It Is Easy Being Green
Like any real Swiss person, at Swiss 1848, we take sustainability and environmental responsibility seriously. We make a concerted effort to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing our energy usage, recycling paper and other materials, and reusing as much as we can. Although we are a small company, we firmly believe that a large number of individuals and small companies, working together to change the environment and make the world a better place, can make a big difference.
Less Travel
Most management consulting firms waste an amazing amount of energy on travel. Many “Big Four” consultants spend as much as 70% of their time on the road. At Swiss 1848, we understand that “face time” is an important component of every client relationship. However, there are times when a trip can be replaced by a teleconference or a web conference, with no loss in clarity of communication. At Swiss 1848 we use phone and web conferencing as much as possible. We estimate we save thousands of kilometers of travel per consultant per year through the use of phone and web conferencing.
Public Transport
We encourage the use of public transport to our consultants. We use public transport as much as possible whenever we travel locally, and even when we visit clients in other cities.
Electric Cars
We have already started using EVs where possible. We encourage our consultants and employees to buy or lease EVs. Not only electric cars are far more efficient with better performance, they also have a monumental effect on carbon footprint and reduction of pollution. We even have installed free charging stations enabling our consultants and employees to charge their car while in the office working on projects.
Less Space
We share conference room and office space to minimize our office space footprint. That means lower amounts of air conditioning, heating, janitorial services, furniture, and electricity per person.
Improved Work-Life Balance
We encourage our consultants to work at home as much as possible. This reduces our need for office space, reduces the amount of time they need to travel, and leads to a much healthier and more productive Work-Life balance.
Recycle and Reuse
Whenever we can, we recycle plastics, cans, and paper in our office. We buy recycled paper products and recycle old office equipment (printers, computers, telephones, etc.) by dropping them off at our neighbourhood recycling centre. Almost everyone can reduce their carbon footprint by taking simple steps like these.
Packaging with Recycled Materials
Whenever we can, we use recycled packaging materials for our luxury products. While we do not compromise in quality of our packaging and we value importance of a perfect presentation, we endeavour to use recycled or recyclable materials to use for safe packaging of our products.
Increase Transparency
We avoid greenwashing ourselves and strongly encourage our clients to do the same. Greenwashing hurts our economy and impedes environmental progress. Almost every business we can think of claims they are “green”. But only a small percentage are even trying. The most important thing is to be honest and make a real effort.