider others.
Everything from where are my ink cartridges coming from to how much CO2 does my emails cost?
Yes I can tell you and HP has been working on their climate responsibility for years and are listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for ten consecutive years, winning ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year since 2017 (1), and been ranked number one on Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies for three straight years. And yes I do watch their ethical status and it’s why I won’t buy from Amazon – monloposiation of markets, pricing out small businesses, bullying staff, price fixing and that’s before we even get started on their poor eco friendly standards and the damage they are single handeldly doing to the planet!
And did you know emails create between .3g and 17g of CO2 – that’s a fact I am telling all my corporate clients to help curb the email mountain that gets sent out on a Friday to clear their inbox!
We all play our part. And it’s very interesting in light of our Trend Report launch on the 21st November how much the consumer and your profit will be impacting on by knowing, understanding and implementing ESR policies. Book your ticket to the INsiders Trend Report here.
Just as in the pandemic we had those that buried their heads hoping it would all go away and the only thing that went away was their businesses. We are going to see the same again. The world is faster paced than ever before. Wars, conglomerates buying up resources, climate change, displacement of humans, droughts, AI, Employees very fast changing attitudes to life and work, even in fashion and our uses of appliances in the home all will impact on your business.
That’s why we are so excited to bring on board ORB. The Organisation for Responsible Businesses.
We’ve already signed up and working through our membership application and we know with Jill Poet on board as our newest INsider we are in expert hands to understand how we all make a difference and play our part.
The impact to profit, staff happiness and health and even the impact to your local community is immense.
Here is our starting point with ORB and our own membership – we are happy with that but know there’s more we can do!
This is Jill Poet who you will see on the Insiders confidential mastermind and networking community and at our Trend Report on the 21st November. And we’ve already got members that want to sign up because they understand how the changing face of business needs businesses to have an ESR policy and how contracts can be won by showcasing your involvement and serious consideration of the planet, your communities and people. We will be sharing articles and news from Jill and the team at ORB over the coming months to help you navigate best practices to grow your organisation.
As Jill beautifully put it “The world will survive, it’s just whether it will have any humans on it!” now that is thought provoking and makes you want to take action right?
We get lots of opportunities to consider your companies future sent to us. Here we highlight just one opportunity to support your UK business – we have members in Europe and do have access to EU grant information too.
UK grants for renewable energy
There are 5.5 million SMEs in the UK and up to 53% of the UK’s emissions are from SMEs. The UK Business Climate Hub is a shared endeavour, developed with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the SME Climate Hub, and the UK’s main business organisations, energy networks, high street banks and professional bodies. The Business Climate Hub signals where SMEs may find access to funding, including business rates relief, capital allowances and clean growth funding.
VMI is a camera rental company within the TV industry in the UK. VMI made an initial investment in installing 10KW of solar PV in London to meet their power needs, such as charging EVs, which was later extended to 40KW. The success of this model encouraged VMI to successfully apply for funding with the West of England Combined Authority and European Regional Development Fund, which enabled them to expand their solar PV provision in Bristol (from 10KW to 15KW) and make improvements in energy efficiency (e.g., replacing existing fluorescent lighting with LED equivalents). In the context of rising power costs, their movement to more efficient, renewable energy provision has saved costs for VMI. Learn more here.
