The carbon tax was designed to help reduce energy usage and lower the amount of carbon dioxide (CO²) that companies generate.  However, a recent survey shows that more than 50% of Australian companies are unprepared for the July 2012 adoption deadline.  That number increases when you look at small to medium enterprises.  Without adequate preparation for the looming deadline companies stand to lose time and valuable resources.  The following are strategies to help you be more prepared for the upcoming adoption of the carbon tax.

Let’s first look at a “cost minimisation” approach where the objective is to minimise the cost of the carbon tax. Having examined your CO² inputs as discussed above, isolate the items which you can reduce use of, and make a saving with no or minimal investment, and focus on those. A simple example would be to replace your existing light globes with low energy light globes or installing a solar hot water system. The investment in reducing energy usage would easily be covered by the savings made over time.

 If you choose a strategy to proactively reduce carbon inputs then opportunities exist to re-engineer your business processes so that they are consuming less energy and materials. We have all heard of the value stream where each step in a manufacturing or business process is examined and the value added assessed. “Green streaming” your business process is a similar method where each step is examined for the amount of carbon inputs it consumed. Ways are then devised to redesign the process to reduce the CO² impact of each process step. In a manufacturing process this could result in re-laying a factory to reduce the amount of time and energy moving materials and reducing the cost of fuel used to do so. In an office it could mean using electronic payments to reduce paper and energy in printing. For a sales force it could mean using a mobile device for sales people to work with whilst on the road to reduce travel time and costs.

 The third approach is to act in a way that not only reduces your carbon inputs but involves investment into decreasing your business’ carbon footprint. The Federal and State governments have both encouraged consumers with solar panel schemes aimed to generate electricity from non-carbon polluting solar energy that goes back into the electricity grid. There are also other investments an organisation can make to reduce the total amount of carbon pollution and in fact can “sequester” that carbon out of the environment. Tree planting schemes are an example of this.

 As an example of how to apply these strategies, let’s look at a simple example like lighting.

 While it could be argued that all of these strategies reduce cost and usage, the amount of capital investment required would contribute a different result for the economy.

 Supporting Tools and Aids

 As well as carbon reduction consultancy firms there are also a number of business operations software systems that can assist your company achieve its carbon goals. For example;

 The selection and implementation process of these supporting tools do require changes to your business process and change management for the people who use these systems. It is important to keep in mind the objectives of any such project and apply the appropriate, dedicated resources.

 As you can see, the strategies and steps involved in preparing for the carbon tax vary from business to business and will depend on your company’s goals and objectives. You may choose to focus on cost cutting, reducing your carbon inputs, proactively minimising your carbon footprint or do nothing at all. Choosing to do nothing may seem the easiest path at this point however post July 1, you could be gambling with your business’ future.

Cincom has a number of software tools designed to help business reduce costs and the impact of the carbon tax. Greg acknowledges the contribution Level5Lean consulting group for their “green stream” methodology that helps business reduce CO².