Reducing CO2 emissions as an entrepreneur
Do you want to reduce the CO2 emissions of your business? You can do so by choosing sustainable transport, business operations, and premises. You will save costs. And comply with current and future legislation to reduce CO2 emissions.
How to reduce CO2 emissions as an entrepreneur
You can reduce CO2 emissions by taking action on, for example:
- environmentally friendly transport for you and your staff travel (sustainable mobility)
- sustainable business premises (commercial property)
- making your production and purchasing more sustainable
Sustainable transport
You can encourage sustainable mobility by enabling your employees to travel in more sustainable ways. Almost half of all traffic on the road results from business travel. More sustainable travel helps to reduce CO2 emissions.
Energy efficient business premises
Making your business premises energy efficient means less CO2 emissions and lower energy costs. Save energy by, for example, switching to LED lighting. Or by opting for alternative energy to heat or cool your premises.
Take energy-saving measures
Does your business have an annual energy consumption of more than 50,000 kWh of electricity or 25,000 m of natural gas (equivalent)? Then you must take energy-saving measures. This is stated in the environmental management Activities Decree (Besluit activiteitenbesluit milieubeheer Bal).and the Decree on construction works in the living environment (Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving, Bbl). You must also report your energy saving measures once every 4 years.
Energy label C for office buildings
Make your building energy efficient. Offices must have energy label C or higher since 2023. If not, you may no longer use the space as an office. Use the Netherlands Enterprise Agency’s decision tree (in Dutch) to check whether you need to comply with the energy label C rule.
Alternative energy
The government encourages the use of alternative energy sources. For example solar,wind or geothermal heat (in Dutch). This offers your company opportunities to move away from gas.
Sustainable purchasing and production
With sustainable business operations you can reduce CO2 emissions and save costs. Think about which sustainable topics are important to you.
When making purchasing decisions, you consider factors such as the price, quality, and delivery time of a product. Sustainable purchasing means also paying attention to the consequences for people and the environment. You are responsible for the whole supply chain of the product you sell. From raw material to finished product. So, make sure you know what is happening in the production chain and with your suppliers. And see how you can prevent or stop risks. Use MVO Nederland’s CSR Risk Check tool to find out how to do this.
Complying with environmental regulations means you will lower the CO2 emissions of your production processes. In addition, you can use raw materials in a smarter way through circular entrepreneurship.
If you separate your waste, raw materials can be reused. In the company waste separation tool you can see which waste you must separate. There is also a checklist available.
Subsidies for energy saving measures
The government supports entrepreneurs in taking energy-saving measures. There are various financial and tax arrangements available to help you cover your costs. Check the RVO's Subsidy and Funding Guide for more information on schemes that are suitable for your business.
Statistics: CO2 emissions per sector
Questions relating to this article?
Please contact the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce, KVK