The issue of climate change and humanity’s impact on the environment is one of the most controversial topics in today’s world. Regardless of whether you are a climate change advocate or opponent, the fact is that the issue of environmental change will not disappear any time soon. There are arguments galore on why environmental change is or isn’t happening, how humanity is or isn’t having an effect, and so on.

Yet no matter what anyone says about environmental change, the fact remains that humanity is pumping tons and tons of pollutants into the air. Pollution is undeniable when cities like Beijing have such thick smog that people have to wear masks when they go outside. So where do you come into this picture?

Regardless of your own personal carbon footprint, chances are your business has a higher capability to pollute far beyond what you can on your own. Because of this, it is important that you think about your business practices and how they might add to the environmental problems of today. There are no definitive solutions that you must implement, but being environmentally aware is important. Video conferencing can provide your business with a number of benefits in areas such as productivity, collaboration, and savings. But even more important for the environment is that it can also help you reduce your business's carbon footprint without costing you a dime more.

Reducing Travel Saves Time, Money, and Emissions

One of the greatest sources of pollution is, without a doubt, all the vehicles used to travel.

Cars, trucks, planes, and everything else with some form of fossil fuel run engine contributes to the pollution emitted every day around the world. Reducing the need for business trips is an excellent way to deal with a multitude of problems. Using software options like Blue Jeans Video Conferencing can drastically help cut back on the need to travel. Even if reducing greenhouse gas emissions is only a tertiary goal for you and your business, using video conferencing provides plenty of travel related benefits besides cutting back on emissions.

According to Green Technology World, recent research has shown that businesses that use video conferencing to reduce travel will also reduce carbon emissions by around 5.5 million metric tons. On top of that, the savings from the reduction in travel is around $19 billion. The cost and productivity benefits of video conferencing alone are excellent reasons to integrate some form of video software into your business. Even so, travel is sometimes unavoidable anyways and you have to either send an employee somewhere or go to a physical meeting yourself. When this happens, going for the absolute cheapest travel option might not be the best. According to The Guardian, when travel is unavoidable, it’s important to take into account the cost of the entire journey. This cost analysis should include not just air fare, but taxi costs, hotel costs, parking costs, and the loss of productivity during the whole process. Opting for an overnight train ride might take longer to reach your destination, but it can remove the need for a hotel room. A train with Internet access might also allow you to continue working whereas a plane without Internet will not.

Save the Trees!

While the old cliché that “money makes the world go 'round” has a point, perhaps saying “paper makes the world go round” can be considered more appropriate. The amount of paper consumed around the world is astronomical. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in the U.S. alone, around 69 million tons of paper and paperboard gets used every year with over 2 billion books, 350 million magazines, and 24 billion newspapers published annually. That is a lot of paper and a lot of trees cut down to make that paper. Using video conferencing in your business can not only help reduce the amount of paper you use, but it can also save you money on printing costs. Many video conferencing programs have features that allow virtual sharing of documents. So instead of printing out all the various reports, memos, and other paperwork, you can simply send it digitally during the meeting, saving time, money, and paper. According to Talk Business Magazine, many businesses print out copies of all the information that the meeting will cover; many consider these printouts useless since the information will be covered during the meeting anyways while the participants take notes. So thousands of pages printed annually as meeting agendas and info packets end up unused and in the trash. Instead of wasting all that paper, ink, and time printing out the information, using digital venues and visual aids through video conferencing or similar solutions can reduce the need for paper and save significant amounts of money on printing costs. Reducing paper usage helps businesses save money while saving more trees than recycling alone.