"I think a lot of Australians are feeling disempowered about effecting change right now," says Tanya Howard, who researches and teaches in environmental law and policy at the University of New England. "However, those who don't identify with protest action and civil disobedience can still have influence. Everyone has a stake in addressing climate change, and the business-as-usual approach is no longer enough."
Internationally, progressive companies are committing to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, revisiting their policies and practices, and seeking to play a leading role in climate change mitigation. We are seeing more sustainable investment decisions, efforts to improve workplace energy efficiency and even move towards carbon neutrality.
But what if your employer is dragging the chain?
"Decisions around sustainability and innovation in a business are made by people just like you," Tanya says. "These decisions are negotiated, so the more we engage in such discussions, the more influence we will have. If we leave it to everybody else, then we have to be prepared to accept what's coming down.
Even the most junior staff members can be an informed employee, question their supervisors and put a case for doing things differently. Together we are powerful: connect with others and join sustainability networks or committees within your workplace or professional body.
Businesses are increasingly concerned with their environmental brand and what it communicates about their values. Individual contractors even more so; everybody is potentially their own CEO and can be an agent for change, whatever their seniority or industry."
Here are a few simple suggestions for what you can put on the table in your workplace - changes that make environmental as well as economic sense:
- Audit the organisation's investments, supply chain and contractual arrangements, including sources of materials and supplies, to calculate its ecological footprint and identify improvements;
- Save on energy use (choose energy-efficient products and switch off and unplug lights and appliances when not in use);
- Use green power sources that support renewable energy production, and consider ways to offset carbon production; and
- Limit business flights in favour of video-conferencing
"Individuals as well as workplaces need to accept responsibility for taking action, even if there appears to be an economic advantage in maintaining the status quo," Tanya says. "Economic insecurity can lead people to making short-term decisions in their own self-interest rather than being concerned for the greater social good, but there is a new economy coming as the world moves to decarbonise. Younger people entering the workforce are more environmentally literate than any other generation before them. Employers who act on climate change now will have an advantage in attracting employees who are pushing the edge of innovation.
One of the easiest ways we can effect change as individual employees is by supporting green superannuation funds and investment options. This kind of consumer action is really powerful and will make a difference to the way our financial markets treat high polluting or environmentally destructive industries. Take charge of your future and invest as though the world depends on it!"
