National Post: Paul Brent

Most people wouldn’t start a diet without first weighing themselves. The same is true of a company looking to go on an energy diet.

“In the green world, without benchmarks or knowing how much carbon you emit, you can’t really manage it,” says Ron Dembo, founder and chief executive of Zerofootprint, a Toronto-based group that aims to reduce the environmental impact of businesses and consumers.

Zerofootprint started with the development of a sophisticated carbon calculator and delivers it through the Internet to allow companies to reduce their emissions “top-down” by tackling their supply chain footprint and “bottom-up” by engaging employees.

“There is a new world out there where you, as a corporation, are expected to do things that enable your employees” to be green, Mr. Dembo says. “It is not just the nice thing to do, it is expected. All of a sudden, companies are recognizing that this is an enterprise problem.”

Software giant Business Objects’ carbon footprint is made up largely by employee travel and the energy sucked up by its computers and servers. Mr. Dembo notes the software firm will reduce its travel in part by holding more virtual meetings. “If everybody who travelled saved one trip a year, it would make a huge difference,” he says, noting the average Canadian accounts for 14 tonnes of CO2 per year but a frequent business traveller can hit 60 to 100 tonnes in carbon in addition to his frequent flyer miles.

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