These days no business can afford to ignore environmental responsibility. Many customers now check businesses eco-credentials before parting with their money. As well as being good business, looking after the environment is everyone’s responsibility, whether you’re running a huge corporation or doing your bit at home. But if your customers ask what you are doing for the environment, what do you tell them? Here are five ways to show your customers that you care about the environment.

1. Optimize your transport

If you’re running a business that requires you to make deliveries then one of the first actions you can take is to reduce the environmental impact of transporting goods. There are two main ways to do this. The first is to optimize your delivery routes so that you are spending less time on the road and using less fuel. A consultant will be able to help you with this process. The second is to use more eco-friendly transport methods such as hybrid or electric vehicles.

2. Reduce energy usage

There are lots of ways to reduce the use of energy within your business. This can happen in every arena from the office space to the production plant. Within the office, switch to energy-saving bulbs, low flush toilets and recycling paper products (when you print out a document and no longer need it the other side can be used for making notes). In the production arena, examine ways to produce your products by using more energy efficient methods and buying sustainable raw materials where possible. Renewable energy and recycled materials are the order of the day.

3. Spread the environmental net

Environmental responsibility is not just about your personal actions but those of every person works in the company. If you’re running a company, then it’s your responsibility to provide training so that everyone knows how they can help. You can also make it a priority for your suppliers by insisting that they improve their processes and actions to make their operations more energy efficient and sustainable.

4. Offset emissions

It’s hard to run a business without generating at least some CO2. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be environmentally responsible. Join a carbon offset program and offset your usage by contributing to eco-friendly projects. And you can even go further and ensure that you produce enough carbon offsets to be completely carbon neutral.

5. Tell the world

Once you have optimized your transport, energy usage, environmental actions and CO2 emissions, then it’s time to put your actions into a publicly available environmental policy. Hold yourself accountable for your environmental actions and make sure your customers know about it. Then they will feel comfortable doing business with you as an environmentally responsible company.

Sharon Hurley Hall writes for Eden Springs. The UK’s No 1. supplier of office water coolers, Eden Springs is also the UK’s first provider of certified carbon neutral water.