Modern Building Services

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES APRIL 2021 9 NEWS ANALYSIS more guidance and 44% of the businesses surveyed indicated cost as the most significant barrier to decarbonisation. So, any additional Government funding would certainly be welcome from business, considering the stresses on balance sheets will be even more acute due to the pandemic. The need for carbon reduction is not new but dealing with COVID-19 has become a bigger priority for many organisations. As we see more hope for an end to the pandemic, businesses will emerge differently from when the Government’s net zero target and legislation was first passed, they may find themselves with less resource due to organisational restructure and tighter cash flows because of lack of revenue. However, whilst decarbonisation activities have lost momentum the targets have not gone away. Don’t get left behind Whilst there is no legal obligation to contribute to the net zero target, embracing a green recovery is critical to the survival of any business. Numerous pressures to act will intensify as the effects of the pandemic recede. Environmental issues are significantly changing how consumers buy, how businesses build a green reptation, and how individuals see their current or future employers. There is pressure on the supply chain too. Businesses who aremaking serious plans to reach net zero will be forced tomove away frombusinesses who are failing to adapt and tackle their impact on climate change. Simply put, to reach net zero any organisationmust look at their whole supply chain carbon emissions. If your business is not supplying net zero products or services to customers, then you will need to look to offset your emissions or run the risk of losing business to a competitor who is already net zero. This means, if a business is to survive and thrive in the future, change needs to happen now or be left out. Building the foundations Time is still on the side of businesses to think about long term goals and how small changes now will impact and influence a suitable carbon reduction pathway. Along with monetary barriers, businesses feel that the lack of resource and knowledge are holding them back, even so, there are ways organisations can establish their own green recovery and net zero pathway. To start, there are three key areas: energy efficiency, embedding an energy conscious ethos and setting yourself up for the future. The basic principles remain, driving down usage, eliminating waste, and being more energy efficient. The need for these principles to be embedded at board level has never been clearer. Working from the top down of an organisation, a successful energy efficiency strategy will deliver financial savings, a greener reputation, and a more comfortable environment for a workforce. However, its success relies on everyone in the business. After all, if everyone does a little, no one has to do a lot. Shifting the entire organisation’s mindset to think about the energy they use, how they use it and its impact to them personally through behaviour change is a very low-cost investment. Becoming an Energy Conscious Organisation that can deliver great payback and pave the way for a long term, meaningful net zero strategy. An organisation’s actions can inspire and educate the behaviour of their workforce beyond the business and into their personal lives. Since the Government’s ten-point plan focuses on technology, a well implemented digital monitoring and targeting solution can help. It should complement operations, support compliance, and utilise smart technology, and will help to protect your business from any tighter regulations in the future. With foundations like these in place, businesses of all sizes can embrace existing technologies. Switching heating from fossil fuels to a renewable heat source like green hydrogen or biomass, for example, would support an organisation’s contribution to net zero targets. Adopting renewables sooner will hasten sustainable transformation and provide operational benefits over a longer term. What is yet to come? Looking ahead to the rest of 2021. There’s renewed optimism for the COP26 conference in November. The United States re-joining the 2015 Paris Agreement will provide a boost to the confidence of the organisers in delivering something substantial to halt climate change. Whilst the UK Government has ambitious targets, it has an equally challenging timeframe. Many of the objectives are required by 2030 and the next ten years will be critical for businesses to act if they want to be compliant with the law. By the time the conference begins in Glasgow, we may have a clearer view of a way out of the pandemic and the attention of the UK’s business and leaders will slowly return to what should have been previously keeping them up at night – the threat to our climate and how to tackle it.