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The 10-minute online survey is primarily targeted at in-house sustainability/CSR/energy leaders and managers who hold some level of responsibility for their organisation’s strategy in these areas. This year’s survey has a particular focus on leadership and skills, and on sustainable finance – two critical areas for the future of green business.

The results of the survey will be curated into a full report which will be published as part of edie’s Business Leadership Month – a bumper month of thought-leadership discussions, exclusive interviews and authoritative reports, all dedicated to dedicated to empowering, connecting and celebrating the individuals and teams who are changing business, for good. You can read last year’s Business Leadership report here.

As an added incentive, all survey respondents have the opportunity to be entered into a prize draw to receive a free pass to edie 23 – the premier annual event for sustainability and net-zero leaders taking place on 1-2 March – along with the edie Awards ceremony which takes place on 30 March.

All individual responses will be kept anonymous.

This survey will close on the evening of Wednesday 22 February.

The 2023 Sustainable Business Leadership Survey

With this in mind, edie recently hosted a webinar and masterclass on the theme of ‘supply chain sustainability: Moving from risk to resilience”.

–CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WEBINAR AND MASTERCLASS ON-DEMAND–

These online events, hosted in association with BSI and Carbon Quota, initially look place on Wednesday 15 February 2023 and are now available on demand. Also participating were expert speakers from Ibstock Brick and Golden Agri Resources (GAR).

During the events, speakers explored why engaging suppliers is crucial to delivering on net-zero carbon and biodiversity commitments. They also explored the evolution on best-practice methods for identifying and rectifying human rights abuses in supply chains and enhancing social sustainability in key supplier regions more broadly.

Here, edie rounds up nine of the top tips provided by expert speakers during this recent webinar and masterclass.

1. Start with an appropriate common goal

The supply chain is often the part of a business’s value chain where the greatest deal of negative impacts occur. CDP estimates, for example, that the average large multinational corporation will generate 11.4 times more emissions in its supply chains than its operations. Supply chains can also be hotspots for waste, water use, deforestation, modern slavery and child labour, depending on the sector.

Whether it’s on emissions, forests, nature, human rights or another topic, speakers emphasised the importance of having a common goal for your business and its suppliers to work towards.

Ibstock Brick, for example, has a 2040 net-zero target for operations and is aiming for a net-zero value chain before 2050. The firm’s group sustainability manager Michael McGowan said this target was not only designed with binding climate targets in the UK in mind, but with the scale of ambition and pace of action across the building materials value chain.

2. Assess your data baseline and plan to improve your data

As one would expect in a discussion on emissions in the supply chain, the importance of collecting high-quality data and interpreting it effectively was emphasised during the webinar.

Carbon Quota’s co-founder Nathan Tiller discussed how, at the beginning of a data collection journey, the process may seem overwhelming and you may be asked questions you don’t have answers to.

“What it comes down to is focusing on what you can do… everybody has to find a place to start,” he said.

Tiller walked attendees through Carbon Quota’s levels of data quality. Most firms, he said, start with using at least some spend-based proxy figures. He urged listeners “not to spend too much time here” and prioritise collecting more specific data, to reach a higher level of integrity. For example, more specific data could be calculated using factors such as where manufacturing occurs and how much energy is expended using the process, as data on the emissions associated with the energy grid is publicly available through organisations like the International Energy Agency.

The aim from here is to use digital platforms to collect actual supplier-specific data to achieve more granularity, starting with Tier 1 suppliers. Tiller explained that many larger businesses are reaching this stage on their data journey at the moment, and it will likely be some time before they have specific data from a range of suppliers below Tier 1.

3. Beware of ‘data fatigue’

As more end-user businesses request data from suppliers, the question arises as to how these suppliers – often small businesses with tight margins – should allocate the time and resources to respond. Dilemmas also arise at end-user businesses when suppliers report data in different ways and at different speeds.

To this latter challenge, Tiller noted: “Your job is to keep up with the fastest, and pull along the slowest…. You have to work with the differences that exist. Even with them, you can make something of it.”

To the former, Tiller recommended the creation of a “very simple” questionnaire for end-user businesses just starting out, with four or five questions relating to your most material topics.

GAR’s chief sustainability communications officer Anita Neville similarly urged companies in the same sector, for example consumer goods, to collaborate to create a single template for sustainability disclosures questionnaires.

Acknowledging that such a streamlining of this process is likely a way off, Neville said end-users and larger suppliers can “seek to minimize workloads” by “creating a common language” across the supply chain. In this way, different stakeholders understand what is being asked of them. In GAR’s space, palm oil, a shared language between manufacturers, traders and growers is important. None of these groups are homogenous, Neville emphasised, with some growing happening at scale but much of the industry accounted for by smallholders working on two hectares or less.

4. Start in your ‘hotspots’

Once you have data beyond the basic level of spend-based proxy numbers, you can start to identify which suppliers contribute most to things like your emissions, water or waste footprint.

Starting with these suppliers, Ibstock Brick’s McGowan explained, can be beneficial. It prevents efforts from being spread too thinly and it enables deeper, more focused collaborations. From these collaborations, learnings can then be rolled out elsewhere.

