Your organization has measured its carbon footprint and wants to reduce it.  But dollars and time for reduction projects are limited so they must be focused where they can provide the greatest “carbon return.” Where do you start?

Internal benchmarking is a useful tool for revealing where there are best practices and where there is the greatest room for improvement. Comparing buildings, departments, or divisions provide “quick-win” insights to drive good decision making for how best to reduce carbon.

Consider: Healthy competition.

Imagine a competition to see who can reduce their energy consumption.

Think of:

• regional offices,
• floors,
• branches,
• data centres,

and how they can improve. Benchmarking allows employees to see how they compare, in order to engage and become motivated to make changes, to make a difference to their company and the planet.

Consider: Location matters.

Companies with buildings in one area may find that a similar building in another area has a much higher carbon footprint because of how electricity is generated at the local power plant. Energy conservation investments will yield greater carbon reductions at the “high carbon” location.

Comparisons are also a powerful motivator for change. No one wants to be on “poor” end of the spectrum. Showing each group their carbon performance against their peers can focus attention and tap into your teams’ competitive spirit!

Zerofootprint’s VELO software compares carbon emissions across buildings, departments, and divisions.  Large locations will usually have higher footprints, so results can be normalized by looking at carbon per sq. ft. or carbon per employee.