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Office Sustainability: 5 Ways to be a Climate Advocate at Work

Our workplaces are a powerful lever for climate action. Not only do most companies have far larger carbon footprints than the average person, sustainable changes we achieve at work can reverberate through entire industries.

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Office sustainability isn’t just better for the Earth. It’s often better for your employer’s bottom line. That’s because efficient processes cut waste, save energy, and boost productivity. Plus, consumers are increasingly loyal to environmentally-friendly brands.

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Wherever you’re at in your career, you have more influence than you may think. Here are five ways to get started.

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1. Start a Conversation About Office Sustainability

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Effective climate advocacy requires understanding where your workplace can improve and being able to show it’s good for business. But most of all, it requires being willing to start a conversation about sustainability in the workplace.

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Many of us, especially women and marginalized folks, have trouble speaking up when we don’t feel like subject matter experts. Here’s how to find your voice and use it:

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Come Prepared: Productive, inspiring conversations are a catalyst for change. Visit Talk Climate Change for guidance, advice, and ideas to get you started. You can even practice on robots.
Build a Coalition: It helps to have people in your corner. If there’s a manager, sustainability officer, or co-worker you think would back your suggestions, team up to amplify your efforts.
Focus on Direct Benefits: Office sustainability initiatives are good for the planet and business. Focus on how specific actions will benefit productivity, profit margins, or your company’s long-term vision.
Offer Your Energy: Action is the most valuable currency. Offer to bring people together under an initiative of their choice or commit your time to an office sustainability plan.

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2. Be a Climate Advocate in Your Current Role

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Businesses don’t go green on a whim. An engaged employee pushed Etsy to embrace carbon-neutral shipping. A product wizard envisioned ocean plastic sneakers at Adidas.

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At many companies, employees are one of the most powerful groups, sometimes even more powerful than shareholders. Even if your employer isn’t climate-oriented, you can push to make its products, services, and processes more sustainable.

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Identify where you can influence decision-making and advocate for sustainability in the workplace. Here are a few good places to start.

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Sustainable Design

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Products have an environmental impact from the cradle to the grave. If you’re involved in production or product design, champion sustainability mindsets.

Improve longevity: Strive for quality items that stay in circulation as long as possible. Consider end-of-life in design and seek to make products easy to recycle or reuse.
Utilize green materials: Shoot to use fewer or environmentally-friendlier materials and follow industry developments to keep tabs on green alternatives.
Close the loop: Keep your product out of the landfill with a customer return and recycling initiative and identify ways to repurpose production waste.

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Efficient Processes

Accounting: Encourage your workplace to develop a greenhouse gas inventory to quantify operational emissions. This provides a clear view of the pollution produced by your work processes.
Review: Use the inventory to understand where your organization is using energy and resources wisely and where you could cut back on waste and pollution.
Strategize: After “where” comes “how.” Organizations like WRAP and the Carbon Trust can help your company develop a plan to reduce its impact.

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Sustainable Data Use

The internet uses more energy than you think. Data centers host our online activity and have carbon footprints that rival global aviation.

Optimize your website: Custom fonts, video and animation, and heavy coding sap energy and cause lag. Programs like EcoGradr identify where your website can run faster and more efficiently.
Go green: Green web hosts compensate for the emissions your website generates through renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets.

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3. Champion Office Sustainability Initiatives

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Commercial buildings generate 6.6% of energy-related emissions, and employees contribute by using resources on the job. Here are a few ways to make your workplace more sustainable.‍

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Efficient Energy Use

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Replace wisely: Copy machines, light fixtures, and office appliances all have carbon footprints. Energy Star-certified products conserve energy and save money when it’s time to update.
Green your building: Ask your facility manager if they’re aware of Energy Star’s. building certification. Certified buildings save money by using 35% less energy on average.
Use clean power: Talk to management about cutting costs with solar or buying into green energy through the EPA’s green power partnership.
Combat idle energy: Power down your computer to save energy after hours and encourage your coworkers to do the same. Ask IT to place power strips in all workstations to make it easy to shut everything off at once.
Coordinate office quiet days. Advocate for coordinated work-from-home days when all building power can be shut off. Companies and employees save time, money, and carbon from their commutes.

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Efficient Water Use

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Update appliances: Encourage your workplace to choose low-flow toilets, sinks, and appliances when updating. Faucet aerators reduce water use and cut costs, too!
Make it rain: Your building could capture rainwater for landscaping and cooling needs or install rain sensors to stop sprinkler systems when Mother Nature’s on the job.
Green your landscape: Native plants use less water than turfgrass, control erosion, and increase biodiversity. Check if your city has a turf buyback program to help finance the transition.

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Workplace Waste

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From printer paper to styrofoam cups to lunch scraps, we generate a lot of waste at work. Offer to help establish a recycling or composting program, ask your office manager to stock the breakroom with reusable dishware, or talk to management about digitizing processes to save paper and money.

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Company Functions

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Large company functions usually involve eating–and lots of waste. Encourage your employer to have guests pre-order to reduce food waste, serve less red meat and more vegetarian items, or use eco-conscious catering.

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Green Commuting

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Ask your workplace to incentivize low-impact commutes like walking, biking, and carpooling. Host a bike- or walk-to-work challenge to boost office sustainability and build comradery within departments. Create a spreadsheet or signup board to connect employees with carpool buddies.

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Remote Work

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Telecommute: Remote work has skyrocketed in recent years. Talk to your workplace about the productivity, cost-savings, and environmental benefits of continuing long-term.
Fly Less: Frequent fliers produce 50% of airline emissions, and many are busy business folks. Can you or your workplace skip the fight when virtual is a viable option?

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Company Culture

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Education: Employees need a space to learn and exchange office sustainability ideas. Ask your company to add climate education to your next newsletter of quarterly meetings. (Sharing this article is a good place to start!)
Signage: Place reminders around the building to recycle, unplug, or pack a plant-based lunch. Choose one of Count Us In’s environmental impact initiatives and encourage others to get on board.
Join Commons: Commons users reduce emissions more when they connect with friends and colleagues on the app. Get in touch to learn more about offering Commons as a workplace perk.

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4. Explore a Career in the Climate Sector

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Whether you’re at the start of your career or looking for a meaningful new direction, there’s no shortage of opportunity in the fast-growing climate sector. Help reshape dirty systems by driving innovation in sustainable agriculture, clean energy, green transportation, eco-infrastructure and construction, and so much more.

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Apply to jobs in the climate sector: Use job boards like ClimateBase and GreenBizJobs to find opportunities that suit your skillset. Build your network at green job fairs and by volunteering at environmental organizations.

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Take a sustainability course: Grow your skillset with a fellowship or online course at Terra. Do, or CELI, or continue your climate education with new sustainability graduate programs like those offered by the Presidio Graduate School.

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Grow Your climate network: Get connected with people who share your values by joining groups like: ‍