Over the last month, the eyes of the world have fallen on the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow, attended by many of the world’s key government decision makers. Depending on your perspective, it’s either been a complete betrayal of the natural world, or a single short step on a much longer journey toward that much-vaunted carbon neutrality.

In the UK, treasury proposals will have many large firms in the UK forced to demonstrate how they’re going to pull their weight toward net-zero, which the government aims to hit by 2050. The plan isn’t set to be laid out until 2023, and the measures taken are likely to fall short of actually mandating that business actually reaches net-zero. Instead, the government aims to ‘increase transparency and accountability’ – which is a way of saying that they’ll shame polluting businesses into changing their ways. 

Even if you consider these measures insufficiently draconian, the direction of travel is clear: business in the UK will need to get greener, quickly, or be forced to – if not by this government, then by a future one. So, what changes might we expect to see businesses implement to make their premises more eco-friendly than they were before.

The Building Itself

The roof of any building is a notorious source of heat loss. By adding insulation to an empty loft, business can expect to vastly improve heat-retention, to the extent that the investment pays for itself within two years. In new premises, naturally, this work might be done ahead of time – with the roof equipped with a waterproof roof membrane that will protect the investment. Double-glazed windows, cavity walls, and other upgrades can also yield a substantial reward on the investment.

Recycling Practices

Businesses that recycle are, naturally, greener than those that don’t. But we shouldn’t consider recycling just a question of putting plastic bottles in the correct bin. If materials and furniture can be re-used within the same building, then the effective carbon footprint of the premises can be reduced.

Discussion of a given building’s overall emissions shouldn’t be limited to the amount released on-site, but the amount of energy being burned across the entire supply chain. Where furniture, crockery and equipment can be safely re-used, or even upcycled, it should be.

Location

As green issues find their way increasingly onto the agenda, we should expect that the way we get from place to place to change dramatically. Changes in transport culture will have an impact on where business ends up locating itself. If you’re considering setting up in a city centre, then you might make sure that you’re within reach of a train station, or walking or cycling distance of your employees and customers.