Martin Gibson, JBA Technical Director and Decarbonisation Lead, shares how you can take the first steps on the journey towards net zero carbon emissions. Read on to discover more.
Determining a baseline
It is great to see so many organisations making commitments towards achieving net zero carbon emissions. However, taking action can be hard, which is why knowing your starting point is vitally important.
Defining your organisation’s starting point means putting together a carbon emissions baseline. Gathering the data for this is time-consuming, even if you pay for one of the many software offerings that can support the task. So, to make things as simple as possible, many organisations begin by looking at the emissions that come directly from their operations and the electricity they use. Whilst this is a sensible starting point for most organisations, it is still likely to miss their biggest source of emissions – everything they buy.
However, looking at your own emissions and electricity usage does help to identify where to focus reduction efforts.
Maximising energy efficiency
Energy efficiency has always been a good starting point for tackling emissions from carbon hotspots. Simple awareness campaigns can be an effective way of highlighting where energy is being wasted. Such campaigns not only support in reducing costs and emissions but can also help to engage people. Once engaged, people will often bring enthusiasm and fresh ideas.
Maximising energy efficiency may require investment, which can often be a barrier to action – there are other barriers to consider too. Typically heating can be a large source of emissions. Addressing this can be difficult because of leasing arrangements or the fabric of the building. These barriers shouldn’t stop you from doing the obvious, though. Simple measures such as turning down thermostats, to ensure that people don’t feel the need to open windows to cool down, can have a significant impact.
Tracking travel emissions and encouraging sustainable travel
Another significant source of emissions for many organisations is travel. An effective tool for highlighting this and identifying sustainable alternatives is a travel hierarchy. These charts provide guidance on the most sustainable forms of travel and encourage individuals to consider whether travel is necessary.
A travel hierarchy identifies active travel, such as walking and cycling, as the favoured modes of transport, followed by the use of public transport. The use of individual cars is towards the bottom of the hierarchy, indicating that this form of travel should only be used once alternatives have been ruled out.
At JBA Consulting, we log all journeys to our offices, which forms a key part of how we collect data on our carbon emissions. To do this colleagues sign into our offices using a JBA-developed touchscreen app, which takes details of their commute and provides instant feedback on the carbon their journey has generated.
Like many companies, we also incentivise sustainable travel to work. Colleagues who opt for the most sustainable forms of commuting are eligible for additional benefits and rewards, which in turn helps us as an organisation to reduce our emissions.
