Step 1

In a world where we are all being encouraged to be more eco-friendly and head towards becoming net zero, one thing we are being encouraged to do is to no longer respond to emails unnecessarily and to “think before we thank!”

For a typical email, the electricity is responsible for 4g of CO2 emissions. If it has a picture attachment, this needs extra storage and takes longer to transmit, so the carbon footprint rises to an average of 50g. Sending an email is a long chain of events – from using the Wi-fi to the data centres it travels through. Astonishing right? So let’s look at ways we can make things a bit better…

Did you know that moving to Office 365, will reduce your organisation’s energy efficiency by up to 98%?

It will also be mindful to think about moving all meetings etc to Office 365-related apps.

Below are some actions we can take:

• Use a drop box to share files or the location the file sits in, rather than sending it via email
• An email chain produces a lot of unnecessary emissions and often we respond numerous times back and forth unnecessarily. It would be useful to add a strapline to your email footer “Do not feel obligated to reply to say thank you for this e-mail – we are looking to lower our carbon footprint by reducing e-mail traffic”
• Check the emails you are subscribed to, can you unsubscribe?
• Do you need to print (and do you use eco paper – can it be printed double-sided?)
• Are the applications you are using in IT eco-friendly?
• Ecosia is a CO₂-negative search engine and can be added to your google chrome
• Do you need to use a desktop as well as your laptop? – laptops are 80% more energy efficient.
• Power down your laptops and desktops – standby mode can produce 450 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions a year, so switch off any electronics not in use

If you have any useful tips to share, we would love to hear from you!

Email us at: bcleaders@norfolkchambers/co.uk

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