Treevestors.com defines Carbon Footprint as “A measure of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels. A carbon footprint is often expressed as tons of carbon dioxide or tons of carbon emitted, usually on an annual basis”

A recent BBC documentary, Britain from Above, quoted various statistics regarding Britain on the move. In any 24 hour period the documentary stated 36 million people are on the move, between 7.00am & 10.00am, almost 1 million of those are on the trains, and 15 million in private motor vehicles. The impact this has on Britain’s carbon footprint must be astounding. These figures do not include the daily flights going in and out of every airport, or the ferries travelling in and out of our ports. Public transport isn’t sufficient enough to keep our vehicles off the road, rising fuel costs and taxes isn’t really having a great effect either. So what is the answer?

More and more companies are utilising the internet and enabling their staff to work from home. This becomes cost effective for businesses as they do not need to worry about providing office space, heating and lighting. It works extremely well for some companies, and in some cases they are even saving the costs of office equipment, PAYE & National Insurance by utilising the services of outsourced workers like Virtual assistants who are geared up to provide PA & administration services for a number of businesses.

Using a Virtual Assistant can improve your carbon footprint in other ways too. By their very nature, most Virtual Assistants embrace modern technology which enables them to work paper light. They are not contributing to the daily commute emissions, and are paving the way forward for greener working.

It’s not the complete answer, and using a virtual assistant isn’t going to save the world just yet, but it’s a step in the right direction!