Sustainability programme Envirowise has launched a free online tool to help Welsh businesses examine their environmental impact and explore the cost savings available through reducing it.

Called the Envirowise Indicator, the interactive resource has been developed to give users an insight into their company's carbon footprint, including waste, emissions and resource and energy use.

It also provides an overview of the organisation's eco footprint, which represents the amount of land needed to sustain its activities.

By revealing where businesses have the highest impact, the tool allows companies to prioritise improvements on the areas which will make the biggest difference to both the environment and their bottom line.

It also provides access to the huge bank of advice available through Envirowise and can send sector-specific information direct to users' desktops.

Tim Lineham, Envirowise area programme manager for Wales, said: "With the focus on sustainability showing no signs of abating, many companies are keen to carry out environmental audits so we wanted to produce a simple tool to get them started.

"The indicator is therefore designed to help businesses quickly and easily understand their impact on the planet and find out how to make savings. It outlines the key areas in a simple and accessible way so businesses can start making changes without having to trawl through large amounts of data.

"We would also encourage Welsh businesses to use the Indicator to benchmark their performance so they can see how the actions they take can make a real difference to the planet and the efficiency of their operations."

The indicator, available at www.envirowise.gov.uk/indicatorwales is set with default statistics for six key industry sectors in Wales - office, retail, food and drink, manufacturing, chemicals and construction. Alternatively, companies can input their own data to access a comprehensive understanding of their environmental performance.