Nicholsons Blogs

I remember hearing about vineyards being relocated to the South of the England because temperatures are rising and conditions are ripe (excuse the pun!) for growing grapes. Today I have read an article about Spanish vineyard owners who are starting to buy land in places like the Pyrenees so that they can mitigate the risk that climate change, and the warming of the seasons, will turn the current wine growing regions to "dustbowls".

I think that this is an excellent example of businesses looking at the current environment and future trends and reacting now to mitigate risk. 

It's not the reason for this post though. It demonstrates, I feel, that climate change is something that we all need to consider. As business owners should we consider the impact we have on the environment as part of our business planning process?

I have spoken to a lot of business owners about this many of whom say that they are worried about the costs involved. Whilst I understand this I feel there are some simple things we can all do to reduce the impact we have on the environment. For example it's amazing how much electricity can be saved simply by turning off printers and monitors at night, which not only reduces electricity consumption but also reduces electricity costs. 

So perhaps there are some easy things we can all do within our businesses to help reduce our carbon footprint and also save some money. 

Over the next few months I am going to try to engage with business owners of environmental consultancies to find out how we can make positive changes within our businesses to become more carbon neutral and at the same time reduce costs.