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. My job is to 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 can be challenging getting to grips with our individual business areas’ activities and how they wrap-up into to GC’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.
Confident conversation around climate change
We’re now providing some insightful training and hands-on opportunities so you can feel more involved and confident having conversations about climate change with your 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 GC’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.
Our shared target and collective goal
The Growth Company has a target to be Net Zero by 2035 across all our activities - 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 – so 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 continue to win the work.
Clare’s top tips to increase your carbon literacy
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 - click on the image below to watch my video:
More information
Visit our website to read more about our Net Zero commitment and read our Carbon Reduction Plan and our and our Environmental Policy.
If you‘re interested in becoming Carbon Literate, information on the next training sessions can be found on PAL.
The GC Team Green has organised a virtual bitesize session on Tuesday 11 July 2023, 12-1pm . All colleagues are invited to find out more about why being environmentally aware is important and to explain more about GC’s commitment. During the session, we’ll share practical ideas and useful tips on how to make an individual impact. The session will include a number of different speakers including our SMT member - Donna Edwards (Managing Director of Business Support and Business Finance). To join the session, click here to grab the attendee link.
If you have any questions on GC’s green agenda and our Net Zero commitment, please email clare.fallon@growthco.uk.
For information on how we can help businesses become more sustainable, visit our Sustainability and Net Zero website.
It's Net Zero Week (1 - 7 July) - check out their website for more information and how to get involved.