100+ climate actions for work | Big Green Ideas List

You’re already doing plenty of sustainable things at home, so do you really need to take climate action at work as well?

We think yes – in fact, we’d argue it’s even more important to make changes at work. That’s because the actions you take at work will have a much bigger impact than the actions you take as an individual.

For example, as an environmentally-conscious person, you might already choose products that aren’t packaged in plastic, have a renewable energy tariff, or write to your MP about environmental issues. That’s great – but if you can get your workplace to cut plastic out of all its packaging, sign up for renewable energy tariffs across all their stores, or get your CEO to have a chat with the minister in charge of your industry, you can multiply your impact a thousand times.

That’s because actions taken by organisations make it easier for thousands, even millions of people to make sustainable choices – whether they want to or not!

Climate actions for work - image shows a woman leading a group of colleagues having a brainstorming meeting at work

So how do I work out what my climate actions for work should be?

You could just read the whole list and do what jumps out at you, and that would probably be a great idea if you just want a few quick wins at this point.

But to get the most out of this section and really make sustainable changes at work, we need you to spend a few minutes thinking about your job.

First, write down whether you work in a senior role or a middle/junior role. This affects how you go about making changes. Read the appropriate section and pick up some ideas.

Next, write down how you work. There are specific tips for you if you work indoors, work with other people, use computers and other electronic equipment, work in government at any level, or work in finance.

Finally, think about the actual work you do. There are thousands of different jobs out there, so rather than list them all (!) we’ve split our ideas into categories based on the activities people do in their jobs. Think about the activities you do, and (if appropriate) the things that your staff do. Write them down in simple terms, as if you were describing your job to a small child.

Here’s an example based on an office manager’s role. For this exercise, we’d say this person “buys things”, “disposes of things”, “uses equipment”, “recruits or manages people”, “checks things” and “buys or signs contracts for things”.

What you do	What we’d say you do
Make sure there’s always enough loo roll, coffee and paper	Buy things
Make sure people dispose of office waste properly	Dispose of things
Un-jam the photocopier	Use equipment
Get someone in to unblock the drains	Recruit or manage people
Make sure the office is on a good electricity tariff (plus a thousand other things!)	Check things or Buy and sign contracts for things

When you’ve done that for your own role, check out our ideas below, and start making sustainable changes at work!

Climate actions for work step 1 – what level do you work at?

I’m in a senior role

If you’re in a senior role, you have a lot of opportunity to change your company’s policies (or your council’s policies, or your country’s policies, depending on what you lead). So all the suggestions in the other sections apply to you too, because you set the organisation’s direction, and ultimately everyone who does those things reports to you.

In addition, many of the topics in our home section can be applied to work too. For example, you can choose to get solar panels on your factory roof, plant wildflowers in front of reception, or get more vegan options in the cafeteria; you can do whatever you like!

Here are some more ideas:

Appoint an Environmental Lead or Sustainability Champion to help drive change. Make it easy for other people in your organisation to raise ideas with them
Get your management team onside (either by persuading the team you have, or by active recruitment)
Promote women – according to Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac in their inspiring book, The Future We Choose, companies, countries, Non-Governmental Organisations and financial institutions take stronger climate action when they are led by women or have a higher proportion of women in decision-making roles.^[1](The authors suggest that this may be because women are often more sensitive to a wide range of views, and are better at working collaboratively with a longer-term perspective.)
Leading on from that, provide a route for all historically excluded/under-represented people, including quiet and thoughtful people of all ethnicities and genders, to participate in decision-making. Listening to voices you haven’t heard before is likely to widen your perspective and lead to better decision making
If the government in your country isn’t legislating for the necessary climate change policies, make the decision to do them anyway
Check where your organisation’s investments are held (including cash, pensions, shares, loans, and other financial instruments), and divest from fossil fuels
Include environmental targets in your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Include your environmental KPIs in your annual budget and monthly reporting pack
Report selected KPIs, including your environmental ones, to staff to encourage improvement
Reward environmentally responsible behaviours
Start a cycle-to-work scheme
Give your staff an extra day’s paid leave if they’re staying in the country, or going on holiday overseas by sea or rail, instead of flying
Give staff a paid day off per month/quarter to spend working on a community project that’s important to them (maybe link the benefit to their job performance). Encourage them to report back to other staff to promote enthusiasm and community engagement
Use your risk assessment framework to assess and mitigate climate change risks in your workplace
If you can’t eliminate all your environmentally damaging actions, build carbon offsetting into your decisions. It’s not perfect but it provides an easy mechanism to put a price on environmental damage for budgeting purposes. The UN Climate Convention maintains a list of projects around the world which you can filter by cost, project type, location, benefits, industry, and how long they’ve been running. This should help you avoid contributing to low-impact projects, or projects that accidentally do more harm than good
Find out if you can use R&D tax credits to help your organisation fund climate-positive research and development
Implement sustainable capital projects, e.g. insulation or solar panels. Grants and loans may be available in your area or industry
Take a Zero Carbon Britain course to learn about the actions we can take towards a zero-carbon future, how your organisation can be part of that, and make connections with like-minded people
Look into becoming a certified B Corp. B Corps are ethical businesses that balance purpose and profit. Unlike normal companies (which only have a responsibility to their shareholders) B Corps are legally required to consider the impact their decisions will have on the environment, their workers, their customers, and the community. Learn more about B Corps here
Introduce a “golden share” mechanism, giving trusted guardians a veto over decisions that weaken your ethical strategy or sustainability commitments
If you are based in Scotland, look into the Zero Waste Scotland Circular Economy Investment Fund (or its successor in 2023 and beyond). At the time of writing, the fund has invested £12.5m in more than 60 projects with small and medium-sized enterprises to accelerate the transition to a more circular economy
Donate as much as you can afford to a sustainable cause, like ocean clean-up technology, sustainable development projects in developing nations, or returning the management and legal ownership of land to indigenous people (if it matters to you, check the tax implications with your accountant first)

I’m in a middle or junior role

Read the “I’m in a senior role” section anyway, so you can make suggestions to the decision-makers in your organisation
If your organisation doesn’t seem to care about sustainability, try pitching your ideas based on “it will save you money” (if that’s true) or “it will improve our eco-credentials – that’s a marketing opportunity, which could attract new customers and improve our customer retention”
Find out who your environmental lead/sustainability champion is. If your organisation hasn’t got one, suggest it. Put yourself forward for the role if you think you would be good at it
In your own head, add “… and Joint Head of Environmental Responsibility” to your job title, to remind yourself to keep looking for improvements

Climate actions for work step 2 – how do you work?

I work inside

Switch off lights when you are the last person to leave a room
Set the timers on your heaters or aircon unit so you’re only using them when necessary
Get blinds for your windows to prevent heat loss in winter and overheating in summer

I work with other people

Find like-minded people, and bounce ideas off them. For example, you might not be in a position to introduce a new packaging solution you’ve heard about, but if you tell the buyer or the operations manager, they might be able to do it
Set up an official or unofficial Terracycle collection point and collect your colleagues’ crisp packets, toothpaste tubes, used pens, and chocolate bar wrappers (amongst many other things). If necessary deliver the collected items to an official Terracycle drop-off point every so often. This action diverts items from landfill, acts as a visual reminder to think about your actions, and may help you find a green ally who can support you in making further changes at work
Set up a “help yourself” box in your break room. If you’ve got food that’s going to go off before you can use it, purchases you don’t like, or excess garden produce, put them in the box so they don’t go to waste
Get a food buddy and share bulk purchases, or place bulk orders with vegan/sustainable online stores to cut postage costs
Bring in bags of unwanted clothes and invite people to help themselves
As well as avoiding waste, these ideas create the opportunity for conversations about green issues, which can help you find allies to promote sustainable initiatives at work