Within the last 18 months, Ibstock has completed a materiality assessment covering its Scope 3 emissions from suppliers. It revealed that around 60% of these emissions come from just 40 suppliers, so it has opted to prioritise work on climate mitigation here. These are mainly suppliers of goods and services.

GAR’s Neville also spoke of “the value of doing, then sharing”. In this, she meant that larger players can either implement innovative solutions in their own operations or at their largest suppliers, before “customizing” them and providing them to smaller suppliers.

5. Meet suppliers face-to-face

All webinar speakers agreed that creating sustainable, resilient supply chains depends as much on communication and collaboration as it does on good data. GAR’s Neville described transparency as “the start of the journey, not the end”.

“Trust trumps everything,” she said. £You can have the best tech, the best systems, but if you don’t have relationships with suppliers – trust which you generate by being able to talk in their language – then you really can’t get very far.”

“Through the pandemic, we pivoted as much as we could, but we couldn’t do any field work. We were worried that this might stall our progress.”

Ibstock Brick’s McGowan also spoke of the importance of in-person meetings and not “hiding behind” digital communications. His business held its second supply chain engagement day with a climate focus late last year and 26 suppliers were represented.

He elaborated@ “Our [digital] system is at the very early stages – we’re just building it and it’s not mature yet. But net-zero won’t happen unless we collaborate and engage and speak 1:1 with our suppliers. Supplier engagement days are vital. We can have the best [digital] system in the world, but the most important thing is direct communication and collaboration.”

6. Avoid a top-down approach

Building on discussions regarding face-to-face meetings, GAR’s Neville emphasised that suppliers should be collaborated with – not talked at. Trust, she said, will not be built by larger end-users simply telling suppliers what to do. Suppliers want to know the benefits of the work, for their buyers and themselves. They also want to know how they will be supported through the process, with any training, tools or finance.

She said: “If you can start from the intention of being helpful in return for data, emphasise that this is about strengthening the relationship, offering assistance, then that goes a long way.”

GAR regularly hosts supplier conferences on specific topics but also provides deeper 1:1 coaching sessions for suppliers struggling with issues they feel they cannot overcome themselves.

7. Measure and communicate risk and opportunity

Much of the webinar focused on reducing emissions in the supply chain and other environmental impacts. Failure to take these actions doubtless brings moral and reputational risks for businesses, but could also cause financial risk, which is not always well-understood.

In order to build the business case for risk mitigation – and for investment in resilience-building initiatives such as climate adaptation – McGowan explained that Ibstock Brick assesses the potential disruptions, likelihood of risk, potential financial impact and recovery time of key climate risks. It covers physical, input-related, and regulatory risks, plus risks related to external stakeholders.

It also looks at the opportunities of taking action to prevent these risks, such as longer-term agreements with suppliers, or chances for innovation or skills development.

8. Challenge your assumptions on social inequality and human rights abuses

After the webinar, we hosted a 30-minute masterclass on tackling modern slavery in supply chains with BSI. Representing them on this session was BSI Knowledge Solutions’ director of sectors and standards Anne Hayes.

Hayes started by defining modern slavery and emphasising that, at present, more people are living as slaves than ever have at any other point in history. At least 24.9 million people globally are thought to be in forced labour, the majority of which are women and children.

Hayes called this “an issue that is part of our lives and we cannot ignore”. She highlighted that, while some sectors and parts of their supply chains are well-known as human rights risk hotspots, professionals should dig deeper and look into precisely where risk is and who is impacted. For example, the UK Government has stated that British nationals account for more than one-third of modern slaves in the UK, whereas the assumption is that the most-represented groups are migrants.

Hayes also noted that companies can no longer use the excuse of not being in direct control of supplier practices, arguing that “nobody in the UK escapes the shadow of modern slavery overseas”. Businesses have responsibilities in their organisations, across their supply chains and in the wider operating environment under international frameworks and, increasingly, under national laws.

9. Acknowledge that human rights issues have environmental impacts

There is often said to be an increasing knowledge of the links between environmental issues and social issues, but the link between human rights abuses and environmental harm is not always acknowledged.

“This is not just about the social justice factor – modern slavery does impact the environment,” Hays explained. “Combatting slavery can help to protect the environment, as some environmentally damaging practices will cease to be profitable without slave labour”.

One practice that she highlighted as an example was the clearance of mangrove forests in the Bay of Bengal. Slaves are forced to cut down forests to make way for fish farms. This releases carbon and also reduces coastal resilience to extreme weather. Then, in time, the industrial fish farming harms the nutrient balance of the waters.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are a valuable tool for many businesses to link impacts and targets in social and environmental issues. Any business claiming alignment with the Goals should be advocating, as per Goal 8, for an end to modern slavery by 2025.

–CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WEBINAR AND MASTERCLASS ON-DEMAND–

Skidmore, Polman and Wathuti will be joined by the likes of Pukka Herbs’ chief executive Anuradha Chugh and Committee on Climate Change Chair Lord Deben for edie 23, which takes place at the state-of-the-art 133 Houndsditch events venue in London on 1-2 March 2023.

Force of Nature Founder and leading youth climate activist Clover Hogan, Leon Restaurants Co-Founder Henry Dimbleby, Earth on Board Founder Philippe Joubert and We Mean Business Co-Founder Steve Howard are also confirmed among the high-level speaker line-up.

