My New Year's resolution for sustainable working
Today I took my first flight of 2020. At the end of December, I calculated that in 2019 I took 116 flights. It’s not a stat I’m proud of and perhaps my only saving grace is that they were all short haul.
In 2018 I started a new role which involved a significant increase in commuting; leading a business with colleagues and clients nationwide across two countries does require a fair amount of travel. Air travel isn’t my only mode of transport, I take a lot of trains too - but the cost and ease of flights has made this form of travel far too easy. (My regular commute to Glasgow costs less than a day return to London – and I live in the South East of England!)
I’ve been uncomfortable with the environmental impact of my travel for some time, so for me, this new year marks a good moment to make some different choices, not only on a personal level but for the business as well. Whilst these will not revolutionise how I work, I do believe in the power of small changes that can aggregate to a bigger shift.
Here are the areas I’m focusing on this year, both personally and professionally:
- I’m planning on reducing my weekly trips to Glasgow to twice monthly to reduce my carbon footprint.
- Wherever possible, I’ll make better use of train travel over flights and might even try out the Caledonian Sleeper on one of my upcoming trips to Glasgow!
- Our new office at Heathrow is now open. It acts as a hub for colleagues and clients in the South East and I plan to maximise this opportunity for meetings and office working.
- The nature of our business means we already make significant use of agile working tools, both internally and with clients, be it Skype, Zoom or Microsoft Teams. In 2020 I’m making it my mission to ensure we push the boundaries of agile working further.
- I’m delighted to have launched electric vehicles into our car fleet at the end of 2019 and I’m taking a close interest in the trials we’re running to discover how we can adapt our ways of working to roll out a green fleet.
- Our Sustainable Business taskforce launched in the second half of 2019 and in 2020 I will support them to find more sustainable and environmentally friendly ways of working for our entire workforce.
- On a personal level, I’ve taken a keen interest in exploring initiatives like tree planting in an effort to offset my own carbon footprint. For now, this is just a personal pledge, but in the not too distant future, I hope that I can extend this into the business as we take a more balanced approach to our corporate sustainability.
Is sustainable working something that you’d like to talk about? I’m interested to hear from my network on how others who travel frequently for business, or work in high travel businesses, continue to evolve their ways of working to ensure a high level of sustainability.
Jill, thanks for sharing!
Really like your thinking here Jill Ross. I am also looking at ways in which I can change how I commute to reduce my carbon footprint and save money! This includes biking into London Bridge from home. Not done it regularly, but like any change in habit it means have the discipline to change a routine. Having seen the documentary Game Changers I also now realise the impact eating meat has on on our environment. A burger uses 660 litres of water in the manufacturing process! Although my red meat consumption is low, this made me realise that the bigger impact that can be had from less obvious changes.
Jill I understand The Woodland Trust have a pledge to plant a million trees, may be worth looking into. Your doing great things that many of us should follow.
Once it becomes part of your DNA, there is no way to ignore it any longer. Well done Jill, cause many little steps do indeed make a big difference.
Unfortunately the Caledonian Sleeper in theory offers a great alternative but at the moment the operator is still having big issues with the new trains