Commercial is one of the largest office services and supplies companies in the UK, with five divisions providing Office Supplies, Interiors, Print Procurement, IT Services and Recruitment. Founded 17 years ago, it has grown consistently year on year and now serves over 2000 customers in the UK and Ireland.

Simon Graham is Environmental Strategist at the Group. He is responsible for designing and managing the groupwide Carbon Reduction Programme which has a target to reduce emissions by 75 per cent over three years.

What prompted your company to embark on the 'green route'?

"Simone Mann, a Director and Co-Founder of Commercial, was invited by one of our customers, BSkyB, to an audience with Al Gore, including a screening of The Inconvenient Truth in May 2006. She returned to Commercial convinced that the company had both an obligation to respond to climate change and an opportunity to show leadership and innovation.

"The film was shown to staff and, when they were given the chance to respond, a huge majority committed to helping the company to reduce its environmental impact. Two teams with representation from across the divisions, one focusing of carbon and the other on waste, were launched and are responsible for implementing the reduction programme, and I am proud to say that the best ideas have come from the staff themselves."

How has your company benefited from this orientation?

"The company has benefited financially, with over £100,000 in annual efficiency savings, but the main gain has been in the staff. The Programme has allowed staff to shine who otherwise may not have been noticed and has been a huge advantage in attracting a retaining the best people.

"At the same time, it has given the company a new focus that has helped us stand out from the crowd and brought in over £2million of new business. We have also been very honoured to have been awarded a number of accolades, including winning the Carbon Positive Pioneer Award at the Prince of Wales' MayDay Summit."

What part of your company was responsible for the largest slice of greenhouse emissions?

"Our carbon baseline was audited by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, which reported that 84 per cent of the Group emissions were the vehicle fleet."

How did you tackle this problem?

"One of the critical areas that needed to be addressed was data. We tackled fleet emissions by a combination of a dynamic routing system designed by the Logistics Department, route consolidation, remote warehousing, the use of technology to reduce engineer journeys, and a bunked sustainable biodiesel system. This has provided a staggering audited reduction of 52 per cent in fleet emissions and has led to us being invited to join the Energy Savings Trust's Motorvate programme."

What other carbon reduction measures has the company undertaken?

"We have moved all our electricity supply to 100% renewable electricity with the retirement of ROCs and following a trial of various lighting technologies, we have implemented high efficiency lighting typically saving 80 per cent in energy.

"By encouraging cycle commuting, home working and car sharing, over 50 per cent of staff no longer commute by single occupancy car, and public transport use for appointments and commuting has increased by 77 per cent. Our Reduce/Reuse/Recycle waste management scheme has reduced waste to landfill by 88.5 per cent, with over 90 per cent of packing now reused internally.

"At the same time, due to the size of our supply chain, we have encouraged our suppliers and customers to engage with climate change. As well as an annual conference at Cheltenham Racecourse on CSR, providing environmentally friendly supplies and supplier audits, we also assist our customers in reducing their carbon footprints by the services we offer, many for free. I was extremely pleased that at the last conference a number of them, including Johnston Press and St James' Place, were able to talk about their achievements since the previous conference."

What was the biggest challenge facing the Group's low-carbon drive?

"Many of the things we have undertaken have been cutting edge and so finding partners to work with has been difficult. However, we have received huge support from our suppliers and organisations like the EST, Envirowise and The CarbonNeutral Company and this has been invaluable."

Are government carbon reduction targets achievable?

"The targets are eminently achievable. Commercial has managed to reduce emissions by far more than the government targets, at the same time sustaining annual growth of over 30 per cent. I would encourage legislators to look at ways of supporting companies that are already doing good things, as these are willing partners, through initiatives like the BITC MayDay Network rather than through legislation like the RTFO."

What new technologies are emerging that might aid your business to reduce emissions?

"We are constantly looking for more efficient ways of running our fleet and so any improvements in this area are always interesting. We are also watching developments in heat pumps with interest."

Please tell us what you are working on at present

"The next major project is to expand our employee engagement through a Green Ambassadors scheme. Already staff are very engaged in the programme, through the various teams, our Earth Day celebration and other activities; the Green Ambassadors scheme will take this further and help them take the programme outside the workplace."

What advice would you give to someone taking on a role similar to yours?

"Don't be afraid to dream - if you have the company on board, it is possible to make radical changes."

The Shades of Green in Marketing Messages

“High Performance. Low Emissions. Zero Guilt.” proclaimed the magazine ad for the luxury car-maker Lexus. It was a message that drew a different verdict from the Advertising Standards Authority, which found that Lexus misled readers by implying its product does little or no environmental harm.

Further down the ad Lexus made clear that its emissions compared favourably compared to those of competitors in a particular model class, rather than all vehicles, but the headline alone was guilt enough in the eyes of the regulator.

