Council calls for businesses to commit on Carbon Footprint

 Sponsor Wiltshire Council’s Alistair Cunningham presenting the Salisbury & District Chamber of Commerce’ Green Business Award in February 2010 said that the council was committed to sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint by 50% by 2020.  It was looking for business to do likewise, adding that being sustainable not only benefited the environment but the bottom line as well. 

 The winner was Neal’s Yard Remedies, with Emery Little Insurance Brokers and Ayres Heating & Plumbing respectively first and second runners up.   

The judges were a panel organised by South Wilts Agenda  21, and included Ken Taylor a retired General Manager formerly with Shell, Ariane Crampton, Head of Climate Change, Wiltshire Council and Guy Beards, Lecturer in Health, Safety and Environmental Issues, Wiltshire College Salisbury. 

Criteria for the Green Award had been revised from the previous year to include all three element of sustainability – environmental, social and economic.  Candidates were asked :

“To describe how your business improves the environment or promotes 
sustainability. This may include, for example, how you have reduced the 
carbon footprint of your operations, marketed a product or service that 
improves your customers’ environmental performance, improved management of 
your supply chain or helped the community in a relevant way.

Judges will be looking for evidence of:
- your commitment to sustainability, for example policy statements and 
their implementation;
- life-cycle resource efficiency, including measures to reduce your contribution 
to global climate change, minimise waste and improve supply chain management;
- benefits to society, including links with your community, involvement of your workforce and other stakeholders.
- how your environmental initiatives impact your business, demonstrating 
that they are economically sustainable”.
 

In the event, the judges were faced with a wide range of entrants, from office-based businesses who work at operating greener, to those trading in green products or services.  Some were passionate but just off the starting block, others relied heavily on having a green product.  Some have dilemmas and work hard at making improvements in inherently less sustainable activities.  Leaders however tended to have strength across the range of criteria, and generally based on some years developing their approach.      

And what for the future?

In order to help build awareness and capability in sustainability, Wiltshire Council’s Climate change team will be recruiting a member of staff with the specific mandate to support Wiltshire businesses during 2010.  The premise is that many businesses want to improve their approach to sustainability, but often don’t quite know how.  The Council’s objective will be to provide businesses with access to leading resources to help build awareness of what they can do to improve.  Wiltshire Council can be contacted via Ariane Crampton on climate.change@wiltshire.gov.uk or 01225 756198

 A parallel network has been operating in Hampshire for five years; the Sustainable Business Network(SBN).  Major businesses combined with the local authority to fund a post based in the council’s offices.  The national SBN in New Zealand told SWA-21 last year that they had been inspired by Hampshire’s example, and then went further to create the New Zealand Greenlist – a web-based directory of businesses showing their green credentials set against their SBN’s criteria.  We wonder; could something similar be supported here?  Anyone interested in the prospect is invited to contact Ken Taylor on kentaylor47@hotmail.co.uk

 Wiltshire College is working to improve its own environmental performance, and to incorporate these ideas in their teaching.  Many young people have embraced this work and produced some really good displays, presentations and video.  The college is also keen to provide local businesses with the skills they need to efficiently manage their environmental performance and gain recognition for doing so.  Wiltshire College can be contacted via Guy Beards at guy.beards@wiltshire.ac.uk or 01722 344213

Deadline for entries 22^nd January.  

Read the criteria  for entry and download an application form.

Profile of previous winners.

“I believe that we have to solve the problems of reducing the carbon footprint of our homes in all sorts of innovative ways not only technical, but also personal, organisational and monetory.”

Greg Condliffe

Newbeck Cottage, Flower Lane, Amesbury is no ordinary house!  It is jammed full of innovative ideas for reducing its carbon footprint.  Architect Greg Condliffe, of Harnham, Salisbury was nominated by South Wiltshire Agenda 21 in this year’s Regen South West Green Energy Awards. Greg was runner-up in the housing category and was the only award winner from Wiltshire.

 Regen SW is the sustainable energy agency for South West England, funded by the SW Regional Development Agency.  Its mission is to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy by unlocking sustainable-energy business opportunities, accelerating the uptake of the region’s renewable-energy resources and championing effective energy-demand-reduction initiatives in the region.  

