The next step

To the Carbon Trust

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To the Resource Efficient Scotland tool

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Setting targets for environmental improvements

Good PR

Setting environmental targets, e.g. cutting waste by 10%, can help you to bring about environmental improvements. Plus, as a number of companies will testify, it can provide a good marketing opportunity.

Examples

Proctor & Gamble (P&G) is currently basking in the glory of smashing its target of reducing waste to landfill, following an announcement that it had achieved what it had set out to do six years ahead of its self-imposed schedule. On the face of it another company that’s recently published results, Sainsbury’s, hasn’t done so well. Its figures identify that it missed its target to source 100% sustainable palm oil for its own brand products by 2015 by 5%. At first glance you might think that P&G deserves the green plaudits whilst Sainsbury’s should try harder. However, this might not necessarily be the case. It could be that P&G set itself an excessively easy target, whereas Sainsbury’s was too ambitious.

Both deserve plaudits

The fact that one company has met its target whilst the other hasn’t quite made it is largely irrelevant. This is because it’s clear that both have made significant environmental gains to get anywhere near the goals they set themselves. Yes, P&G may have smashed its target, but Sainsbury’s certainly hasn’t failed in its broader objective: getting anywhere near a 100% sustainable sourcing level for a product takes some serious effort.

Tip. When setting targets you must ensure that: (1) your audience, i.e. your staff or your customers, can understand what you’re trying to achieve; and (2) they are reasonable, i.e. you have worked out that you stand a good chance of meeting them on or around your deadline.

How to do it?

There isn’t a huge amount of free advice available on how to set targets, not least because every business is different, but The Carbon Trust has some good guidelines (see The next step ).

We would suggest the following simple steps are a good place to start:

Tip 1. Carry out a simple audit. Resource Efficient Scotland has a five-minute audit tool so you can see what’s possible in terms of savings (see The next step ).

Tip 2. Decide which areas to focus on. Energy savings is an area where you’re likely to get most value, so talk to your energy company. It will have data on similar sized businesses in your sector and know what benefits can be obtained, sometimes with very little investment.

Tip 3. Take a look around your sector and competitors to see what targets they’re setting themselves. This will give you a good idea of what might be realistic. By matching (or bettering) their achievements, you’ll eliminate any potential green advantage that they have gained on you.

For a link to the Carbon Trust website and to the Resource Efficient Scotland tool, visit http://tipsandadvice-environment.co.uk/download (EN 09.08.03).