Decarbonise your business

Decarbonise your business

Over 18 months ago we attended the Green Summit and launched our Leading the North West to Zero Carbon plan. The plan set out how we were going to support the region with its zero carbon ambitions and help Greater Manchester achieve net zero carbon by 2038.

Part of the commitment was to enable businesses to join us on the transition to net zero carbon. Businesses use two thirds of the electricity supply in Greater Manchester, so it’s imperative they play their part in the transition.

It is clear from our engagement with businesses that the desire was there, but the information was not. The majority of the information available was generic information from energy suppliers or academics and wasn’t sector specific.

To address this, Electricity North West has worked with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to produce guides on the immediate steps that different types of businesses can take to help tackle climate change by reducing their carbon emissions from:

· Direct energy use associated with buildings

· Indirect energy use in buildings

· Emissions associated with commuting, business and customer travel.

Initially we have focused on five sectors: food retail, hotel, non-food retail, warehouses and offices. We have developed top tips for each of these industries to help them with their decarbonisation aims and the full reports are available on our website.

Some of the key recommendations apply to more than one sector, for example, monitoring energy usage, using low-energy managed by a control system, and installing rooftop solar.

While the prospect of some of the large-scale changes including solar panel installation, EV charging solutions and heat pumps may seem daunting at first it is important to remember that there is help available.

For example, qualifying heat pumps and biomass boilers can benefit from the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which provides financial support to adopt low carbon heating.

For many businesses, issues with energy and lighting management, and with rooftop solar installation can arise due to the ownership arrangement of the space in buildings e.g. if it rents rather than owns the building.

This is particularly the case for non-supermarket retailers and offices. The Better Building Partnership highlight the relationship between owners and occupiers in terms of the responsibilities and benefits for procurement and control of energy as a key barrier to improving the environmental performance of buildings.

One approach to overcoming this is through the use of a ‘Green Lease’. This is a standard lease with additional clauses that address the environmental management and improvement of a building, making clear the responsibilities for both the owner and the occupier, and is legally binding.

Alternatively, a non-legally binding Memorandum of Understanding can be agreed between owner and occupier.

In addition to this, evidence suggests that reductions in energy use for lighting, temperature and air quality can be made without any adverse impact on the end-goal service provided.

If you are interested in a discussion on how your business can decarbonise take a look at our in depth reports, available on our website, or speak to us by email zerocarbon@enwl.co.uk.