MAIN FEATURE
improve sustainability in their business: firstly, listen to your people as they will have good ideas to contribute; second, trial sustainability improvements at one or two of your branches if you have them and then use the best results elsewhere in the business; and thirdly, measurement is vital, whether it’s for water use, product recycling, anything that improves your sustainability record.
Yorkshire Water’s website claims over the next five years that one of its key priorities is developing innovative solutions to enable sustainable use of water resources, adding that it will also be creating sustainable energy facilities by generating energy from its processes and managing demand effectively.
Thames Water claims to be supporting the UN’s sustainable development goals, aimed at making the world more sustainable by 2030. It is focusing on four of the UN’s goals: clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, responsible consumption and production and climate action.
Scottish Water has committed to a net zero emissions programme by 2040, which will involve its customers, partners and supply chain all playing their part. It says it wants to be ‘socially sustainable’ in everything it does.
Welsh Water claims on its website to be committed to enhancing biodiversity within its own landholdings and to ensuring that its operations do not adversely affect biodiversity
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value on land or sea.
That word ‘sustainable’ is bandied about a lot and seems to mean Many Good Things that are in progress.
With the NHBC now running webinars on ‘biodiversity in new home developments’ (12 May) it’s clear that activity towards making things greener and more sustainable has become more mainstream in the construction industry. In addition, a myriad of organisations has sprung up around sustainability, offering help to companies working towards net zero and other targets. But what more can organisations do themselves?
Whyis sustainability so important?
The Government’s November 2020 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution incorporated the following:
■ Advancing offshore wind
■ Driving the growth of low carbon hydrogen
■ Delivering new and advanced nuclear power
■ Accelerating the shift towards zero emission vehicles
■ Green public transport, cycling and walking
■ Jet zero and green ships ■ Greener buildings
■ Investing in carbon capture, usage and storage
| July 2021 |
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■ Protecting our natural environment ■ Green finance and innovation
In 2019 the UK became the first major economy to adopt a legally binding obligation to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Engineers, fitters and construction workers are cited as being essential to harnessing British science and technology to create clean energy. The UK already generates more electricity from offshore wind than any other country. In its 10-point plan it stated it is aiming for 600,000 heat pump installations by 2028. Homes built to the Future Homes Standard should be ‘zero carbon ready’ and have 75-80 per cent lower carbon dioxide emissions than those built to current standards.
Around the above plans, the Green Finance Institute was launched in 2019, a Government and City of London funded organisation aiming to channel funding towards a clean, resilient and environmentally sustainable economy, with initiatives including energy efficiency of buildings and a zero carbon heating taskforce. How far down does that filter? Will it help the sole trader with a mobile unit offering a drain cleaning service to be more sustainable? Sometimes these ‘plans’ throw up more questions than answers.
Those in this industry will see several areas in the Government top 10 above that will directly affect them, not least the drive to zero emission
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