Sustainable Bristol

Resource use

We recognise the inequity of our current consumption patterns in which we are using up a greater share of the planet’s resources and that the poor are most vulnerable to climatic change.

Cut carbon, or lose work, businesses warned

by Thomas Ashfold

04 March 2011

Forward thinking businesses in the South West are in prime position to gain a slice of BT’s £12 billion annual spend.

Telecoms giant BT launched a demanding new procurement policy this week that will require all suppliers to produce a formal climate change policy, report on their annual greenhouse gas emissions, and demonstrate ‘challenging’ emission reduction targets.

As pioneers in carbon footprinting, nearly 100 businesses in the West of England Carbon Challenge, the first regional initiative of its kind, are well placed to grab a slice of BT’s £12 billion annual procurement contracts.

The scheme founded by leading sustainable development NGO Forum for the Future includes leading businesses from Atkins to Burges Salmon through to Wessex Water.

Carbon Challenge members commit to measuring their emissions and to annual reductions in line with government targets, in what can best be described as a carbon fitness club. Organisations receive support to measure and manage their CO₂ emissions, including the free use of a web based environmental performance tool.

Simon Billing, Sustainability Advisor at Forum for the Future, says:

“In making this announcement, BT joins other corporate heavyweights like M&S in engaging with its suppliers to reduce carbon emissions. It demonstrates that an environmental policy alone is not good enough anymore and that being serious about measuring CO₂ emissions and setting stretching carbon reduction targets are fast becoming norm for businesses looking to supply the big players. Luckily, for those organisations who have already started out on this journey, they will be well prepared for future demands. If you haven’t started yet, there has never been a better time to get to grips with your carbon footprint and join other local businesses in the West of England Carbon Challenge.”

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Promoting Success in Cutting Carbon

by Laurence Copleston

23 February 2011

Are you working hard at reducing your environmental impact as an organisation? Have you thought about how to communicate your success and stand out from the crowd?

Representatives of Benchmark Software, Bristol Zoo and Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Trust (NHS) pitched their challenges around promoting successes in carbon reduction to a panel of leading communications experts in the city.

The panel included Ed Gillespie (Futerra), Leander Clarke (Bray Leino) and Matt Golding (Team Rubber), and was chaired by Paul Appleby of Bristol Media.

So what are the stories so far?

These organisations introduced the background to their own carbon reduction measures, and it was then followed by a panel-led discussion on recommendations (THINK).

Benchmark Software:

1)      They are developing sustainability software  for clients to report emissions data and sustainability activities, i.e. carbon accounting;

2)      One of the first SME’s in the country to be awarded the Carbon Trust Standard;

3)      Seeking best practice in promoting energy efficiency and carbon accounting to its clients.

THINK:

• In 5-10 years time, carbon reduction will be legislative and energy-cost driven, energy prices are not going to go down;
• Clients can gain competitive advantage;
• Focus on ‘loss over gain’ i.e. the immediate energy waste, rather than efficiency gains.

Bristol Zoo:

1)      The zoo is benchmarked as a tourist attraction, which means it faces direct competition from other tourist venues for environmental awards, e.g. hotels, who have a greater ability to reduce their energy consumption;

2)      They are an educational charity, but are not focused on changing customer behaviour;

3)      They are achieving a great deal, e.g. ISO 14001, biomass energy generation etc.

THINK:

• Why do you want to communicate it?
• Align what you deliver with how you behave; set out a vision;
• You need to stand out from the crowd (everyone is claiming green credentials).

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Trust (NHS):

1)      The trust has established a network of smart cars and electric bikes for the use of staff;

2)      Now looking to establish a social business model, and expand the approach across the city in the public sector.

THINK:

• Focus on the benefits to the audience, i.e. access, efficiency and cost savings;
• Think about your immediate audience and your wider audience;
• Work to self-interest: ensure that the business model is going to work.

Following a discussion, the panel indentified 3 questions to keep in mind when communicating your green message:

Don’t forget – 3 things to leave with:

1)      Who’s your audience? And what are the benefits to them?

2)      What do you want to gain? If it’s just for fame, is the effort worth it?