Sustainability and energy representatives from the likes of Google, Patagonia, innocent Drinks and Sky will also take to the stage alongside NGOs, climate activists and other inspirational speakers to provide delegates with rousing and insightful discussions to empower long-lasting change.

An evolution of the multi-award-winning Sustainability Leaders Forum, edie 23 is the premier annual event dedicated to achieving environmental and social transformations through courageous business leadership. edie 23 will offer up two full days of keynotes, panels, best-practice case studies and audience-led discussions across three themed stages – Strategy, Net-Zero and Action.

These sessions will be delivered alongside an array of interactive and immersive event features, including an informal “mess up night” to discuss some of the times that sustainability initiatives didn’t go to plan, a series of “#SustyTalk Live” sofa discussions, and a “25th Birthday Party” to celebrate edie’s 25th anniversary as the UK’s industry-leading sustainable business media brand.

We are also partnering with leading mental health and wellbeing platform MyMynd to help you manage your mental health and prioritise the wellbeing and energy of yourself and your colleagues. MyMynd will offer group workshops and private, one-to-one consultations during the event.

The event is underpinned by a pioneering Mission Statement. The Statement includes an industry-leading commitment to speaker diversity and inclusivity, a strict no-greenwashing policy and a laser-like focus on sparking new ideas and trackable actions through the event content.

edie 23 is expected to be at full capacity, with more than 600 business leaders, board-level executives, sustainability, ESG and net-zero decision-makers, finance, communications and procurement experts, NGOs, academics, consultants, tech providers, and entrepreneurs expected to attend the event in March.

Find out more about the event here and secure your place here.  

The majority of respondents, nine in ten, believe that the sector will not reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 – the Government’s legally binding deadline for delivering a net-zero economy.

This is perhaps to be expected. The Climate Change Committee’s most recent annual progress report to Parliament confirmed that policymaking in virtually all sectors is not sufficient to deliver net-zero within legally binding target parameters. The Committee highlighted buildings as a particular point of green policy weakness, largely due to poor action to improve energy efficiency and scale-up low-carbon heating options.

The report from the BPF sets out a string of interventions the sector would like to see from the Government in order for companies to reach their own net-zero targets – many of which are more ambitious than the nationwide target.

It bears noting that the BPF found a widespread willingness to tackle embodied carbon – the carbon generated upstream through construction and materials – as well as operational emissions. The report recommends the introduction of mandatory life-cycle assessments for businesses across the built environment lifecycle, improving data on embodied carbon. It also states that the sector would support embodied carbon reduction targets from the Government, building on voluntary frameworks and tools like those offered by the World Green Building Council and UK Green Building Council.

Several other recommendations concern investment in renewable energy to reduce the operational emissions of buildings. The report advocates for the removal of barriers currently preventing Real Estate Investment Trusts from investing in off-site renewables, by broadening the asset classes they are entitled to invest in. It also comes out in favour of rules to mandate the instillation of solar panels on large residential, commercial and public buildings.

Solar mandates seem to be picking up speed across Europe. Last October, Ireland confirmed plans for a new grant scheme to support all schools to fit rooftop solar. Then, in November, the French government outlined a new mandate for solar panels on all large car parks.

PowerMarket estimates that if just 5% of the UK’s suitable roof space on commercial buildings were covered with solar installation, businesses would collectively save £12.6bn on annual energy costs.

Data sharing and planning reform

 Another recommendation made in the report are new mandates to facilitate the sharing of energy consumption data between the owners and occupiers of large commercial buildings. This lack of information and engagement provided between the two parties often means that occupiers and owners are not on the same page when it comes to decarbonisation, thus blocking progress.

There is, on a broader basis, the recommendation of a thorough assessment of how the current planning system is hampering the net-zero transition. The report highlights not only outdated rules – and some newer rules which seem to prioritise short-term economic growth above all else – are the problem, but also misalignment and under-resourcing across the planning system.

Much of this echoes the conclusion of Chris Skidmore MP’s Net-Zero Review. The Review calls for a planning system assessment to get underway this year. It also recommends that the Government backs at least one ‘Trailblazer Net-Zero City’, to achieve net-zero operational carbon emissions by 2030.

Reflecting on the BPF research findings, the Federation’s president Guy Grainger said: “There is no denying that the real estate industry is committed to net zero, with pledges being made at a global, national and local level, but these pledges need to be turned into credible action.”

Grainger, also global head of sustainability services and ESG at JLL, added: “Without clear incentives and regulation from Government we will continue to fall short of targets. The report highlights the insight we can garner when we collaborate and this collaboration, along with Government support is critical.”

Our panel of 25 expert judges convened in late 2022 for a full day of judging where they whittled down almost 500 entries to a shortlist of around 200 finalists across 24 categories. This includes new categories such as the Net-Zero Innovation of the Year alongside returning favourites such as Partnership & Collaboration of the Year, and the coveted Lloyds Bank Sustainable Business of the Year.

The shortlist of finalists was revealed back in December, via a video and news piece on the edie website. Now, ahead of the Awards Ceremony on 30 March, we have published this free-to-download report providing more information about every shortlisted entry. Click here to download your copy. 

