How to reduce the carbon footprint of a small business

To reduce the carbon footprint of a small business, measure it first so you know your biggest source, then tackle sources in order of size. For most firms that means heating and vehicles first, then electricity, business travel, waste, commuting and the things you buy. Reductions only count if you measured a baseline before you made the change, so the first step is always the footprint itself.

That is good news, because it means you do not have to do everything. A handful of well-chosen changes usually does most of the work.

Why should you measure before you cut anything?

Two reasons. First, small businesses are often wrong about where their emissions come from. A design studio may assume its laptops matter, when gas heating is half its footprint. A consultant may find that one long-haul flight outweighs a whole year of office electricity.

Second, a reduction is a comparison. “We fitted LED lighting” is a nice sentence. “Our electricity use fell from 15,000 kWh to 12,500 kWh after fitting LED lighting” is evidence that a buyer, a grant assessor or a lender will accept. You can only write the second one if you recorded the first number.

Your carbon baseline should cover a full 12 months, follow the GHG Protocol and use the UK Government conversion factors for that year. Once you have it, the order of work below becomes obvious.

Which sources usually matter most?

Here are the approximate 2026 UK factors for the sources small businesses most often have. Exact values are in the government workbook.

Source	Approximate 2026 factor	Scope
Natural gas	0.18 kg CO2e per kWh	1
Diesel	2.5 kg CO2e per litre	1
Average diesel van	0.41 kg CO2e per mile	1
Average petrol car	0.26 kg CO2e per mile	1 or 3
UK grid electricity (location-based)	0.13 kg CO2e per kWh	2
Domestic flight, with radiative forcing	0.23 kg CO2e per passenger km	3
National rail	0.03 kg CO2e per passenger km	3
Commercial waste to landfill	about 520 kg CO2e per tonne	3
Commercial waste to energy recovery	about 5 kg CO2e per tonne	3

Notice that a kWh of gas produces more emissions than a kWh of grid electricity, a domestic flight is around seven times rail per passenger kilometre, and the same tonne of waste can be a hundred times worse depending on where it goes. Those gaps are where your reductions are.

How do you cut heating emissions?

Gas, heating oil and LPG are Scope 1 and often the largest item for an office, shop or workshop.

• Controls first. Programmable thermostats, timers matched to your actual hours, and no heating at weekends. This costs little and is often the biggest quick saving.
• Lower the setpoint a degree. Small changes to temperature add up across a heating season.
• Stop the heat escaping. Draught-proof doors and windows, and keep doors closed when the heating is on.
• Plan the boiler replacement. A heat pump replaces fuel burning with electricity, which is far lower carbon per unit of heat. If you rent, raise it with your landlord well before the boiler is due. Our guide to green business grants covers funding that can help.

How do you cut electricity emissions?

Start with using fewer kWh, because that reduces every version of your figure. The Energy Saving Trust says LED bulbs use 80% less electricity than halogens for the same light. Switch equipment off overnight, check fridges and freezers are well maintained, and review out-of-hours usage on your smart meter data.

Then look at your tariff. A renewable tariff backed by REGOs brings your market-based Scope 2 emissions to zero. Your location-based figure stays the same, because it reflects the average UK grid, so report both. Our location-based vs market-based entry explains the difference. On-site solar is different again: the electricity you generate and use yourself reduces both figures.

If you charge electric vehicles at work, that electricity sits in Scope 2 as well.

How do you cut vehicle emissions?

For trades, field services and delivery businesses, vehicle fuel usually dwarfs everything else. Six diesel vans covering 12,000 miles each produce about 29.5 tonnes a year at roughly 0.41 kg per mile.

• Track litres or miles per vehicle. You cannot manage what you do not record.
• Plan routes and cut idling. Fewer miles is the cheapest reduction there is.
• Check tyre pressures and loads. Simple, regular and free.
• Go electric at lease end. An average battery electric car is about 0.04 kg CO2e per mile from charging on the 2026 factors, against about 0.26 kg for an average petrol car.

Do not forget staff driving their own cars for work (grey fleet). Those miles sit in Scope 3, and a mileage policy that favours rail or pool cars brings them down.

How do you cut business travel emissions?

Choose rail over domestic flights wherever the journey allows. Fly economy on long-haul trips, since business class carries a larger share of the plane’s emissions. Replace one trip a year with a video meeting, and combine visits where you can. Taxis and hotel nights count too, so a rule of public transport for city journeys and fewer overnight stays helps. Our guide to business travel emissions has the detail.

