First project elements to consider are the organisational issues – an environmental policy & goals, a project team & plan.

Next is the analysis of the business eg current carbon and other environmental footprints. Business audit and premises audit.

Employee education and engagement are also crucial from an early stage & throughout.

Then improvements must be planned and implemented in energy, water & packaging use as well as improving re-usability & re-cycling.

New product options can be developed.

Suppliers also need to be engaged and tasked or changed to improve the greenness of the supply chain.

Financial topics eg carbon offsetting, accounting for customers’ offsets, carbon trading, grants & carbon taxes need planning for.

Customers are told what you have done and what remains to be done & what it means for them. Before this you must have built sufficient credibility & total organisational know-how from all the above.

How what you have done is communicated to customers, the media and the community needs careful consideration.

Benefits are then assessed - environmental and also eg brand, revenues, costs, customer retention, employee satisfaction.

Embedding change of attitude, knowledge, policy & process in a continuous cycle of improvement is an art and a science.