The Sustainability Leaders Awards ceremony, which will reveal our winners, takes place as an in-person event at the Park Plaza London Westminster hotel on Thursday 30 March 2023. Table bookings are now open and can be made here (premium tables are limited).

Commenting on the announcement of this year’s finalists, edie’s content director Luke Nicholls said: “COP27 and COP15 have underlined just how important business leadership is when it comes to accelerating climate action and reversing biodiversity loss.

“Nowhere is this leadership more evident than on our edie Awards shortlist. Despite battling through the perfect storm of Covid-19, conflict and the cost of living crisis, all of this year’s finalists have shifted from talking about a net-zero carbon, just transition to actually delivering it – at scale and at pace. On behalf of the entire edie team, I would like to congratulate all of our finalists – we can’t wait to celebrate with you on 30 March at the Park Plaza London Westminster.”

— CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY OF THE EDIE AWARDS 2023 FINALISTS REPORT — 

BOOK YOUR TABLE at the edie Awards 2023

From single places for the drinks reception and dinner through to a full Platinum Table front-row experience – there are a variety of options to choose from to ensure you are able to celebrate with the very best of sustainable business at the edie Awards 2023.

Our glittering Awards ceremony takes place at Park Plaza London Westminster on Thursday 30 March 2023, and will include drinks receptions, guest speakers, dinner and a wide selection of entertainment. Avoid disappointment by booking now to guarantee the tickets you want.

BOOK YOUR TABLE HERE.

EV100 has today (20 January) published its latest annual progress and insights report, confirming that it has 127 members that now collectively operate 400,000 EVs – 93% more EVs than were covered by the initiative 12 months ago.

This growth was not driven purely by an increase in members, with just seven new companies coming onboard since the last annual report. Rather, the Climate Group is pointing to more favourable policy landscapes in several key markets, enabling corporates to accelerate deployment.

Member companies leading the way in EV deployment include AstraZeneca, Siemens and Leaseplan. Also in the top ten are Ikea’s parent company Ingka Group, FMCG giant Unilever and consulting behemoth Deloitte.

At present, most of the EVs deployed are concentrated in Europe, which represents eight of the top 10 markets for deployment. The UK hosts more than 15,000 EVs deployed under EV100, while France hosts more than 8,800. For context, around 2,400 EV100 EVs are operating in Japan and 1,400 in the USA.

India is also a major EV100 market, with the second-highest level of corporate EVs deployed to date (more than 10,600) and the highest level of corporate fleet commitments. Should all EV100 members reach their EV deployment targets in time, more than 5.7 million EVs will be operational in their fleets by 2030. More than 169,000 of these will be based in India, and more than 104,500 in the UK.

Charging ahead

As has been the case with previous EV100 reports, this year’s edition tracks several key challenges remaining on the road to corporate fleet electrification, including charging infrastructure deployment.

It confirms that charging point installation by member firms has once again been outpaced by EV adoption, with charging stock up 44% year-on-year but vehicle numbers up 93%. Nonetheless, there has been an acceleration in charging point deployment. EV100 members now collectively host more than 30,000 individual charging points. The leading charging point deployer has been Tesco, with 520 locations now covered. In second place in Ingka Group, which boasts chargers in 405 locations.

The report also documents ongoing challenges in EV100 member procurement of a diverse range of vehicles. While there are many pure electric cars and vans available, selections are smaller for medium-duty, heavy-duty and specialist vehicles. To that end, the Climate Group recently launched a spin-off EV100+ initiative focused on vehicles larger than 7.5 tonnes. Founding EV100+ members are Ingka Group, Unilever, JSW Steel, DPD and Maersk.

The Climate Group’s director of transport Sandra Roling said: To limit global temperature rises to no more than 1.5C, far more vehicles need to switch to electric.

“To support this, charging infrastructure must be built out rapidly and manufacturers must expand the volume and variety of vehicles on the market. Governments need to provide clear direction in the form of phase-out dates, supported by measures such as zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates and CO2 standards.”

Lloyds Banking Group’s managing director for transport, Nick Williams, elaborated on EV100 policy asks in the UK. He said: “If we want the UK to truly lead the way in EV ownership, removing the barriers to convert to new EVs must be a priority focus for both government and industry moving forward.  Increased accessibility and availability of charge points in towns and cities right across the UK will be essential, alongside affordable charging units and tariffs at home.”

Williams added: “Support beyond 2023 is required for a fairer road taxation system that incentivises on removing the older, more polluting vehicles from the UK’s roads, while also supporting demand in the growing second-hand EV market.”

Through his Autumn Statement late last year, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt laid the foundation for changes to road, fuel and vehicle taxation that account for the EV transition. He stopped short of confirming a road pricing scheme at this stage but this may well be the longer-term plan. His plans to bring taxation on EVs in line with ICE vehicles from 2025, however, proved unpopular, with many saying it would hike upfront costs just as motorists need them to come down. Chris Skidmore’s Net-Zero Review recommends a thorough review of all taxes this year.

The publication of the EV100’s report comes as the EU is progressing with plans to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars across the bloc by 2035. It is also setting out requirements for a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions for new cars sold from 2030, with a 2021 baseline.

Final approval is expected in March, but we can expect fierce pushback from some member states, including Italy.

