We’re encouraging our colleagues to become carbon literate
- Thursday, June 15, 2023
- Posted By The Growth Company
By Clare Fallon – Sustainability Manager at the Growth Company
Right now, we’re all hearing about sustainability and the environment in the news. The negative impacts of climate change that we used to see around the world are now starting to affect our daily lives here in the UK - with the energy crisis, rising food costs, extreme flooding and excessive temperatures.
The amount of greenhouse gases we release into the environment is the driver of climate change. I help our organisation understand its impact on the environment and how we can play our part to cut carbon emissions - so as a nation we can hit our 2050 UK Net Zero target. I celebrate things we’re doing well to reduce our carbon footprint, and take action and find opportunities to reduce it further.
Because we’re a large and diverse organisation, it’s a challenge getting to grips with our individual business areas’ activities and how they wrap-up into the Growth Company’s overall carbon footprint. We have over 1,800 colleagues across 45 sites - and it’s my job to make sure they understand our sustainability commitments and why they’re important to our success as a respected employer, partner and service provider who’s committed to the green agenda.
We’re now providing some insightful training and hands-on opportunities so our colleagues can feel more involved and confident having conversations about climate change with their teams, our clients and partners – and with family and friends.
Being ‘carbon literate’ means you've got a basic, but robust understanding of the science sitting behind climate change - how it relates to the world we live in, what actions we can take, and how this can be embedded into all The Growth Company’s service areas. It’s helping our colleagues better understand the actions our organisation and individual business units can take (and are taking), to identify areas to make a positive difference. This includes where they can be an advocate for change and support others. We’re on a journey and there’s still much more to do.
The Growth Company has a target to be Net Zero by 2035 across all our activities - that’s 15 years before the UK target. This includes emissions we can directly influence, plus indirect emissions from our supply chain, partners and sub-contractors too – that’s no mean feat. It’s an ambitious target, and one to be excited about, because we can start to be innovative and take action now, rather than just thinking about it.
We need our partners and suppliers to be on this journey with us, so it's vital anyone wanting to work with us understands our values and commitments to the green agenda. If they’re not at the same stage as us, that's fine – we’ll go on a journey together and share our experiences.
Many of the contracts and bids we go for now have embedded environmental requirements – to measure, report and reduce our carbon footprint. That’s why we have a ‘Carbon Reduction Plan’ on our website, to showcase our work and encourage new partners and commissioners to work with us. We need to get this right so that we can keep delivering for people, places and the planet.
Thanks for reading my blog. Here are my 5 top tips to increase and share your knowledge of the green agenda and start to make a difference:
Visit our website to read more about our Net Zero commitment and read our Carbon Reduction Plan and our Environmental Policy.
For information on how we can help businesses become more sustainable, visit our Sustainability and Net Zero website, which is part of the Growth Company.
It's Net Zero Week (1 - 7 July) - check out their website for more information and how to get involved.