I use a computer, mobile phone or other technology

Switch off your monitor when it’s not in use
Switch off your computer, or make it go to sleep, at the end of the working day (assuming it doesn’t have to stay on for operational reasons – check with your manager and IT department if in doubt)
Recycle your used laser toner cartridges with The Recycling Factory. You can even donate the value of your used cartridges to one of over 100 charities (they have raised over £4m so far for charitable causes)
Set your default printer setting to print double sided
While you’re in settings, also change your ink settings to draft/eco or reduce the intensity percentage
Even better, set your default print setting to pdf (and set up a sensible system of folders so you can find your documents again)
Dispose of your IT equipment sustainably with Computer Aid. They collect old IT equipment, but rather than recycling the equipment, they refurbish them and use them to reduce technological inequality in the developing world. According to their website, they comply with WEEE, data protection (GDPR), hazardous waste and duty of care regulations
Dispose of your old mobile phones with Fonebank, which recycles mobile phones on behalf of Oxfam. You can choose to donate 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the value of your phone to Oxfam
Switch your charger off at the wall when you’re not using it, or use a solar charger

I work in government or public service

In addition to any of the other sections that apply to you:

Declare a climate emergency – work with Earthday, who are calling on local officials to prioritise public health and sustainable economic growth
Take a course to learn about the actions we can take towards a zero-carbon future, how your organisation can be part of that, and meet up with representatives from other local authorities e.g. Zero Carbon Britain: Carbon Literacy for Local Authorities Online
Look into finance for a large-scale, community renewable energy project
Reduce pesticide use and rewild public land (eg parks, grass verges)
Connect with other local authorities to learn about successful community food projects, bike schemes, and insulation projects that other authorities have run
Work towards a sustainable public transport system by setting up a local on-demand bus service, like HertsLynx, which allows anyone to travel anywhere they want to go in North & East Hertfordshire for very little money
Read our Influence section and see which ideas you can implement or champion within your organisation

I work in finance

Check where your organisation’s investments are held (including cash, pensions, shares, loans, and other financial instruments). Look for opportunities to divest from fossil fuels, and either make those changes or bring the opportunities to the attention of the decision-makers
Look for a point-of-sale system that emails receipts to customers instead of printing them, like Tillex
Send invoices to customers via email instead of post; even better, send them a link in an email (billions of email attachments, saved forever, add up to a lot of energy wasted maintaining unnecessary servers)
Save paper and storage costs by using a digital accounts-payable process. This allows you to receive and store invoices as pdfs, automatically import invoices and bank transactions to your accounts system, and track authorisation electronically
Find out if you can use R&D tax credits to help your organisation fund climate-positive research and development
Find out if you can access grants or loans to fund sustainable capital projects, e.g. insulation or solar panels
If your organisation’s budgeting process penalises departments that under-spend (encouraging unnecessary end-of-year spending) adopt a more sustainable policy (perhaps one that rewards under-spending, providing targets are met and morale remains good)
If you administer your company’s pension scheme, make sure you know what the fund’s default investment strategy is, and tell employees how they can change to a more sustainable strategy if they want to
If you are based in Scotland, look into the Zero Waste Scotland Circular Economy Investment Fund (or its successor). At the time of writing, the fund has invested £12.5m in more than 60 projects with small and medium-sized enterprises to accelerate the transition to a more circular economy

Climate actions for work step 3 – what tasks do you do?

I decide or influence…

I buy or sign contracts for…

I dispose of…

I sell, promote or advertise…

I recruit or manage people…

I grow, nurture or raise…

I study or analyse…

I teach or advise…

I help or serve…

I protect, maintain or look after…

I destroy or demolish…

I wear…

I decide or influence…

Make sure you’re putting the environment front and centre in the decision-making process
When making big decisions (e.g. which packaging to use, or which fleet of vehicles to lease) look at the environmental damage caused in the supply chain, in use, and in disposal/decommissioning, as well as the financial cost
Communicate the reasons behind your decision to colleagues so they are less likely to challenge you
Communicate your sustainable business decisions to customers, but be humble and truthful – environmentally conscious consumers hate greenwashing and you can expect a backlash if your marketing team oversells your progress (or lies!)

