King's College London

This Saturday 21^st September marks Zero Emissions Day, which aims to raise awareness on the global need to reduce carbon emissions and fossil fuel usage.

At the Centre for Sustainable Business, we strive to provide actionable insights and drive sustainable impact. In recognition of this day, we asked our team to draw on their research and offer an insight into how businesses can lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Below are a range of thoughtful perspectives to support businesses during this pivotal moment of the climate crisis, with contributions from Dr Hannah Schupfer, Dr Siavash Alimadadi, Professor Laura J. Spence and Professor Jonatan Pinkse.

Understand the origin of emissions

– Dr Hannah Schupfer, Post-Doctoral Researcher

Reducing GHG emissions starts with understanding where the emissions come from, where they go, and one’s ability to influence these.

Essentially, businesses can think about two emission approaches: internal and external emissions. Internal emissions concern those emissions that are produced by the company through its way of working. Starting from the lights in the office and employee air travel, to the emissions created in production of products and services.

It requires a fundamental rethinking of how these practices and behaviours can be adapted to a more sustainable way. This can entail a simple reduction of certain practices (e.g. reduce flights or switch to trains) but likely also requires an investment to ensure more efficient and fair ways of production.

External emissions concern the output of a business’ product and services. What is produced and how is the lifecycle of this product or service? Is it a consumer end-product or supplying another emission-generating process? In other words: do I offer a piece of clothing or am I an energy operator that supplies airplanes?

External emissions do concern the profit stream of a business, which is why many organisations are hesitant to intervene. Yet, this is where the largest impact lies. By rethinking production lines, producing less, and collaborating with the value chain, businesses can derive a large impact of emission reduction.

Disrupt the status quo

– Dr Siavash Alimadadi, Research Associate

To effectively reduce their emissions, businesses must rethink and transform their core business models and strategies, aligning them with sustainability goals.

This involves adopting a systemic, global mindset to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Given the complexity of this transition, it is crucial for companies to embrace innovative business models that promote both environmental regeneration and reduced ecological destruction. 

To achieve meaningful impact, business models must disrupt the status quo, challenging traditional practices and fostering new pathways that prioritise sustainability and long-term ecological balance. Through cross-sectoral partnerships and collective learning, companies can lead the way in creating a future that balances economic prosperity with environmental stewardship. 

A key element in this transformation is the adoption of a place-based approach, where companies tailor their value propositions to local dynamics by leveraging local resources and fostering the preservation of existing assets.

By focusing on community development, businesses can contribute to the intricate interrelations between the local ecosystems, the economic activities they host, and the communities that inhabit them. This approach not only ensures that solutions are context-specific but also strengthens the resilience of local communities.

Think carefully and use partnerships

– Laura J. Spence, Professor of Business Ethics & Sustainability

Focusing on any one element of change in isolation in a business is a risk. There will always be both anticipated and unintended consequences. 

Reducing GHG emissions should be a goal and a motivator for firms, but while it is tempting and perhaps productive in the short term to focus on a handful of win-wins, more nuance is needed to make lasting change. For example, switching to electric vehicles will reduce GHG emissions but may have disproportionate environmental and social impacts where the necessary batteries are produced. 

Even small businesses are complex systems of economic, environmental, social, and ethical impact, which is magnified when we think in terms of whole supply chains and industries.

That is why it helps to work in partnership, whether across a sector through trade associations, or in regional clusters with the engagement of the local council or regional government. National governments have a critical role in enabling a context in which it is the easier option to reduce GHG emissions, but done in a holistic, embedded way. 

So, how can businesses reduce their emissions? By thinking carefully and systematically about the complexities and interrelated factors in their organisation and acknowledging the tensions and opportunities. Only then can lasting, meaningful change be achieved.

Innovate with circular economy thinking

– Professor Jonatan Pinkse, Research Director

For businesses to reduce their climate impact they must ask themselves several questions. First, are there business activities that produce carbon emissions that can be changed without too much effort? For example, do you know how your energy supplier generates electricity? Small interventions can often have a big impact in improving energy efficiency.

Second, it’s important for a business to think about which carbon-intensive activities are more difficult to cut back on and need more radical solutions. Here, businesses need an innovative mindset, as the challenge is to continue being profitable while core business activities produce net zero emissions

Finally, businesses must be critical about whether their current ways of doing business are the best way to create value for their customers in a net zero world. Too often, businesses try to change what they do, but never question why they did it in the first place.

Circular economy thinking can help here. Many carbon emissions are a consequence of making disposable products. With circular thinking, reusing materials will drastically reduce the need to produce, which is far more adequate for a net zero future. It will show businesses which parts of their activities could become obsolete. Such a rationalisation of business activities has great promise to make businesses lower their emissions and become more productive.

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About The Centre for Sustainable Business

The Centre for Sustainable Business is an inclusive and forward-thinking hub dedicated to addressing one of the most pressing questions in modern business: "How can businesses effectively transition to socially and environmentally sustainable practices?". We believe that interdisciplinary research and collaboration are key to shaping a more sustainable and equitable business landscape.

Find out more about our work here.