Join the EV debate at edie 23 

Taking place in London on 1-2 March 2023, edie’s biggest annual event has undergone a major revamp to become edie 23, with a new name, new venue, multiple new content streams and myriad innovative event features and networking opportunities.

edie 23 will take place at the state-of-the-art 133 Houndsditch conference venue in central London. Held over two floors, the event will offer up two full days of keynotes, panels, best-practice case studies and audience-led discussions across three themed stages – Strategy, Net-Zero and Action.

We are also hosting a range of workshops, including a workshop on net-zero transport and sustainable mobility on the afternoon of Day One (1 March). The workshop will be chaired by Claire Haigh, founder and CEO of Greener Vision, who will be joined by Tim Anderson, group head of transport at EST.

Click here for full information and to book your ticket.

Our panel of 25 expert judges recently convened for a full day of judging where they whittled down almost 500 entries to a shortlist of around 200 finalists across 24 categories. This includes new categories such as the Net-Zero Innovation of the Year alongside returning favourites such as Partnership & Collaboration of the Year, and the coveted Lloyds Bank Sustainable Business of the Year.

The shortlist of finalists was revealed back in December, via a video and news piece on the edie website. Now, ahead of the Awards Ceremony on 30 March, we have published this free-to-download report providing more information about every shortlisted entry.

The Sustainability Leaders Awards ceremony, which will reveal our winners, takes place as an in-person event at the Park Plaza London Westminster hotel on Thursday 30 March 2023. Table bookings are now open and can be  made here (premium tables are limited).

Fill out the form on the left and click ‘download now’ to access your copy of our Meet the Finalists Report.

Across the UK and the world, leading businesses, cities, states and regions are turning environmental ambitions into action. Here, we round up five positive sustainability stories from this week.

ENERGY: Isle of Man targets 75% renewable electricity mix by 2026

As EU lawmakers grapple with how to fine-tune the design of its renewable energy directive, designed to increase the share of renewables in the electricity generation mix to at least 40% by 2030, a more ambitious target has this week been set by the Isle of Man.

The Isle’s government announced this week a new target for three-quarters of its electricity mix to be accounted for by renewables within three years. The majority of the Island’s electricity is currently generated using natural gas, with diesel, energy from waste, hydroelectric and a subsea cable to England making up the remainder.

Ministers have given the go-ahead for the Island’s state-owned electricity supplier, Manx Utilities, to commence plans to develop 30MW of onshore wind and solar capacity to help achieve the new goal. Much of this capacity will be developed on publicly-owned sites, including solar roofs on car parks and government buildings.

The new goal supports an existing ambition to reach net-zero electricity production by 2030.

“30MW by 2026 is an ambitious and stretching goal for an island community, but one we must achieve if we are to play our part in tackling global warming and climate change,” said Chief Minister Alfred Cannan MHK.

RESOURCES: Currys extends refurbished and repaired tech offering

E-waste is the world’s fastest-growing domestic waste stream, according to the UN. The UN estimates that electronics, electricals and related components worth $57bn are wasted globally each year.

The good news is that the appetite for refurbished, repaired and recycled electronics and electricals appears to be growing. British retailer Currys this week revealed that trials sales of pre-owned phones and laptops around Black Friday 2022 saw 80% of lines sell out within one week.

With this in mind, Currys is expanding its circular technology offering. The retailer has launched a dedicated, expanded second-hand product range on its own website, while last year’s trials saw a smaller range made available through the ‘Currys Clearance’ eBay store. You can read edie’s full story here.

Currys’ head of development for the circular economy Mandeep Gobindpuri said:  “In the UK we produce the second highest amount of e-waste per capita in the world. As much as we all love brand-new tech, we need to address this challenge.”

MOBILITY: Travis Perkins touts ‘UK’s largest’ forklift electrification scheme

In this part of this weekly feature, we often cover exciting news relating to public transport, like sleeper trains to displace short-haul flights, or innovative electric buses.

This week, though, we have received a success story regarding business fleets – and specifically concerning the specialist, heavy vehicles which often prove to be the biggest challenge for businesses with 100% electric vehicles targets. Building materials giant Travis Perkins has pledged to switch all 1,100 of its diesel forklift trucks with electric alternatives by the middle of 2024.

The company is anticipating that the change will mitigate up to 6,600 tonnes of CO2e emissions each year. It is notably working to achieve a 27% reduction in vehicle and plant fleet emissions by 2027, against a 2022 baseline.

Travis Perkins will source the new forklifts from Briggs Equiment in what it claims is the UK’s largest forklift fleet electrification initiative to date.

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Hayfield plans 50 ultra-energy-efficient new homes in Gloucestershire

Housebuilder Hayfield has this week submitted an application to Tewkesbury Borough Council for 50 new homes in Gotherington, Gloucestershire, that will all have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) A-rating.

There will be a mix of two, three and five-bedroom houses and bungalows at the £35m development, which will not be connected to gas. Instead, electric heating, cooling and cooking systems will be in place for residents. Air-source heat pumps will serve underfloor heating systems.

Other built-in sustainability features will include solar panels for each home, an electric vehicle charging point at each property and built-in water efficiency measures. As required by law, Hayfield will deliver biodiversity net-gain at the site. It is planning native tree pond and the creation of a pond with wetland flowers.

BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: OVO joins Community Energy England

Community Energy England has stated that just 23 new community-owned renewable energy generation assets were installed in 2021, the lowest number since 2017. It has been calling for more policy support for the community-owned approach, which proponents argue can help to maximise the socio-economic benefits of the energy transition and ensure they are shared fairly.

This week, OVO Energy joined Community Energy England as a Principal Supporter. In this post, it will help community energy associations to access subsidy-free power purchase agreements (PPAs), which are often a deciding factor in whether a project goes ahead or not. OVO Energy has this year signed two new PPAs with subsidy-free onshore wind projects from Genatec and Ambition Community Energy, and has stated an intention to expand and accelerate this work.

“We’re looking forward to helping the OVO team with their initiatives to support the growth of community energy by providing the sector with more investment and enhanced levels of support,” said Community Energy England’s head of operations Philip Coventry.

“With ongoing cooperation, we are confident that OVO’s engagement with community energy will facilitate new opportunities that will benefit the whole sector and its growth.‘’

Don’t miss out: Register now to attend edie 23

Taking place in London on 1-2 March 2023, edie’s biggest annual event has undergone a major revamp to become edie 23, with a new name, new venue, multiple new content streams and myriad innovative event features and networking opportunities.

edie 23 will take place at the state-of-the-art 133 Houndsditch conference venue in central London. Held over two floors, the event will offer up two full days of keynotes, panels, best-practice case studies and audience-led discussions across three themed stages – Strategy, Net-Zero and Action.

Click here for full information and to book your ticket.

The report found that platforms like Meta and Twitter are failing to tackle or remove cases that could be considered greenwashing and that these platforms do not have policies in place to address the issue.

The report is accompanied by new data from Global Witness, which claims that BP more than doubled spending on environmental ads on Facebook and Instagram during the first seven months of 2022, compared to the whole of 2021, amounting to about £800,000. Ads that ran across those platforms were focused on emissions reductions, electric vehicles (EVs) and net-zero. However, the report also states that, over the same period, BP spent more than £3bn on new oil and gas projects – more than 10 times the £300m it spent on low-carbon energy globally.

It also claims that Shell failed to run any environmental ads across Facebook and Instagram in the UK with the political disclaimer required by Meta since at least November 2019, which is needed for content on climate, energy and fossil fuels.

According to Global Witness, both companies’ digital advertising appears to breach the UK Competition and Market Authority’s Green Claims Code.

The Code was first published in 2021 and was designed for businesses with consumer-facing products and services to check whether their environmental claims would be misleading as defined by British consumer law. It covers issues including inaccurate claims, overstated claims and claims that don’t enable ‘fair and meaningful’ comparisons.

Stop Funding Heat’s campaign manager and report author Sean Buchan said: “With a growing international movement to halt greenwashing and prevent the promotion of climate misinformation, these Big Tech platforms are on borrowed time.

“We are already seeing some regulators begin to crack down on greenwashing from large polluters, while a number of cities and towns are introducing bans on the advertising of climate-wrecking products. Big Tech needs to get its house in order and tackle greenwashing and climate misinformation instead of continuing to profit from it amid a climate crisis.”

The report features previous research from InfluenceMap, which found that fossil fuel companies spent $9.6m of ad revenue on Meta platforms in 2020, amassing more than 430 million impressions.

Stop Funding Heat’s report claim that, based on ad data from Meta, $10m was spent by fossil fuel firms promoting influence campaigns annually in the US alone. The report states the “actual figure could easily be double this in just the US. More research needs to be done; but ultimately, only Meta can quantify exactly how much they earn from such activities”.

The report puts forward a list of recommendations to combat the issue. It states that there should be “tobacco-style” advertising bans for fossil fuel companies, trade groups and corporate lobbying associates.

Other recommendations include creating a publicly accessible advertising library where all fossil fuel industry advertisements are stored permanently to improve transparency and subjecting the fossil fuel industry to more rigorous checking procedures.

The report comes in the same month that fossil fuel firms announced record profits.

Alongside posting record profits, energy major BP has stated that it is no longer likely to meet a previous pledge to reduce oil and gas production by 40% by 2030 against a 2020 baseline.

IBP confirmed that it will increase by an average of $1bn per year until 2030 investment into energy transition activities. These include electric vehicle charging, bioenergy, green hydrogen, blue hydrogen and renewable electricity.

However, it will also increase investment at the same scale and pace into oil and gas. It has argued that near-term demand for oil and gas is higher than previously expected and stated that additional fossil fuel earnings can “support investment” in the energy transition.

With these changes to strategy in mind, BP is rolling back its 2030 targets to cut oil and gas production. It is also targeting less steep reductions in emissions.

The North Sea Farm 1 will be located on a wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands. It has been designed to test and improve methods of seaweed farming, while researching the potential of seaweed to sequester carbon.

The grant will support the creation of a 10-hectare seaweed farm, which is expected to produce at least 6,000kg of fresh seaweed in its first year. As it is located in the empty space between turbines, the project is able to expand seaweed growth in the North Sea.

Amazon claims that if seaweed farming were to expand and occupy all the space between turbines on windfarms, approximately one million hectares could be cultivated by 2040. This, in turn, could reduce millions of tonnes of CO2 annually.

