Sustainability: It’s time to get on with it

The UK’s commitment to the Paris Agreement means that we have to play our part in limiting the global temperature rise and focusing on sustainability. To do this, emissions must be halved by 2030, with net zero being achieved no later than 2050.

This goal is beginning to slip from our fingers – with the UK set to miss its fourth and fifth carbon budgets. To achieve the sixth, the country needs to cut emissions by a staggering 78%.

Action from the business world is key to achieving this.

Despite the growing urgency of reaching net zero by 2050, many organizations have yet to accept the reality of the threat. QMS International’s research of business attitudes found environmental sustainability was only listed as a top or second priority by 1.9% and 11.2% of businesses respectively. The majority (23.4%) put it as the seventh business priority – out of eight.

Why act now?

By being proactive now, organizations can dodge future headaches, especially where legislation or seeking new business is concerned.

Acting now will ensure that organizations stay in step with other clients and customers. For example, 69% of respondents to the survey said good green credentials were either very important or quite important to their clients.

Becoming more carbon-friendly can save money and create new jobs too. In the report, “Manufacturing resilience: driving recovery towards net zero” by the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group and Policy Connect, it stated matching the most efficient operator in the manufacturing sector would, on average, enable a company to become 24% more profitable, create 30% more jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions by a sizable 9%.

Short-term actions

Simple actions, such as implementing wider recycling efforts, are easy wins that can help a business towards greater sustainability and feed into a wider circular economy.

Other actions, such as enforcing a paperless policy, can also be useful. This has recently been made easier by the shift towards home or hybrid working, which naturally limits employees’ access to printing facilities.

能量三维ency in general can be very rewarding too, with consistent monitoring being an easy but often overlooked first step. Manufacturers can easily keep tabs on their usage with half-hour meters, for example. However, a recent survey by Make UK revealed that more than 95% of manufacturers do not use them.

Medium-term actions

A key medium-term action is developing a system designed to monitor, measure and improve an organization’s environmental management. Systems such as ISO 14001, the international Standard for environmental management, can help to put this structure in place.

ISO 14001 helps organization to consider all aspects, risks and impacts of their environmental performance and to plan strategically. Ultimately, it can lead to cost savings as well as a demonstrable commitment to managing environmental risk. With greater monitoring and measurement processes, it can be easier to spot opportunities to reduce waste, for instance.

Other medium-term shifts could include building up a new supply chain of more local suppliers or replacing equipment and vehicles with greener alternatives.

Long-term sustainability actions

Longer-term actions require an organization to build up a detailed strategy that integrates environmental management into their business objectives. By doing so, businesses can build success and ensure sustainability is part of every decision-making process.

An organization can, for example, investigate new, greener products and services, tying together the search for profits and new commercial opportunities with environmental concerns.

Although medium and long-term actions require more time and investment, they are key to long-term success. By using them, organizations can avoid the implementation of piecemeal solutions that fail to drive continual improvement, something that is absolutely necessary when it comes to winning the race to net zero.

– This originally appeared onControl Engineering Europe’s website.

Original content can be found atPlant Engineering.

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