Verdicts like this are piling up in response to growing complaints from the public about the green credentials claimed in adverts. According to the latest figures from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints about misleading environmental claims in advertising reached a record high last year with 561 complaints about 410 ads.

“Compare this with 2006 when the ASA received just 117 complaints about 83 ads and it is clear that consumer concern about this issue has shifted significantly. In response, the ASA is making environmental claims a key policy area in 2008 to protect consumers,” says the ASA.

As part of a programme of engagement with industry and consumer groups, the ASA launched the first of a series of seminars this month, chaired by former Cabinet Minister Chris Smith. The overall aim is to help the ASA decide where to draw the line and help the ASA Council when making judgments in future, says the watchdog.

Public expectations rise

Setbacks for the likes of Lexus haven’t hobbled the advertising industry’s bullish approach to new opportunities. Havas Media, which represents some of the largest brands worldwide – including the BBC and Nationwide in the UK – recently unveiled the results of its own research on consumer attitudes to climate change. The study, claimed to be the largest of its kind, was conducted by IPSOS in nine countries - US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, India and China - using more than 11,000 online interviews and 18 focus groups.

Far from looking to government for effective action on climate change, consumers expect brands to lead the way, says the research. In the UK, US, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and France, respondents felt more strongly that companies and their brands should be finding solutions, compared to the government, says Havas Media. “The research paints a picture of a world that has given up on its elected leaders’ abilities to combat the problem, with only 11% of all respondents agreeing strongly that their governments are doing enough to arrest climate change,” it concludes.

Scoring better than governments in public opinion polls may not amount to a ringing endorsement, but Havas is keen to point out the benefits to brands of being seen to take action. “This leadership vacuum presents a clear opportunity for companies and their brands to step in and take a wider role in addressing climate change. All [consumer] markets express a clear desire to see more ecologically responsible brands and believe multinationals can, and should, make a positive impact on the issue,” it says.

Mixed messages about emissions

We are already seeing signs that some brands have spotted the potential, suggests Chris Clarke, founder and director of Clarke Mulder Purdie, a public relations consultancy active in this area. “The Marks & Spencer ‘Plan A’ programme is part of a powerful message. It has allowed the company to connect with a whole new generation of people, and so plays an important part in the Marks & Spencer brand regeneration strategy,” he says. Many companies have been eager to appropriate “carbon neutral” status, a move that Clarke has reservations about. “One of the dangers of doing this is the implicit claim about a company’s carbon footprint. Assessing the footprint is very complex, particularly for international organisations, or those with complex supply chains,” he says.

“I see three main dangers. Claiming carbon neutrality raises questions about a company’s operations that may be difficult to give convincing answers to. We’re likely to see this with the 2012 Olympics, which is even more difficult because no-one has ever done anything like that before. Second, if you publicly announce targets for becoming carbon neutral it pushes you towards offsetting, which almost certainly isn’t the most effective way. It points the organisation in a direction that isn’t as robust as it could be. Third, carbon neutrality is only part of an equation that also includes issues such as water usage, or efficiency, for example. As consumers become more sophisticated, they will ask companies what they are doing in these other areas too,” he says.

In the public gaze

The Havas Media research suggests that consumers are indeed becoming more sophisticated. In particular, the research says that awareness of the damage done by particular companies and sectors is growing, and that companies failing to act responsibly can no longer expect to hide behind generally positive perceptions of the sector in which they operate.

“As consumers become more educated in green matters, they are beginning to distinguish between companies without resorting to sector stereotypes. This is great news for brands that communicate legitimate abatement strategies and less good for those who have not yet made a start on mending their ways, as their ability to borrow credibility from more proactive peers slips away,” says the report.

Companies shouldn’t be tempted to put too much faith in dry statistics to do all the work of communicating their efforts and achievements, suggests Chris Clarke. “People are often sceptical about statistics. Think about the way we respond when we’re told by the government that police statistics show that crime is falling, for example,” he says.

Make it meaningful – and positive

A more effective approach would involve thinking about what is engaging and meaningful to customers, he suggests. HSBC has shown some initiative in this area, with its plans to open innovative zero carbon offices, and a partnership with Earthwatch to engage employees in conservation work, he says. As we move further into uncertain economic times it will be important to find ways to make the low carbon approach an attractive and positive choice, he suggests.

To have a lasting impact, communicating emissions reduction efforts must be built into the overall commercial strategy of a company, rather than applied as a cosmetic embellishment, Clarke says.

Smart companies will look to their low carbon strategies as a way to differentiate themselves from competitors, says Havas Media. “Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of who is credibly making changes and who is not, despite green stereotypes associated with different sectors. The result: green marketing strategies and good environmental practices are no longer a ‘nice to have’ for brands, but increasingly a ‘must have’ in terms of not only maintaining brand image but also in maintaining market share,” it concludes.

Key questions:

• What messages are our competitors using?
• What do our customers expect from us?
• How can our emissions reduction efforts help our marketing strategy?