How to choose practical carbon reduction actions

A footprint is useful when it helps you decide what to look at next. Start with the activities behind your figures, then choose changes your business can realistically make and check.

Check the figures before choosing changes

Look at the activity breakdown, not just the total. Does gas, vehicle use or business travel account for a large share of the emissions you have calculated? Those are possible places to investigate. A large result based on a weak estimate may need better records before a spending decision.

Check missing sources too. Standard CRP covers supported Scope 1 and 2 sources and the five PPN 006 Scope 3 categories. Extended footprint adds selected sources; it is not a complete Scope 3 inventory. A source absent from this calculation is not necessarily small or irrelevant.

Use the data checklist and working Evidence Pack to check the period, units, estimates and evidence references. Keep an unresolved data question separate from a reduction idea. Finding a missing gas bill improves your information; it does not reduce gas use. Read understanding your business carbon footprint before treating the breakdown as a priority list.

Choose a small number of practical options

Ask the person responsible for each activity what drives it and which changes are possible. For example:

• Building energy: compare heating, cooling and lighting schedules with actual occupancy. Check whether controls and maintenance are appropriate. Keep ventilation, frost protection, safe temperatures and equipment requirements intact.
• Business travel: identify repeated journeys. Could some meetings work remotely, visits be combined, or a suitable rail journey replace a flight? Check cost, working time, accessibility and the purpose of the trip.
• Freight: ask the carrier for shipment weights, routes, transport modes and calculation information before comparing options. Discuss delivery frequency or consolidation only where service, stock and storage requirements allow.

The Carbon Trust's Better business guide to energy saving provides practical energy-management ideas. Use it to investigate your own premises, not to copy a generic saving percentage into your plan.

Before changing heating equipment, electrical systems, building fabric or operating settings with safety implications, get appropriate qualified advice and check any landlord restrictions. Carbon Verify is not an equipment-design or safety-assessment tool.

Compare shortlisted ideas by control, effort, cost, operational impact and strength of evidence. These are rough priorities, not verified returns on investment. It is reasonable to investigate an option before committing to installation or a claimed emissions saving.

Record what has happened and what is planned

In stage 6, Reduction plan, keep Environmental Management Measures Implemented separate from Planned Carbon Reduction Projects. Include the responsible person, intended date and what you will check in the project description or your supporting action log.

A useful planned entry might be: “Facilities manager to review workshop heating schedules against opening hours by 30 November 2026. Keep the agreed settings and monthly gas readings. Any change must preserve safe working conditions.” This is a fictional example, not a recommendation for every workshop.

Record completed measures with their real dates and supporting evidence. A revised travel policy is completed when adopted; its emissions impact still needs checking. Distinguish estimated savings from measured results and explain the method behind either figure.

Only enter targets genuinely agreed by the business. Carbon Verify records projected emissions and dates you supply; it does not model your proposals or demonstrate that those targets are achievable. Management approval must reflect a real review. See preparing a Carbon Reduction Plan.

Check activity consistently after the change

Keep comparable activity records and review them with the action owner. A fall in energy use might also reflect warmer weather, fewer opening hours or lower production. Explain those changes rather than attributing the whole difference to your measure.

When comparing reporting periods, use comparable coverage and document any method changes. Save dated project files and issued documents. Carbon Verify does not automatically forecast or confirm achievement of your targets.

Keep carbon credits separate from actual reductions in business activity. Gross emissions remain the basis for reduction targets. Buying credits does not by itself establish a carbon-neutral or net-zero claim.

Related guides

• Preparing carbon data for a consultant
• How to understand your business carbon footprint
• What to send when a customer asks for your carbon footprint