I buy or sign contracts for…

Make a list of the goods and services you or your team buy or negotiate contracts for
Are there more sustainable versions available, e.g. renewable electricity tariffs, recycled paper, or recyclable packaging? If you are in charge of buying decisions or contracts for your whole organisation, you have the opportunity to make a big impact with your choices
Are the sustainable versions cheaper or not much more expensive?
Work the environmental cost into your budget, e.g. by pricing in carbon offsetting
Challenge yourself or your department heads to think about processes. Are you buying things that aren’t really necessary?
Can you rework your processes to reduce the amount of goods you buy?
Contact companies higher up the supply chain and put pressure on them to produce more sustainable products
If your organisation’s budgeting process penalises departments that under-spend (encouraging unnecessary end-of-year spending) speak to senior managers and finance about adopting a more sustainable policy (perhaps one that rewards under-spending, providing targets are met and morale remains good)

I dispose of…

Make a list of the things that need to be disposed of as a result of your department’s activity. What makes you feel uncomfortable? That’s where you should start
Analyse your processes to see where waste can be reduced.
Think about double-sided printing, making documents fit on one page, digital solutions, eliminating single-use products (if it’s safe to do so), finding other organisations that need your waste products as inputs, and re-working processes to make them as efficient as possible and avoid re-work
Use alternative ways of disposing of things, e.g. :
– The Recycling Factory for printer cartridges
– Terracycle for pens, KIMTECH apparel and nitrile gloves, and much more
– Computer Aid for old IT equipment (including GDPR-compliant data wiping)
and
– Fonebank, which recycles mobile phones on behalf of Oxfam. You can choose to donate 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the value of your phone to Oxfam
Does your employer provide recycling bins?
If not, talk to them about getting some. The cost of emptying each recycling “dumpster” is usually cheaper than emptying a general waste dumpster, so it should be easy to convince them.
If so, make sure the bins are labelled clearly to prevent contamination and check that your cleaner disposes of the separated waste properly, rather than just tipping it all in one bag

I sell, promote or advertise…

Are you proud of what you’re selling? Be honest: is it wasteful tat? (If so, please stop and use your talent to sell something better).
Is there a market for more sustainable versions of your product? Can you feed that back to decision-makers?
Is it overpackaged? Can you feed that back to decision-makers?
Can you provide your customers with instructions on how to recycle your products and packaging?
If you travel to make sales, can you improve your route?
Could you use video conferencing instead of travelling?
If your company sells sustainable and less-sustainable versions of similar products, can the sustainable versions be highlighted more clearly to the customer?
Could you sell a more sustainable version of your product, or enter a new market?
Avoid using plastic promotional items as giveaways
What environmentally friendly things does your company do well? Can you base a marketing campaign around that?
Consult with others in your organisation to produce a list of all the sustainability improvements you’ve made, and what you’re working on next. Publish it on your website and challenge your competitors to do better. Take great care to avoid greenwashing!

I recruit or manage people…

Actively recruit people who worked towards climate change solutions in their previous roles. Ask for examples of actions they took in their previous role or in their voluntary activities
See whether interviewees become more engaged when they talk about green issues
Make sure new recruits understand how your company promotes green initiatives, and the route for making suggestions
Add “what have you done to decrease waste or energy use this year?” to your appraisal form
Make it compulsory to set an environment-related objective for the next appraisal period
Offer part-time working and work-from-home.
Employing part-time workers is good for the environment because it gives your employees more free time to cook, garden, and source things they need responsibly, while work-from-home gives your employees back the time they used to spend commuting, reduces transport emissions, and saves your business money on office space and heating/electricity costs

I clean…

What cleaning products do you use?
Are there more environmentally sound versions available?
Are they cheaper or not much more expensive?
Are you and your colleagues using and disposing of them safely?

I check…

What processes and materials do you use?
How could you change your processes to use less energy or materials?
Would that save your company money, or cost only a bit more?
Can you introduce technology to check things remotely?
If you have to travel to check things, can you do it less often, combine your checks with other tasks, or travel in a more sustainable way (e.g. electric vehicle)

I make or build…

What processes and materials do you use?
How could you change them to use less energy or materials?
Would that save your company money, or cost only a bit more?

