Ideas for your business for mitigation, awareness, and adaptation to climate change. If you've got case studies to share, we'd love to feature them. Please email to jo.hamilton@ouce.ox.ac.uk.

We've divided some of the possible actions you can take into three areas. Dive in to the area that most appeals and take it from there:

1: Decrease your carbon footprint - This is about reducing energy, new habits and trying to mitigate the impacts of your actions.

2: Increase your citizen handprint - This is about awareness raising, networking and spreading the word and action about the issues, info and action you can take.

3: Adapting to the predicted impacts of climate change - This is about assessing the impacts that may affect you, and getting prepared!

1: Decrease your carbon footprint: Energy advice and info

Being resource efficient makes business and financial sense as well as climate sense.  All good habits to adopt such as replacing light bulbs, turning off computers / monitors / drinks chillers when they're not needed. Unipart in Cowley saved 7% of their electricity bill by changing their habits - how much could you save? Below are some organisations that could help you reduce your footprint.

• The Carbon Trust helps businesses and the public sector cut carbon emissions, and supports the development of low carbon technologies. Free advice to help you cut your energy, and free  energy surveys if your energy bill is over £50,000 a year.
• Oxfordshire Sustainable Business Partnership (OxSBP) aims to help improve business productivity and competitiveness through resource efficiency and waste reduction and enhance the adoption of sustainable business practices. 
• Environmental Information Exchange (EiE) provides SMEs within the Oxfordshire region with a central source of information and support for resolving environmental concerns.
• Emissions Strategy Solutions  works with business people to help them to identify how their approach to climate change can give them a unique new competitive edge to turn the threat of climate change into an opportunity.  Email sue.priest@ems2.com for more information.

Great - now tell people about it and encourage them to do the same!

2: Increase your citizen's handprint - Awareness, networking and encouraging others to get aware and take action.

Increasing your citizen's handprint means generating a climate buzz in your workplace, or from your workplace to another business. Contact us for help and resources, or why not become a Business Climate Explorer.

Here are some ideas, we'd love to hear yours:

• Arrange a staff briefing - on climate change causes, impacts and opportunities. Wer can provide speakers, or the materials for you to do it yourself. Contact ClimateXchange.
• Sponsor a ‘Climate Change Any Questions' event locally, or a showing of ‘An Inconvenient Truth'. These are fantastic ways to create local climate synergy  - and show increase the profile of your business.
• Climate change speaker training - find out when the next training to help you feel confident talking about climate change. Run by Oxford's Climate Outreach and Information Network tel 01865 727 911, www.coinet./org.uk
• Host a chamber / local Climate change pub quiz - with prizes. We can supply questions and prizes.
• Come to ‘A changing Climate for business' conference: 31^st Oct, Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, nr Didcot - or how about working with us to arrange your own locally?
• Want to change your light bulbs but don't know what's out there? Why not borrow our low energy light bulb library to find the one for you?
• Want to see how much energy your office equipment is using? Why not borrow our energy monitors?

Some background info on this website:

Climate change impacts: A background to climate change and the impacts we can expect in Oxfordshire. You can download the powerpoint presentation and use it to give presentations at your workplace.

Attitudes to Climate change in Oxon: What are people thinking and feeling about climate change in Oxfordshire? How can you meet their needs?

The key scientific background:IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Working Group 1, Physical Science Basis, Summary for Policy Makers

3. Adaptation to Climate change

Some level of climate change is inevitable (see Climate change impacts) - but how prepared is your business? What impacts is your business vulnerable to? How did it cope in the July flooding? Here are some meaures to consider, but the best source of info is the UK Climate Impacts Programme ' A changing Climate for Business', or contact Kay Johnstone Project Officer (Business)
UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) tel: 01865 285644 email: kay.johnstone@ukcip.org.uk .

1. Assemble evidence of the impacts on your business of recent weather related events. For example, staff complaints regarding excessive temperature or events causing physical damage to building
2. Set up a simple monitoring system to keep track of weather impacts.
3. Prepare for the effect of heat wave conditions on staff comfort, such as by allowing more flexible working or making simple modifications such as blinds.
4. Keep premises well maintained to ensure optimum functionality with respect to weather impacts.
5. Maintain supply of goods and services by careful planning of deliveries and storage.
6. Check with your insurance company that you are adequately covered for extreme weather events and keep up to date with their stance on undefended flood risk. They may also be able to give you advice on how to minimise the flood or subsidence risk.
7. Prepare for continuing service in the event of transport disruption due to extreme weather events, such as by providing adequate connectivity for home working.
8. Encourage more secure travel arrangements, such as walking or cycling.
9. Undertake any market research activities with climate change in mind.
10. Climate-proof your policies, procedures and management system to ensure they do not increase your vulnerability to future weather impacts.

Remember to tell us your experiences, and contact us if you need advice, support or info.