ENERGY MANAGEMENT & SUSTAINABILITY CARBON CONFUSION
Dan Crowe, Optimisation Manager at Inspired Energy, demystifies the new low carbon lingo.
Several years of mandatory carbon reporting and increased supply chain scrutiny means that facilities managers have long been at the forefront of delivering carbon reduction targets, becoming well-versed in the long list of acronyms and jargon attached to energy reduction. Reducing emissions has been a big part of many businesses’ strategy for some time, fuelled by the need to reduce energy costs as well as schemes like Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS).
However, the landscape is transforming: sustainability has risen up the board agenda in recent years and an increasing number of organisations are announcing plans to boost their credentials with ambitious decarbonisation plans and ‘net zero’ targets.
A new breed of carbon jargon has emerged, making the area confusing to navigate for those not absorbed in the topic all day, every day. Understanding the new low carbon lingo and where the sustainability focus now sits should help anyone trying to get to grips with what lies ahead in their carbon reduction journey.
Spotlight on sustainability From global technology firms to major manufacturers, the list of businesses announcing their sustainability aims is growing every day. However, different organisations use the term ‘sustainability’ differently.
Some aim to become more sustainable by focusing on their impact on the environment, whereas others use it more broadly to refer to their wider environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts.
It’s not the only term to have different meanings attributed to it. The UK has committed itself to hit ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 (net zero broadly meaning an overall balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere.) Businesses will have a major role to play in the UK achieving this target and many are aiming to go further, announcing ambitious net zero targets of their own, often to be met much sooner.
Before action can begin, organisations review their carbon footprint (the amount of carbon dioxide released as a result of a firm’s activities) and their carbon intensity (the amount of carbon emitted per unit of production or revenue). Some focus solely on their own internal activities, while others broaden their scope and tackle emissions right across their value chain.
Facilities managers might also need to provide information for this under the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol reporting framework, where Scope 1 includes direct emissions such as those from gas heating and company vehicles, and Scope 2 emissions comprise
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