1. Conscious IT purchases

When acquiring new IT equipment, such as computers, servers or network equipment, consider products that are energy efficient. Choose computers that are designed to minimize your power consumption. If you are not sure which ones they are, we will be happy to help you with that.

Cloud services are also a sure winner. The more that happens in the cloud, the less you have to have local servers standing in the basement or other infrastructure that requires electricity and generates waste. In addition, the cloud gives you great flexibility because you can scale up and down as much as you need.

This is what we do Braathe. Delivering worry-free IT does not just mean that the equipment and services should be worry-free. It also means that when you buy a service from us, you know that there is an entire device that takes care of the sustainable part. Read more about it here.

2. Where does the power come from?

Ensure that the company's electricity consumption comes from renewable sources, such as wind, solar or hydropower. Implement an energy efficiency strategy by controlling lighting, heating and cooling in office spaces to minimize energy consumption. And if it is beyond your control: Talk to the home owner or the businesses you work with. What can you do and what are you already doing with electricity?

In our case, free cooling has become a very important measure for our largest server park. We have built a free cooling system based on ground cooling, and have 15 km of cooling loops underground at our head office in Rygge.

3. Be paperless

Dealing with paper is not what we do most anymore, and that's a good thing. Through digitalisation, we have renewed many routines and use digital tools for everything from invoicing to file processing and collaboration. It's incredibly good for the planet. Do you have a process that still relies on paper? Then we recommend taking a look at how you can change it in 2024.

4. Reuse and recycling is a matter of course

Most people know this point well! We hope reuse and recycling are already part of your habits from home, but we'll take an extra round of it anyway. In the workplace, it is very important that you together arrange for residual waste, paper, plastic and food to go to the right place after you have finished with it.

Then there may be other things in the office that you have to get rid of. Do you have a conscious relationship with it? If you are going to update your computers, we have a system for disposing of equipment in a safe and sound manner. Namely, we collaborate with 3StepIT and Foxway. Through them, we ensure that all the data that may be on old machines is deleted for good, and the machines are cleaned and reused where possible or they live on as shared machines.

You can read more about how we work with disposal of equipment here.

5. Choose green partners

Choosing business partners often requires a good effort on your part. There are often several quality checks to ensure that the collaboration is as you wish. Part of the quality control is to look at sustainability practices. Do they have a commitment to the environment? Do they show social responsibility? These are questions you should ask when bringing in a new business partner.

6. Let employees own the sustainability work

Sustainability work requires some changes in habits. Habits can be easily changed, but not in so many people at a time. Then they must have a common motivation to strike. We therefore recommend letting employees own the sustainability work. Give them training and bring out the importance of sustainability, but let your people contribute to establishing concrete measures and ideas. This can help to strengthen the company's commitment and promote best practice!

7. Dive into the numbers 

An important and concrete move in sustainability work is to find the numbers on things. It can be answers to questions such as: How much do you emit per employee? Asking these questions and measuring where you stand makes it even easier to see improvements the following year. We recommend setting clear sustainability targets for your company and following up with reporting.

Collaboration with others who have done it before you or who are in the same situation is also smart. Then you can exchange knowledge that can help you achieve an even greater impact.

What value does it have to initiate? 

Sustainability is not only good for the planet, it can also be a profitable and strategic advantage for you. Small and medium-sized businesses in all industries can take steps to make sustainable purchases and implement good practices. It can lead to an increase in trust in your brand, as well as loyalty. In addition, it increases the chance that the younger generations who are on their way will want to work for you. So there are many benefits beyond the positive impact you can have on the environment and society.

Good luck with your work! Do you want inspiration? At the bottom of this page, we have a 20-point list of sustainable measures we do that you are welcome to look at.