How do you cut waste and water emissions?

Ask your waste contractor one question: where does our general waste go? If it goes to landfill, moving to a contractor that sends it to energy recovery cuts that line dramatically, because the emissions from burning waste for energy are counted against the energy produced rather than your business. Then separate recycling properly and right-size your bins so you are not paying for collections you do not need.

Water is usually a small line for an office. Fix leaks and fit efficient taps, but do not let it distract from bigger sources.

What about commuting and homeworking?

Commuting is Scope 3 and can be sizeable for a team that drives in every day. The government’s Cycle to Work scheme, secure bike storage, season ticket loans and hybrid working all help.

Homeworking has its own footprint too. The UK Government homeworking factor is about 0.32 kg CO2e per full-time working hour, covering heating and equipment. Hybrid working usually still comes out ahead of a daily car commute, but it is not zero. Our guide to working-from-home emissions shows the sums.

What about the things you buy?

Purchased goods and services are often a large share of a small business’s wider footprint, but they are usually estimated from spend using government spend-based factors. That method is coarse: spending less reduces the figure, while choosing a lower-carbon supplier at the same price does not show up. Buy less, keep laptops and phones for longer, choose refurbished where it suits, and ask your main suppliers whether they measure their own emissions. As they do, you can replace estimates with better data.

How long will yours take?

Pick the option that sounds most like your business. You will see a realistic time, what to have nearby and a head start on the questions.

Which sounds most like you?

Sole trader working from homeConsultants, designers, developers, coaches10 to 15 minSole trader or freelancer in a co-working spaceA desk at a WeWork, Regus or local hub10 to 15 minSmall team in a co-working or serviced officeStartups and agencies with 2 to 25 people15 to 20 minSME with its own office and no vehiclesProfessional services, tech firms, studios20 to 30 minSME with vans, cars or regular staff travelTrades, field services, consultancies on the road30 to 45 minShop, cafe, workshop or product businessRetail, hospitality, makers and manufacturers30 to 45 min

Your estimate

About 20 to 30 minutes

Around 50 questions, most of them multiple choice

Still comfortably under half an hour.

You will add your electricity and gas use, plus a quick estimate of your bins. If you do not have the exact figures, the questionnaire works them out from your floor area instead.

Handy to have nearby

• A recent electricity and gas bill (or your office size in square metres)
• How many general waste and recycling bins you have
• Headcount and a rough idea of business trains and flights
• How your team usually gets to work

Missing something? Estimates are fine, and you can come back to any answer later.

Office-based firms usually have clear, low-cost ways to cut their footprint. Your action plan will list them in order.

Start with this profile

First report free. No card needed.

What does a reduction look like in practice?

Take a fictional 12-person accountancy firm in Bristol with its own office and no vehicles. In its baseline year it used 20,000 kWh of gas and 15,000 kWh of electricity, flew to Edinburgh and back four times for client work, and sent about 2 tonnes of general waste to landfill.

In the following year it fitted heating controls, swapped to LEDs, moved to a REGO-backed tariff, took the train to Edinburgh and changed waste contractor. Using the same approximate 2026 factors for both years, so the change reflects what the firm did rather than a cleaner grid:

Source	Before	After
Gas heating	20,000 kWh, about 3.6 t	17,000 kWh, about 3.1 t
Electricity (location-based)	15,000 kWh, about 2.0 t	12,500 kWh, about 1.6 t
Edinburgh trips	8 flights, about 0.9 t	8 rail journeys, about 0.2 t
General waste	2 t to landfill, about 1.0 t	2 t to energy recovery, under 0.1 t
Total	about 7.6 tCO2e	about 4.9 tCO2e

That is a cut of roughly a third, and the market-based electricity figure fell to zero on top. None of it needed a big budget. The next step for this firm would be the boiler, which is now its largest single source.

Where do you start?

With your baseline. ESG Now calculates your footprint across heating fuels, vehicles, refrigerants, electricity (location and market-based), EV charging, flights, rail, staff mileage, taxis, hotels, commuting, homeworking, waste, water, couriers and an optional spend-based estimate of purchases. Every calculation is shown, each source is labelled measured, estimated or a data gap, and your private action plan lists reductions in order of impact.

An office business usually finishes in 20 to 30 minutes, and your answers save as you go. Your first report is free, with no card needed. Start your report, then use our guide to net zero for small businesses to turn the reductions into a target.