I send or deliver…

What packaging do you use?
Are more environmentally friendly alternatives available, e.g. potato starch wrappers, unbleached cardboard, crumpled paper instead of packing noodles, or wool batting to insulate chill-chain products?
What delivery company do you use? Can you change to one that uses electric vehicles, or land instead of air freight?
Can you use Royal Mail, who are pretty much guaranteed to be going to your customer’s home or premises already?
Does your product have to be physically delivered or could it be sent electronically?
Can you give your customers instructions on how to recycle their product or packaging after use?
Can you use an electric vehicle or bicycle?
Can you plan your route to minimise the distance travelled, or minimise time stuck in traffic?
Can you use software to communicate with customers and reduce failed deliveries?

I write…

Are you using environmentally sound products or software?
Are you using energy efficiently?
Is your hosting sustainable?
Are you thinking about the environmental impact of what you’re writing about?
How can you influence the readers of whatever you are writing?

I design or create…

Do you design or create your product with the environment in mind?
Are you proud of what you’re designing or creating? Honestly, is it wasteful? (If so, please stop and use your talent to design or create something better)
Is it overpackaged?
Are you designing-in obsolescence? (If so, please stop.)
Does the product you design or create inspire better things?
Could you sell a more sustainable version of your product, or enter a new market?
Can you use plant-based textiles instead of leather or plastic?
Can you make your defaults more environmentally friendly (e.g. design a washing machine so that the wash defaults to 30 degrees instead of 60 degrees)
Can you redesign patterns to minimise waste?
Can you reuse the offcuts in another product?
If you are designing things that will be (or might be) printed, are they optimised to minimise paper and ink usage?
Can you make the parts of the packaging or product easily separable for recycling?
Can you include clear recycling instructions that are easy to read and understand?
Check out the British Plastics Federation’s PackScore, a tool to help build recyclability into packaging design
Check out this competition for funding for people working on more sustainable packaging solutions
Can you develop your career path to work on climate change solutions?

I repair or restock…

What products do you use in the repair process? Are there more environmentally sound versions available? Are they cheaper or not much more expensive?
How do you and your colleagues dispose of waste parts? Can they be recycled?
Is there a market for “imperfect repairs”, e.g. products that still work but are a bit scratched up?
Is your company making you write off products that are still viable, or would be viable with just a little more effort? Raise the issue with management or your environmental lead if you have one. Work out what it would cost to do the repair correctly, and encourage them to think about how much positive publicity could be gained from that. Alternatively, could the items could be given away to charity or recycled instead of landfilled?

I drive or travel…

Do you have to travel, or could you use video-conferencing?
Can you persuade your company to use a more sustainable fleet?
Are you eco-driving?
Are you wasting fuel by carrying too much unnecessary stuff?
Measure your emissions: UK government emissions data (for emissions per mile/km)
Measure again after taking action
Let customers know that you’re taking action, while reassuring them it’s not going to cost them anything

I fly…

What can your organisation do to reduce business flights?
Measure your emissions:
UK government emissions data (for emissions per mile / km)
Great Circle Mapper (for distances)
Multiply the two to get emissions per flight
Use video conferencing instead
Hold company events locally or in your own country, rather than overseas
Use rail for domestic and continental trips; if this takes longer, agree with your manager that you’ll do your emails or catch up on training while you travel, and that it will count towards your working hours
If you must fly, travel direct and by economy.
Travelling direct reduces emission-heavy takeoffs and landings.
Travelling by economy reduces the emissions attributable to each person, as economy is packed more densely than business class
Choose an airline with more modern, efficient planes
Choose an airline with a policy of operating full flights
Let customers know that you’re taking these actions, while reassuring them it’s not going to cost them anything
Measure your emissions again after taking action to check that overall emissions are reducing

I cook or serve…

Are you using locally sourced and mainly plant-based ingredients?
Are you minimising food waste?
Are you using reusable plates and cutlery (or environmentally sound disposable versions, like bamboo, if metal/sharp utensils aren’t allowed for safety reasons)?
Are you using energy efficiently?
Do you promote vegetarian and vegan options?
Can you cut meat from the menu altogether, even if it’s only one day a week to start with?