Greg, who owns the firm Concrete Ideas, likes a challenge.  If he comes up against a problem he will find a solution even if this is unconventional and has never been tried before.  He also values the skills of his builders and uses their experience and ideas to enhance his own.  His philosophy is affordable sustainability, which will not cost the earth, can be easily replicated and retrofitted into existing buildings.

 Newbeck Cottage is a small, new home in a conservation area, built using lime mortar (making it recyclable).  It incorporates a range of carbon neutral technologies including:

• a novel rainwater harvesting system using a series of water-butts linked by a simple pond pump to a storage tank in the roof
• solar panels, which not only supply the hot water, but also enhance the under-floor heating system
• an air-heat recovery system supplying continuous fresh air, warmed in winter and cooled in summer, so removing the need for ventilation and consequent draughts
• insulation to the highest standards, including that made from recycled plastic bottles

All the plant is stored in the attic, making use of this waste space, and the controls are cleverly hidden behind a mirror in the bedroom.

It values its relationships with customers and the community and is totally transparent.

Piggy bank / Photo: _ES

The Triodos philosophy is that banks should serve the community and that the face of banking should be changed from self-interest to, e.g. climate change and poverty. Its success is due to the way it has always operated. It values its relationships with customers and the community and is totally transparent. For example, there are regular reports to depositors about the enterprises to which loans have been made. The bank sets a premium on understanding and supporting these businesses, and there are certainly no toxic assets. Loans are funded from deposits and there is always plenty of liquidity in case of problems. Almost 50% of its loans are to enterprises related to the environment, the rest are to social and cultural businesses.

The day was like being in a sustainable community for a few hours. The venue is very convenient both for trains and buses (and boats), local food and plenty of tap water available (not a hint of bottled water), an array of recycling bins, all clearly labelled, and a variety of stalls showing the wares of some of the businesses which have received loans from Triodos. Instead of the shouts of indignation reported from recent AGMs of some of the conventional banks, there was frequent applause and praise from the audence.

I can recommend this day as a ‘must do’ for next year.

Ruth Popplestone

A panel of judges from SW Agenda 21 made the Green Business Award which was sponsored by Salisbury District Council.   Read the judges’ comments and verdict:

Judges’ comments

This year we received applications from a wide range of different businesses, including businesses who had set up as ‘green’ in all their operations from the off, and those who sold ‘green’ products. We were very pleased to hear from these, and to learn about how they were running their businesses with environmental considerations at the forefront, or the innovative environment-friendly technologies they were marketing.

However, what the judges also found amongst candidates were businesses who were not necessarily ‘green’ in the nature of their operations, but who showed that they had changed the way they looked at their business, and had subsequently changed processes in order to lessen or mitigate the impact they were having on the environment, and in addition saved money into the bargain.

Whether the businesses were either fundamentally ‘green’ in character, or alternatively developing ‘green’ approaches, the judges needed to see evidence that candidates had acted on their conclusions, and put new measures in place.

The judges were surprised to find that the criteria of the award were best fulfilled not by green businesses, but by ones that would not necessarily have been expected to make such efforts to improve their environmental performance.

The three finalists are:

Emery Little Insurance Brokers
Country Coffee (last year’s winner) and
Autocrash Ltd

Emery Little Insurance Brokers showed a wide-ranging and innovative approach to environmental management. They have drawn up an Environmental Policy, instituted a staff car-sharing scheme, and used money saved on recycled toners to pay for a paper recycling scheme, to name some of their projects.

(Although they market a carbon offsetting scheme, it would have been helpful to know how this works in practice).

Country Coffee, suppliers of coffee and coffee machines, have managed to maintain the momentum they began last year, despite moving premises, and plan further energy and carbon saving improvements in the future with regard to their vehicle fleet.

Autocrash car body repairs, coming from an industry not traditionally associated with environmental concerns, nevertheless have tackled the issues ‘head on’, particularly with regard to the change ahead of regulation to water-based paint. They looked at waste, energy and travel and made improvements in all areas, taking care to carry staff with them through awareness raising, training and support.

And the winner is … Autocrash Ltd.

Application Forms are available from Miss Dunning on 01722 322708.

The deadline for applications is Friday 25th January. THE DEADLINE HAS PASSED.  THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.