4 reasons why companies should measure their carbon footprint

1. Attract and retain talent

Sustainability and CSR are increasingly a crucial factor when new graduates are looking for their future employer. Among Millenials - who will soon represent the majority of the labour market - up to 64% will turn down a job if the company does not have strong CSR values, according to Cone Communications. At the same time, we know that 71% say they are actually willing to take a pay cut to work for a company with which they share values.

There are indications that you need to actively act on your CSR strategy if you want to remain competitive - and transparency on CSR is a key factor here. carbon footprint is an obvious way to do this. Fortunately, there are many good examples of companies doing this. Zetland, for example, has been one of them here in Denmark, being incredibly transparent in their approach to carbon measurement.

2. Protect your turnover

According to Unily, which has surveyed climate policies in workplaces, around 83% of employees do not think their workplace is doing enough for the climate. When you also know that companies that do not do enough for the climate can lose up to 25% of their turnover due to potential employee strikes and decreased employee engagement, it is clear that there can also be direct financial consequences if a company does not take its climate policy seriously.

This is supported by CDP, which shows that companies that actively work on their climate policy have 18% higher "return on investment" compared to companies that do not. That is pretty impressive anyway.

This just emphasises that green business is also good business.

3. Adapt to the law

At the time of writing, there are no concrete rules in Denmark requiring companies to comply with any non-financial reporting requirements. Over a long period, however, such requirements have been discussed, and most recently we have seen the EU taxonomy requiring greater sustainable transparency from larger companies. 

These requirements may not affect your business, but we are increasingly starting to see ambitious requirements from some of the largest companies in the country. Most recently, Novo Nordisk has set a requirement for 100% green power from all suppliers by 2030. We'll be seeing more of this "autonomous" legislation in the future.

So CO2 reporting will become a must-have sooner or later. Therefore, companies might as well look ahead and start implementing practices that support carbon measurement and sustainability transparency. Being at the forefront of this will certainly not harm competitiveness.

4. Keep your customers

Consumers are increasingly focusing on sustainability: according to an IBM report, around 6/10 consumers will change their purchasing habits to lower their carbon footprint. Among consumers who consider sustainability very or extremely important, more than 70% are willing to pay up to 35% more for products and brands that take responsibility for the climate.

There are a number of examples of companies that have successfully incorporated a brand narrative with sustainability at its core. Perhaps best known is outdoor giant Patagonia, one of the top scorers in the B Corp movement. They have achieved a turnover of approximately 5.5 billion kroner annually with over 70% recycled materials in their clothing and exclusively organic cotton. They are a good example of a company that has achieved great customer loyalty and increased popularity, partly due to their transparent climate policy and performance.

If you are interested in entering into a dialogue about climate action and CO2 measurement in your company or organisation, please feel free to contact me at oskar@climaider.com