For the next two weeks, we’ll be hearing a lot about COP26 and the plans in place to prevent a climate catastrophe.
As world leaders are currently gathered in Glasgow, at the 26th meeting of the UN-sponsored climate conference, the stage is set to see many firsts.
It is the first time since 2015, in Paris, that countries are expected to commit to more ambitious actions to halt the continuous rise in global temperatures.
This week at COP26, we’ll be hearing about more of the latest proposals on sustainability – and it’s a topic that every business leader will have no choice but to review and reflect upon.
Sustainability must form a part of your corporate strategy
Sustainability is no longer the exclusive domain of investor or stakeholder relations, or a public relations and social responsibility exercise. It’s now a strategic imperative, with increasing mandates from governments around the world. We’ll discuss this later.
Whatever sector your business operates in, from technology to agriculture, it is essential to form a sustainability strategy.
But very few businesses have developed the internal structures necessary to manage sustainability as a critical corporate issue.
In our previous article, “Key Takeaways from UK Net Zero Strategy for Businesses”, we looked at how businesses could prepare for net zero carbon regulations, and how leaders can adopt energy saving practices and programmes in advance of legislation.
Fifty percent
More than half of global GDP is generated by countries with Net Zero mandates, which look to strike a balance between their carbon emissions/greenhouse gases, and the emissions they remove from the atmosphere.
With the recent announcement of Sustainability Disclosure Reporting forcing business to reveal their sustainability credentials, it’s clear that the transition to a net zero economy has now passed an inflection point.
Investors will now need to know which companies in their portfolios have an effective sustainability plan in place for the net zero transition. But the reality is that sustainability and energy management remains poorly understood by many business leaders.
Consider the fact that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2015 estimated that almost £4bn of monetary savings on energy bills were achievable through business energy efficiency improvements across all non-domestic buildings in the UK, and the scale of the missed opportunity becomes stark.
“It’s really that simple”
Energy today is a far more measurable and manageable commodity than it has even been before. Director of Energy Services at ClearVUE Systems, Dan Smith, says: “You identify wasted energy then make a plan to cut that wasted energy. Then you act on that plan, and you’ve cut down on your emissions. It’s really as simple as that.”
Energy management technology puts energy data back into businesses’ hands, providing them with the insights they need to act swiftly and productively towards reducing consumption and carbon,
Innovative solutions such as ClearVUE Systems provide businesses with unprecedented levels of energy data access in real time. Instantly, they can spot anomalies and inefficient trends in their energy profile, allowing them to act quickly and implement cost and energy saving measures.
Final word
As technical as the discourse on sustainability can be, it is of no doubt that leaders understand the significance of net zero and preserving the future of our planet.
As COP26 progresses, it’s essential for leaders to address the challenge of valuing and conserving our planet’s natural capital, to improve not only our climate but also our economies.