I grow, nurture or raise…

What processes and materials do you use in the growing or rearing process?
How could you change them to use less energy or chemicals?
Would that save your company money, or cost only a bit more?
Could you sell a greener version, or enter a new market?
Look into regenerative agriculture, organic farming, no-till farming, rewilding, and alternative crops like hemp and miscanthus grass

I study, analyse or develop…

Are you putting the environment front and centre as you analyse, research and report back?
Can you develop your career path to work on climate change solutions?
Are you using environmentally sound products and processes in your work?
Could you change your processes to use less energy or materials? Would that save your organisation money, or cost only a bit more?
Could you develop a more sustainable version of your product, or enter a new market?
Can you access finance or tax relief to help fund more sustainable research?

I teach or advise…

How can you use your influence to make others think about their environmental impact? There’s likely to be an environmental aspect to whatever you’re teaching or advising on, whether you’re teaching in a school or advising people on their pensions
Normalise sustainable actions by using them as the subject of class activities (at whatever level you teach at) (“Nigel fits 2 solar panels in one hour. How may can he fit in 8 hours?”)
Make sure your students understand the environmental impact of whatever you’re teaching them, and how to minimise that impact

I help or serve…

Think about the processes that are involved when you help or serve people. What processes and materials do you use? Can you adapt them to be more efficient and use less resources?
Can you influence people to make more environmentally friendly choices?
Is your organisation providing the most environmentally-friendly products for you to use, and helping you dispose of things safely?

I protect, maintain or look after…

What processes and materials do you use in your work?
How could you change them to use less energy, chemicals or materials?
Would that save your company money, or cost only a bit more?
How do you dispose of the things you use in your job?

I destroy or demolish…

If you destroy dangerous things, try reversing your thinking and answering the “I protect” question instead
If you destroy other things, try and find alternative uses for the things you destroy (e.g. imaginative ways to reuse old building materials, alternative uses for old textiles, or find industries that require your waste product as their inputs)
If you destroy things that are useful or valuable, maybe question your life choices

I wear…

If you are in charge of getting your own uniform or special clothing, and if it’s safe to do so, buy it from a supplier that uses natural or recycled fabrics rather than virgin plastic or man-made fibres
If you aren’t in charge of what you wear, start a conversation with your company’s buyer about changing your company’s policies
If you are responsible for washing your own clothing, check whether it is made of plastics/man-made fibres and if so use a guppy bag or filter to prevent microplastics from entering the water system
If your job requires you to wear a constantly-updated wardrobe, or an occasional high-end piece of clothing like evening dress, try renting your clothes instead of buying

Random ideas

This is where we’ve put any random climate actions for work we’ve come across that, one day, we’ll turn into a bigger post. But they’re here so they don’t get lost in the meantime. Enjoy!

Barristers – follow the lead of the Good Law Project and 120 leading barristers – pledge not to act for fossil fuel companies, and not to prosecute those who peacefully protest for action on climate change (n.b. this action carries professional risk which you will undoubtedly be aware of – proceed at your own risk)
Judges – impose the absolute minimum sentences you can get away with on eco-protesters

Do you have any more ideas?

We’d love to hear from you, particularly in our sections that are a bit weak. If you have any climate actions for work we haven’t thought of, please email info@biggreenideaslist.com with your suggestions!

Note

Our suggestions assume management is receptive to change and/or you are empowered to make changes yourself. In some cases, you may be locked into bad environmental practices at work. If so, you have some uncomfortable choices to make, which could include continuing to work in the hope that things will improve; leaving to work for a competitor, or in a different field; or whistleblowing (going to the press or regulator, which carries significant personal risk). Your choice will probably depend on your personal situation, whether or not any laws are being broken, and whether or not your organisation is big enough that whistleblowing is worth your personal loss.

_{[1] Figueres, C. and Rivett-Carnac, T. (2021) “Action 9 – Build Gender Equality,” in The Future We Choose – the stubborn optimist’s guide to the climate crisis. London: Manilla Press, pp. 146–150.}

_{^{Image credits:
Generic business park or workplace: photo by Ben Griffiths on Unsplash}}
_{^{Climate action for work – a woman leads a group of colleagues having a brainstorming meeting at work: photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash}}