Corporations like Wal-Mart are realising the importance of adopting environmentally friendly measures, writes Caroline Madden

Last week, the Doomsday Clock ticked forward by two minutes. The time now stands at five minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolising the end of civilisation. The timekeepers of the Doomsday Clock - a group of atomic scientists including such intellectual heavyweights as Prof Stephen Hawkins - said one of the main reasons for moving the time forward is the threat posed by climate change.

It is tempting to conclude that this is just a shock tactic to get our attention. However, this time the scientists aren't warning us of a possible disaster that may happen at some point in the future - climate change has already arrived. The polar ice caps are melting, and flooding and desertification are a reality in many parts of the world.

However, despite all the doom-laden predictions, the experts are agreed that it's not too late to stop the symbolic Doomsday Clock and to combat global warming. In fact, this was one of the key messages contained in the famous Stern report, which highlighted the immense impact that failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would have on the global economy. "There is still time to avoid the worst impact of climate change, if we take strong action now," the report concluded.

You might be wondering what all of this has to do with business. The answer is - more and more. Consumers are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious, and businesses are realising the importance of demonstrating that they are reducing their impact on the environment.

"There's hardly a boardroom in the land that hasn't at least discussed cutting its carbon footprint [ the impact of human activities on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide] in the last 12 months," the Institute of Directors said recently.

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has let the public know that it is embracing "environmental sustainability". Some of the goals it has set itself include reducing its greenhouse emissions by 20 per cent over the next seven years, and reducing solid waste by 25 per cent over the next three years. The company's long-term aims are more daunting, and include switching completely to renewable energy, and creating zero waste.

Wal-Mart has also committed itself to selling 100 million energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) by the end of this year. "Over the life of those bulbs, $3 billion (€2.3 billion) can be saved in electrical costs and 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gases can be prevented from entering our atmosphere. This change is comparable to taking 700,000 cars off the road," Wal-Mart said.

Tesco is also getting in on the act, and announced last week that it would be the first supermarket to assign "carbon ratings" to its products. The ratings will indicate how much carbon is required to produce, transport, sell and consume every product which it sells. In 2002, Vodafone became the first company to launch a mobile phone recycling scheme. Since then it has diverted over 100,000 handsets from landfill sites (which equates to over 20 tonnes of mobile phone waste) and enabled the re-use of refurbished phones in developing countries.

"All other mobile phones which are beyond repair are carefully broken down, their valuable components collected and the carcasses recycled in an environmentally safe way," Vodafone says. "There are over 180 recycling containers in Vodafone stores, Superquinn stores, schools and recycling centres around Ireland."

Proceeds raised from recycling mobile phones are donated to the Vodafone and Conservation Volunteers Ireland Nature Fund. So far, the Nature Fund has donated more than €130,000 to 65 local environmental projects.

Big business has realised it must take a stand on climate change, but what can you do to make a difference?

Firstly, if you got a new phone for Christmas, why not drop your old one off in one of Vodafone's recycling containers? And log on to www.carbonfootprint.org to calculate your family's carbon footprint, and see what steps you can take to reduce it.

Or if you're really committed to saving the planet, check out Ben & Jerry's Climate Change College at www.climatechangecollege.org. It's open to 18- 30-year-olds and you get to take a trip to the Arctic ice cap - while it's still there.