One of the most common questions we get from our portfolio is “we want to engage in the climate agenda but what can we as an early-stage tech company really do?”
To help answer that question and inspire action we asked Leaders for Climate Action (LFCA) to put together an easy checklist to help inspire to action for purely digital companies. We also asked Google to show us what the giants are doing to help smaller companies along.
LFCA
6 actions that you can take from day 1
- Pick a green cloud provider
- Introduce bring your own device (BYOD) policy and/or buy used electronics
- Make home working part of your culture from Day 1 and set a sustainable travel policy
- Lock commitment to sustainability in your vision/mission statement
- Pick a bank and pension fund that puts climate first
- Do due diligence on your investors
When you are ready for the next steps
- Set a baseline. Define what's material to you and measure your corporate carbon emissions, including Scope 3, on an annual basis.
- Strategise. Host a workshop to set ambitious, science-based goals that align with or exceed the 1.5 C ambition from the Paris Agreement.
- Plan. Develop a climate action plan to achieve those goals, assigning responsibility to team members and ensuring oversight from board members.
- Act. Take action on what you can influence, such as your company culture, digital infrastructure, travel policy, bank, and catering options for employees. Don't be discouraged by imperfection or starting small.
- Walk the talk. Allocate real resources to support your efforts, advocate for change with customers and policymakers, collaborate with peers, and join like-minded communities.
- Aim high. Go beyond immediate claims such as carbon neutrality and net zero and embed sustainability in your business model. This can involve designing for impact, investing in broader innovation and projects accelerating the transition, and launching new sustainable product and service lines.