Reduce the carbon footprint of your communications

Communication is vital in our world, it connects and informs, improving our life with knowledge whilst providing business and the consumer with choice and benefits. Understanding how to reduce the carbon footprint of your communications plays a big part in your brand strategy and planning.

All communication has an impact on our world in terms of a carbon footprint. Managing your communication so that only necessary and appropriate communications are sent out is a matter of proper data management (so only relevant messages are sent to the correct target audiance) and that your message is sent via the most appropriate medium (appropriate to cost, consumer GDPR preferences and value return).

When you start planning your customer journey and communication strategy and inline with most organisations’ desire to reduce their carbon footprint, it is vital therefore to have a full knowledge of the impact of your overall brand communications.

New research commissioned by energy company, OVO, has revealed that sending and receiving emails has a huge carbon footprint. Over 64 million unnecessary emails are sent by Brits everyday, and the study found that UK adults could make one small change to the save over 16,433 tonnes of carbon per year. (OVO Energy, 2019) This phenomenal amount of carbon could be reduced simply by each adult sending one less ‘unactionable’ email per day.

The study found that almost three quarters (72%) of the UK are completely unaware of the carbon footprint associated with email, with 49% of Britons confessing to sending unnecessary emails to a colleague or friend within talking distance every single day.

Sending just one less email a day would reduce our collective carbon output by the equivalent of 81,152 flights to Madrid or taking 3,334 diesel cars off the road.

“Whilst the carbon footprint of an email isn’t huge, it’s a great illustration of the broader principle that cutting the waste out of our lives is good for our well-being and good for the environment,” says Mike Berners-Lee, author, researcher and brother of Tim, inventor of the World Wide Web. “Every time we take a small step towards changing our behaviour, be that sending fewer emails or carrying a reusable coffee cup, we need to treat it as a reminder to ourselves and others that we care even more about the really big carbon decisions.”

Paper communication is one of the few truly sustainable products

Paper is based on wood, a natural and renewable material. As young trees grow they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Furthermore, as a wood product, paper also continues to store carbon throughout its lifetime.

The paper industry has a number of respected certification schemes ensuring the paper you use has come from a sustainable forest source. The two most recognisable certifications are the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC™).

Both PEFC and FSC are committed to achieving the same objectives – the certification of forests to credible, independently verified standards of responsible forest management, and focus on conserving the natural habitats of plants and animals and respecting the rights of forestry workers and local communities. Both PEFC and FSC operate a robust chain of custody schemes that track wood and wood fibre through every step of the supply chain, from the forest to the end-user. For more information see Two Sides

Romax provides a balanced communciation service that starts with data analysis to ensure that there is no wasted costs or unncessary communication sent whatever media is used. Our carbon-balanced status and environmental credentials provide clients with assurance that their campaigns have the lowest environmental impact.