Expert View Miranda Barker with Claire Coutinho
“And it was really interesting to hear from other nations and to get their take on the climate emergency.”
Ged Heffernan has founded a number of Lancashire green tech enterprises including the Preston based River Power Pod, which is behind the development of an in-stream hydro-turbine that can bring power and clean water to remote parts of the world.
He is now working, with the support of RedCAT, which he helped found, and Liverpool John Moores University, to develop a 3-D printed version of the turbine which would allow communities in countries like Kenya to create them on the ground.
Ged believes that form of tech-transfer is vital and offers huge opportunities. Unable to travel to Dubai he was given virtual access to COP28 and says: “It was good to see such a lot of people working very hard to reach agreement and wanting a policy that would have a real impact.
“There was passionate debate but the summit also showed how difficult it is to get a policy that works across the globe.”
Miranda Barker says the COP28 visit was a success in terms of Lancashire’s global visibility and the valuable contacts made during the time spent in Dubai.
She met with a range of politicians and leaders including the government’s energy and net zero secretary Claire Coutinho and her Labour shadow Ed Miliband. They have both expressed a keen interest in visiting the county to discover more about the net zero work being done here.
Miranda says: “The visit was a success in showcasing Lancashire as a low carbon tech centre of excellence, with visits to come from national politicians from both sides, and our voice being heard on global climate concerns.
“We also had conversations about the importance of getting the technologies we have
NAVIGATING TOWARDS A POSITIVE FUTURE
by Liz Wood, Beyondly sustainability manager and principal consultant
Even before the previous COP 27 in Egypt in 2022 many believed that it was already clear the world was on track to fail to meet the 1.5 degrees goal, which scientists advise must be achieved by the middle of this century, to avoid the devastating impacts of climate change.
Given the lack of real action between 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed, and 2023, is there hope for a climate positive future?
2023 has been a turbulent year for UK climate ambition too, with Rishi Sunak taking to the stand in September to U-turn on key environmental policies, including pushing back the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.
Despite the lack of leadership on the global stage, many businesses are seizing the opportunities associated with navigating towards a climate positive future. And 2023 has been a bumper year for B Corps, these
in Lancashire to the places in the world where they can do some good, without imposing a debt burden on those areas.
“We need some grown up thinking around green tech equity so ‘Global South’ nations can fight their own climate change battles using Lancashire green innovations.”
The COP28 deal was the first to note the need to move away from the fossil fuels that drive global warming.
However, countries at the most risk from climate change, along with other groups, had wanted it to go further with a commitment
are businesses led by purpose, as well as profit.
B Corp numbers globally have risen from just over 3,000 in 2019 to 7,300 and counting in 2023, with a verification backlog of well over six months.
Putting the environment, employees, customers, and positive impact at the heart of business makes commercial sense. Purpose driven organisations grow three times faster on average.
Perhaps this is why there was an 87 per cent increase in businesses setting approved science based climate targets in 2022. A sustainable, low carbon future can bring local services, a connection to community, a healthy and engaged workforce, energy and cost savings, efficiencies in resource use and much more. Hence why smart business is ploughing a course toward a 1.5-degree future.
to “phase out” fossil fuels. The agreement includes global targets to triple the capacity of renewable energy such as wind and solar power, and to double the rate of energy efficiency improvements, both by 2030.
It has also called on nations to speed up low- and zero-emission technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
Following the developments during the conference closely, Stephen Sykes believes it will be business and not politicians who will lead the way. He says: “The attitude is we will just get on with it because we can’t wait for you.”
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