“Seaweed could be a key tool in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, yet it’s currently farmed at a relatively small scale in Europe,” Amazon’s EU sustainability director Zak Watts said.

“We’re delighted to fund this project to help us reach a greater understanding of its ability to help fight climate change.”

The project will be led by non-profit organisation North Sea Farmers (NSF) with support from a consortium of researchers and is expected to become operational by the end of this year

The funding comes from Amazon’s $100n million Right Now Climate Fund, which has so far committed more than $20m to biodiversity and nature projects across the EU in communities where Amazon operates.

In 2021, Amazon launched the Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. The Accelerator will initially support 3,000 farmers in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Pará, restoring approximately 20,000 hectares—around the size of the City of Seattle—within three years, removing up to 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through to 2050.

Amazon is also part of a group of businesses that have joined the UK, US and Norwegian governments in setting up the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition, committing $1bn to combat the climate crisis through the conservation and preservation of tropical forests across the globe.

All of these initiatives form part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge, which the company co-founded with Global Optimism. Companies that join the Pledge have committed to reaching net-zero by 2040.

The headline figure is that the UK hosted some 247,400 full-time equivalent roles in 2021, up from 207,800 in 2020. Growth in the number of jobs stagnated between 2019 and 2020 amid Covid-19-related lockdowns, but seems to be rebounding significantly.

Prior to the release of today’s statistics, the record number of full-time equivalent roles in these sectors was recorded in 2014, at 235,900.

“Although a proportion of this observed increase could be attributed to the recovery of the UK economy from the pandemic, this is not likely to be the whole picture,” the ONS noted in a statement.

As in previous years, the vast majority of the jobs assessed were located in England. The manufacturing of products that improve energy efficiency is the largest sector in terms of jobs, accounting for almost 56% of full-time equivalent roles.

However, the ONS has also recorded a steep increase in employment year-on-year in the low-emission vehicles and related infrastructure space, of 71%. Almost 40,000 people now work in this field. An 89% year-on-year increase in low-carbon jobs in the vehicle and motorcycle wholesale, retail and repair space is documented.

The ONS additionally documented a 35% year-on-year increase in employment in the low-carbon services field, bringing the total close to 10,000 full-time-equivalent roles. Many of these roles entail the provision of services to the construction, manufacturing and energy sectors.

As well as documenting an increase in jobs in the low-carbon and renewable energy sectors, the ONS also tracks how much these sectors contribute to the national economy. It has reported a 30.8% year-on-year increase in turnover between 2020 and 2021, to £54.4bn. Energy-efficient products accounted for more than one-third (36%) of turnover in 2021.

Concerns on the horizon

While the headline figures from the ONS are positive, the data does reveal some negative trends.

There was a 15% decrease in green jobs year-on-year in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning sectors, for example. This decrease comes at a time when the UK needs more jobs in these fields, to reach its 2035 renewable energy target and energy efficiency targets for buildings and industry.

More broadly, the ONS has documented no significant increase in the total proportion of green jobs within total national employment. Moreover, the proportion of turnover which the UK’s green economy accounts for out of the whole continues to stagnate.

The UK Government remains off-track to deliver its flagship goal of hosting two million green jobs by 2030.

Under Boris Johnson, the Government created a Green Jobs Taskforce featuring representatives from businesses, trade bodies, education and NGOs. We are not sure whether the Taskforce will continue to exist under Rishi Sunak.

Sunak’s government has until the end of March to provide an update to its Net-Zero Strategy, after the High Court ruled it unlawful last summer.

MPs have pushed the Government to provide a formal definition of what constitutes a ‘green job’ and to provide a thorough update to its plans for skills or education. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has touted a focus on enterprise, education and employment in the green economy in the upcoming Budget.

Commenting on today’s ONS statistics, the left-wing think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research called growth in green jobs since 2014 “decidedly unspectacular”.

IPPR’s associate director for energy, climate, housing and infrastructure, Luke Murphy, said: “Today’s ONS assessment shows that the UK risks falling behind in the global green race, just as our allies and economic competitors such as the United States are unleashing significant interventions to boost their economies and accelerate towards net-zero.

“Before the UK falls out of the race altogether, the UK Government needs to step up public investment, offer longer term and more ambitious policies from energy efficiency to clean transport, and back them with a serious green industrial strategy. Failure to do so will see the UK fall behind economically and undermine our progress towards our climate goals.”

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) recently, similarly, warned that the UK is “falling behind rapidly” in the “global race for green growth”.

CBI director-general Tony Danker said he is “worried” about the UK’s “complacency on green technologies” and found Chris Skidmore MP’s recent Net-Zero Review “devastating”. The review pointed out more than 120 interventions that the UK Government would need to make to deliver a ‘pro-business, pro-growth’ transition to net-zero, concluding that there is still time to seize this opportunity but that action is needed in the near future. Several recommendations require implementation this year.

See Chris Skidmore MP at edie 23

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edie 23 will take place at the state-of-the-art 133 Houndsditch conference venue in central London. Held over two floors, the event will offer up two full days of keynotes, panels, best-practice case studies and audience-led discussions across three themed stages – Strategy, Net-Zero and Action.

