the last word
The last
WORD
Best Advice: Exploding Energy Myths and Cutting Costs
Chris Harrop is Group
Marketing Director of Marshalls plc.
Chris is the Yorkshire am- bassador of the Carbon Trust’s Best Advice cam- paign, which calls on Yorkshire businesses to cut energy bills by £411m, and 3.5m tonnes of CO2 a year by claiming a free Carbon Survey to identify energy wastage. In 2009 he was named a ‘Green Guru’ by Building Magazine and in 2007 he was named one the top Ethical Influencers by Ethical Corporation. Since Marshalls began working with the Carbon Trust in 2008, it has cut its energy costs significantly and made a carbon saving of over 2,000 tonnes of CO2 per annum
The best business advice I have ever received was from Jonathon Porritt, a former Direc- tor of Friends of the Earth. He said you have to manage the ‘triple bottom line’: economic, social and environmental fac- tors. It’s an ethos that has become central to our strategy at Marshalls, enabling us to im- prove our profitability, minimise our impact on the environment and act to improve the lives of workers, their families and local communities.
B
usinesses have a lot to lose from energy wastage. Smart energy manage- ment not only cuts costs but also makes organisations more productive and improves their reputation with customers. So, for us, embarking on an energy- efficiency journey for Marshalls was a simple decision, both in terms of staying competitive and supporting our workforce. Marshalls embarked on this
journey more than four years ago and my only regret is that we didn’t act sooner. Our first step was to get an objective, ex-
pert view of where we were wasting energy, and an action plan to tackle it through a Car- bon Trust survey. The sooner you start, the sooner you begin to reap the rewards in terms of lower energy bills, reduced car- bon emissions and an enhanced reputation with stakeholders, customers, staff and suppliers. With energy prices certain to rise, the fact that climate change is undoubtedly a reality and that many companies are struggling to survive and thrive in the current economic down- turn, cutting energy bills and carbon all at the same time makes sound business sense. There’s simply never been a better time to act. You’d be surprised how many
staff adopt the sustainability cause given the opportunity. We now have drivers competing with each other to see who can drive more efficiently, with help from our carbon-reduction route planning software.
Whatever you do in the envi-
ronmental domain, it must be genuine and independently certi- fied. Avoid greenwashing at all
By Chris Harrop
costs. Too many companies pay lip service to ‘green’ issues and risk undermining the already frag- ile consumer confidence in this area of business performance. In April 2010 the Carbon Re- duction Commitment comes into effect, which means an in- creasing number of businesses will be required, by law, to re- duce their carbon emissions or pay a fine for non-compliance. There’s talk of some businesses just paying the CRC tariff and continuing to burn CO2. True, for some that may be more cost effective for now, but the tariffs will only get steeper. Plus, I for one don’t want our business to be operating at the bottom of the carbon league table. Some of our most important cus- tomers, gardeners, are intensely carbon aware, so that would damage our brand. The cost of burning carbon is high in more ways than one.
My best business advice for 2010…sign up for a free Carbon survey, now at www.thebestadvice.co.uk ■
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