Reducing CO2 emissions not only protects the environment but also saves your company's budget. There is a lot of potential in personnel development: Learn in this article simple ways to make training and further education more climate-friendly.
Whether through increased environmental awareness or rising CO2 taxes: Companies want to save more CO2 than ever and thus improve their ecological balance. Much is already being done in some areas, for example in the active reduction of CO2 in industrial processes or in switching from company cars to company bikes or job tickets.
The Corona pandemic has also made it clear where further savings potential lies: In home office! Hybrid work models can save 12.2 million tons of CO2 annually. Every German employee in a home office saves up to 700kg of CO2 each year by eliminating commuting times and digital data storage. This is equivalent to five flights from Berlin to London.
A clear sign to not only seek climate-friendly concepts in daily work but also in the further education of employees. After all, over 7.4 million people participated in vocational training alone in 2019. There is therefore a huge CO2-saving potential for companies.
Designing further education in an environmentally conscious and efficient way can be achieved with a few simple adjustments:
Save CO2 by using less paper in training
A single sheet of office paper produces 5g of CO2. That seems small at first, but: Mass matters! In many training programs, traditional handouts, questionnaires, or textbooks are still used – That adds up to a lot of paper!
Assuming each of the 7.4 million training participants received 5 sheets of paper, some more, some less. That makes 37 million sheets! Thus, the training already causes 185 million grams of CO2, which is 185,000 kg of CO2 just from paper - and also produces a whole lot of paper waste.
Tip 1: Switch from traditional office paper to recycled paper. This saves about 30% of CO2 for training materials. Additionally, duplex printers that print on both sides of the paper are worth using – Savings: Another 50%. You should also avoid pretty plastic covers on training manuals (less plastic is always better!)
Overview: This is how much CO2 paper consumes according to the sustainability calculator / Own representation
Tip 2: Switch to digital training materials. “No more paper” reduces this item by 100%, avoids waste, and also saves employees from carrying and searching for paper materials.
Materials in PDF or Word format can be easily sent via email. The excuse “only in paper form does everyone really get it!” is outdated: Since 95% of 25- to 44-year-olds use emails, emails today are an extremely reliable way to reach employees and training participants. And let's be honest: How often did you look at the handout after a training?
Of course, the production and use of devices also cause CO2. On average, a laptop produces about 250 kg of CO2. However, several million pages can be stored on a hard drive, or you store them centrally in a cloud. And a laptop lasts on average up to five years. Most people already own a device. Only in very few cases do new devices need to be purchased for digital training materials. Thus, it’s a significant long-term savings.
Save CO2 by traveling less for training
Tip 1: Hybrid work models save CO2 – hybrid learning models do as well! Hybrid Learning and Blended Learning reduce CO2 simply by requiring fewer training participants to travel for a training session.
In hybrid models, trainings take place both digitally and on-site, participants and companies can choose whether the travel and the high CO2 emissions are worth it. Blended Learning specifically moves content that learners can work on alone into online courses. Depending on implementation, 20% to 90% of travel can be reduced.
Comparison: Blended Learning and Hybrid Learning reduce on-site times and CO2-intensive travel for training. / Own representation
Tip 2: If travel for training is unavoidable, you can also easily save CO2 using familiar methods: Avoid participants traveling individually by car (152 g CO2 / km). Instead, opt for the train (50-80 g CO2 / km) or carpooling. We probably don't even need to start discussing short-haul flights.
For large employee groups, for mandatory regular company training, using a bus can also be worthwhile (36 g CO2 / km).
Conclusion: Companies can significantly improve their CO2 balance in further education!
In summary, there are 4 ways to easily save CO2 in corporate training and further education. This way, you can both reduce costs and increase environmental friendliness:
Use recycled paper, print necessary materials double-sided or switch to digital learning materials.
Use hybrid or blended learning formats to reduce on-site times. Use CO2-efficient vehicles for necessary travel.
CO2 potential of e-learning: No paper, no travel
The greatest potential for the future lies in the pure CO2 balance in e-learning. No paper is needed for purely digital training, as all materials are provided in online courses. In combination with webinars or personal support via videoconferencing tools like Zoom, travel times can also be completely eliminated.
Many companies are already using home office and e-learning due to the pandemic situation. However, the CO2 balance strongly supports further pursuing this trend. And initial insights in the general sustainability debate show: Remote learning is the most sustainable form of education!
A “perfect zero balance” will not be achieved by e-learning in companies either: The production of computers as well as energy generation also continue to produce CO2. However, the digitization of further education is a big step in the right direction: Optimal environmental friendliness in companies!