Chris Skidmore MP, the author of the Net-Zero Review, will be speaking as part of a “your questions answered” net-zero debate, where audience members will have the chance to quiz speakers on the energy crisis, the new policy priorities for the new Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero and any other green policy questions that might arise.

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Under a joint venture with Nippon Steel, ArcelorMittal is developing two new blast furnaces in Hazija, Gujarat, India, with co-located CCUS. It is also planning new integrated steel plants at other locations in India, without CCUS.

While proponents of CCUS note that carbon removals will be necessary to avert the worst physical impacts of climate change – and that hard-to-abate industrial sectors are likely to grow through to 2050 rather than shrink – IEEFA expresses concerns about the maturity of CCUS technologies in its report.

“There are no full-scale CCUS facilities for blast furnace-based steelmaking operational anywhere in the world and only a few, small pilot projects underway or planned.” IEEFA steel analyst Soroush Basirat said. “In addition to a very limited track record in steel, CCUS has had a problematic and disappointing history in other sectors like power generation and gas production.”

Globally, the collective capacity of all operational CCS and CCU plants is estimated to be 38.5 million metric tonnes. These arrays are addressing less than one-thousandth of global emissions annually, which now exceed 50 billion tonnes.

Some major projects are not operating at their stated capacity. The Century Plant project in the US, one of the worl’ds largest, had aimed for an 8.4-million-tonne capacity but, in reality, is operating closer to five million tonnes. In other words, it is delivering around 60% of the capture promised.

As such, there is a risk that plans for steelmaking facilities with CCUS could pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than initially stated, if the technologies do not deliver.

The report also throws up questions relating to climate justice and the just energy transition on a global scale. It questions why ArcelorMittal is betting so heavily on CCUS in the global south while directly preparing to reduce its fossil fuel use in the global north in the first instance.

Last autumn, ArcelorMittal announced a new $1.3bn programme to scale up hydrogen-ready, direct reduced iron (DRI) technology in Canada. It also set out similar plans for markets including Spain, Germany, France and Belgium. IEEFA believes this is a safer bet for significant emissions reductions.

Company’s response

Responding to IEEFA’s criticism of its “two-speed decarbonisation” plans, an ArcelorMittal spokesperson told edie: “We have been very clear about the fact that the journey to net zero for the steel industry will require more than one technology route.

“That is why we are progressing two technology routes – one utilising green hydrogen and the other CCUS – and developing a third, direct electrolysis.  Steel is now widely recognized as a hard-to-abate industry and those who have taken the time to analyse the industry closely generally support the view that more than one technology will be required to take the industry to net zero.

“The International Energy Agency, for example, forecasts that over 50% of steelmaking will be CCU/CCUS based by 2050.”

Regarding the collaboration between Nippon Steel and ArcelorMittal in India, the spokesperson added that both firms are “acutely aware of the need to support the country’s growth and also the responsibility to start a journey to net-zero”.  They confirmed that a 2030 emissions target is in the works for the joint venture, but this will be on an intensity basis. In other words, absolute emissions could increase, so long as the level of emissions per tonne of product decrease.

The spokesperson elaborated, noting that there would be an option to shift to DRI technologies in India in the future: £The new blast furnaces will be best available technology with the potential to add on carbon capture and storage in the future.  There is also the potential to use hydrogen in the blast furnace, which also results in a reasonable decrease in emissions.

“Furthermore, ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel India also has DRI-based capacity, which it can convert to green hydrogen as and when it becomes economically available.   Five million tonnes out of 14 million tonnes will have the potential of working on a very high hydrogen percentage.   ArcelorMittal has also taken steps to support ArcelorMittal/Nippon  India with its decarbonization efforts, having announced a US$0/6 billion investment in a 975MW renewable energy project that will supply 20% of the electricity the Indian joint venture operations consume.”

Climate credibility questions for corporates

Earlier this week, a new analysis of the climate commitments of 24 corporates regarded as climate leaders concluded that near-term efforts to decarbonise are “wholly insufficient” to enable firms to reach net-zero in the long run, with a reliance on carbon offsetting outlined as a major concern.

The analysis was from the New Climate Institute and Carbon Market Watch. It found that the plans of the companies, collectively, would result in less than half of the emissions reductions through to 2030 required in a 1.5C scenario.

Scrutiny of corproates’ net-zero pledges is becoming more intense as frameworks against which they can be assessed become more mature. Building on the launch of the Science-Based Targets Initiaitve’s Net-Zero Standard in 2021, and the subsequent launch of Carbon Trust’s Route to Net-Zero Standard, the UN moved late last year to publish new guidance for net-zero strategies without greenwashing.

The guidance covers issues such as investment in expanded fossil fuel supply; deforestation; carbon offsetting and setting intensity-based emissions goals which allow absolute emissions to grow. It also urges organisations to stop lobbying – directly or indirectly – against stronger climate policies.

The We Mean Business Coalition’s chief executive Maria Mendiluce has this week taken to LinkedIn to caution against too much criticism of corporate climate targets.

“Broadly speaking, I would rather see a million companies worldwide roll up their sleeves and getting on with delivery of imperfect climate plans today, rather than lose another decade arguing with the few thousand companies already underway to get their plans to be faultless,” she wrote.

“We can’t afford to let perfection be the enemy of companies taking climate action.”