ENERGY MANAGEMENT & SUSTAINABILITY IGNORING IT IS NOT AN OPTION
The facilities management industry can play a vital role in ensuring we meet the pledge to reach Net Zero by 2050, suggests Chris Norton, Consultant at Vision Zero Connect.
use/need less energy, therefore reducing utility spend. By increasing your building stock’s efficiency by either investing in it or upgrading it, and/or actively reviewing your M&E’s performance, you increase reliability of assets and reduce revenue spend on gas/electricity.
Sustainability is about meeting your current needs while not negatively affecting the needs of those in the future. Given that facilities management is tasked with the efficient operation and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure, our sector plays a pivotal role in ensuring sustainability.
How do we do something about it? Addressing these shortcomings needs to be part of an integrated and strategic approach. It must assess the impact upon operation, reputation, cost, and image. Developing an ESG strategy goes beyond mere compliance – it’s a catalyst for business improvement across all levels of your business.
The recent IWFM Sustainability survey has stressed that only 13% of all FMs lead the process for developing sustainability strategies in their organisation. To someone who has been in this industry since a time when the Millennium Bug had become humanity’s greatest threat, we are now in the midst of a crisis which genuinely feels like a far graver threat to us all. The climate problems of the last 24 years make those problems like VCR and microwave clocks going back round to 1900, feel very trivial indeed.
Considering the impact which buildings have upon our environment – between 30% and 40% in relation to global operational emissions from buildings – FMs must be at the forefront of the response in hauling society back from the brink.
However, in the IWFM survey – some concerning numbers show that we are still as an industry way behind schedule. More than a third (36%) of clients have no Net Zero plans drawn up yet (but are working on them) and a further 27% don’t have a plan at all or even intend to have one in place.
Why is this a problem? Because in 2015, the UK Government committed to the Paris Climate Agreement – a reduction of 68% of all carbon emissions by 2030. But Friends of the Earth announced last December that the UK is on course to hit 59%, so will fall short of this this target.
The pledge to reach Net Zero by 2050 looks to be hanging in the balance.
What is the FM industry doing about It? So, at the moment, we as a country and an industry still aren’t doing or moving quickly enough.
ESG as most people now know, stands for Environmental, Social and Governance – and these capture elements crucial to the operation of any business.
Reducing your carbon footprint means reviewing your supply chain, how you operate your business and how you
60 | TOMORROW’S FM
Investors increasingly want to invest in ESG-minded organisations – good business practices attract good business investment.
Forbes.com reported that approximately £30tn in assets were managed in accordance with ESG principles across five major markets, about one-third of their total market.
ESG and Net Zero are undoubtedly worthwhile investments for business, and facilities management must be at the very heart of this.
https://visionzeroconnect.com
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
We develop ESG strategies for clients combining consultancy with a bespoke IT platform, to objectively assess performance, benchmark ongoing performance, and provide transparency to client’s investors, directors, employees, and their customers.
Our clients tell us that internal and external stakeholders expect so much more – employees don’t just want to be paid, and investors don’t just want a baseline return. People want to work for a business that has clear ethics in how it operates, that staff feel empowered and that all genders and races in that company have a voice – and that the business has true affinity with its community, both locally and internationally.
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