It’s Net Zero Week

Net Zero Week (1 – 7 July) is an awareness week on how we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions to Net Zero by 2050, as required by UK law. Net Zero means reducing carbon emissions to their lowest amount through energy efficiency measures, and then via schemes to offset any remaining ‘hard to remove’ emissions.

The Growth Company is an award-winning provider of services designed to accelerate Net Zero and we’ve embarked on our own decarbonisation journey and pledged our support to the UN’s Race to Net Zero.

We’re aiming to become Net Zero by 2035 across all the emissions we directly influence, plus indirect emissions from our supply chain, partners and sub-contractors.

What we’ve achieved

Since our baseline year (2019/20), we’ve achieved a 12% reduction in our carbon emissions, even though we’ve seen a 26% increase in full-time equivalent colleagues and a 19% increase in our turnover since 2019/20.

We’ve introduced good energy management procedures, such as a heating and cooling policy, automatic sleep mode and switch off, and utilised sensor-based lighting and natural light.

We’ve also encouraged our colleagues to consider sustainable transport options, including a travel season ticket loan, a cycle-to-work scheme, using public transport for business travel, and a new salary sacrifice electric vehicle leasing scheme.

Clare Fallon, Sustainability Manager at the Growth Company, explains how in addition to these actions, we also carbon offset:

“We’ve off-set year-on-year measured carbon emissions using a recognised scheme – Gold Standard, whilst also implementing a number of carbon reduction initiatives. 90% of our retired carbon credits are with projects which reduce the production of greenhouse gases, such as renewable energy schemes, and the remaining 10% are with capture carbon projects, like tree planting and biodiversity scheme.”

Right-click on the images below and then click on 'open image in new tab' to view our latest Carbon Reduction Plan, or download it here.

Accreditations and targets are important

We’re members of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and an accredited Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) training centre.

In 2021 we achieved the ‘ISO 14001 Environmental Management System accreditation’ – something we also provide though our Centre for Assessment business. It’s helped improve our environmental performance through more efficient use of resources and waste reduction, while gaining a competitive advantage and the trust of our stakeholders. We also hold the ‘British Standards Institution PAS 2060 Standard for Carbon Neutrality’.

Removing barriers and nurturing innovation

Through our business support and consulting services, we’re helping others with their Net Zero journeys.

Green Economy works with businesses to help them decarbonise and connecting them to local suppliers of Net Zero products and services through their online marketplace. Support includes the ‘Journey to Net Zero’ programme which helps learners build a strategic plan to cut their carbon footprint, reduce costs, minimise risk and capitalise on opportunities around Net Zero. From April 2022 to March 2023, the Growth Company has helped businesses to reduce their combined carbon footprint by 931 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).

Amy House, Director of Green Economy said:

“Delivering Net Zero requires significant change to how business and consumers behave, but we’ve reached a tipping point whereby if we don’t act now, it simply won’t be possible to achieve the ambitions set out by global leaders.

“Through Green Economy, we provide a single destination for green installers and providers to promote their business, that will in turn give buyers confidence and accessibility to this thriving sector, whilst helping businesses that want or need to decarbonise to access support that will deliver meaningful results against their net zero ambitions."

Through the Energy Innovation Agency, alongside our partners we’re supporting some of the best low carbon energy innovators world-wide, helping them to get a head start introducing their new solutions, technologies and processes into the Greater Manchester marketplace.

Across the region we’re also helping businesses across all sectors, including public sector, commercial, industrial, manufacturing, academic and healthcare, to access these latest energy innovations so they can reduce their energy costs, be more efficient with their energy consumption, utilise cleaner sources and potentially be more competitive.

The Agency and Green Economy recently exhibited at the climate and cleantech Innovation Zero event. David Schiele, Director – Energy Innovation Agency said:

“We had an overwhelming response on the day… it was great to hear that our support around overcoming barriers to commercialisation, and connecting innovators with their target markets, resonated so well with the businesses at the event.”

Investing our learnings into our services

As an organisation we want to do the right thing in terms of the environment. We’ve had a head-start on our decarbonisation journey, and we want to share our learnings to help others.

In January 2023, our award winning GC Education and Skills team launched the Green Skills Academy – the first of its kind in the UK and a one-stop-shop for learners wanting to kick-start their careers in emerging technologies and businesses looking to prepare their workforce for the transition to a carbon neutral economy. It’s playing a critical role in Greater Manchester’s Net Zero ambition, gaining awareness abroad and inspiring others to collaborate.

Click on the image below to watch a short video about the Green Skills Academy or click here:

Educating our workforce

We’ve provided training and hands-on opportunities so our colleagues feel more confident having conversations about climate change.

To build upon our mandatory Environmental Awareness Training, we’ve created additional Carbon Literacy Training for those who want to become more fluent in conversations around climate and sustainability.

We also have ‘Team Green’ – our colleague climate change advocacy group, who encourage our colleagues to make lasting improvements to their local parks and countryside by becoming green volunteers.