3)      Who says you are the best? Rather than self-proclaiming it, get someone else to say it!

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Engaging your people in cutting carbon

by Thomas Ashfold

21 February 2011

In the first of two events centred on communications, members of the West of England Carbon Challenge came together at BBC Bristol to learn about how to better engage staff with their carbon reduction and sustainability efforts.

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed Ed Gillespie, Co-founder of Futerra and one of the UK’s leading experts in sustainability communications, as our keynote speaker. Ed was both witty and informative, providing plenty of valuable insights. We have attempted to summarise the top five take-home messages from his presentation…

1)    Sell the sizzle, not the sausage! Do this by using the following four-step narrative:

• Vision

Begin by using positive visions of a ‘low-carbon heaven’ rather than pessimistic threats of a ‘climate hell’ in order to capture the imagination of your audience and win the right to hold their attention long enough to get to the call for action.

• Choice

Now they have the comfort of a low-carbon heaven to fall back on, show them what hell (i.e. climate chaos) looks like and make it clear that now is the time we must choose which of these two paths we wish to go down.

• Plan

The next step is to offer a plan of how you will get to that low-carbon heaven. Keep it simple but strong (i.e. a short list of big actions) and stick to a 5 year timescale (any longer and you are likely to breed mistrust and dismissal).

• Action

Finally, set out specific personal actions that individuals can take. Make it clear how these relate to the vision and once undertaken give quick feedback so they can see that their actions are genuinely helping to make progress.

2)    Some advice on the do not’s. Don’t…

• Be unnecessarily complicated
• Nag people
• Use guilt trips
• Be boring

3)    Our decisions are heavily influenced by the following factors:

• Habit, emotions and rules of thumb (personal)

For instance, ‘present beats future’ and ‘loss beats gain’. Use these to your advantage where possible, for example when trying to sell the case for energy efficiency measures to your colleagues (i.e. focus on how much money your organisation is losing at present as a result of inefficiency rather than how much it stands to gain in the future through improved efficiency).

• Those around us (social)

An important point here is that in a world of many choices and little time, only ‘purple cows’ are remarkable enough to be remarked upon. As such, you will need to be imaginative if you wish to catch people’s attention and get them talking about your sustainability agenda.

• The physical environment (infrastructure)

For instance, people may be willing to take a particular action (e.g. recycle) but only if the infrastructure (e.g. recycling boxes/centre) is easily accessible. Smart meters are another example of ‘enabling’ infrastructure as they allow people to see their energy use in real time.

4)    Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation. The following intrinsic factors strongly influence staff engagement:

• Autonomy – allowing them to own projects and work freely towards a goal
• Mastery – allowing them to fulfil the urge to get better at things they enjoy
• Purpose – allowing them to hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves

5)    “Less complaining and more sexy rumpus!” You heard it here first.

We then heard a couple of local examples that helped put some of Ed’s messages into context. Martin Wiles, Head of Sustainability at Bristol University, spoke about the lessons he has learnt from the successful implementation of the Green Impact Awards scheme. Two key messages from Martin’s presentation are:

• Find an interested party in each sector of your organisation to act as a champion on your behalf. This will also help you to build a strong communications network.
• Handing out awards can add a form of friendly competition that draws in those not motivated by the environmental side of things. A tiered system (e.g. Bronze, Silver and Gold) also gives people a benchmark to improve upon.

Martin was followed by Dan Green, Head of Waste and Carbon Management at Wessex Water, an organisation that has set itself the ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral by 2020. Two key messages from Dan’s presentation are:

• Recognise your audience and tailor your approach accordingly. For instance, those at a strategic level are likely to respond to forecasts and position papers, whilst those of a technical nature are generally more comfortable dealing with numbers and specific pieces of legislation. Meanwhile, the intranet, newsletters, lunchtime talks and staff awards can all be useful means of engaging non-technical people.
• Ensure your data is consistent and that you communicate it in a way that is both meaningful and interesting; for instance, by visually demonstrating how much space a tonne of carbon occupies.

We were also introduced to Wessex Water’s very own purple cow – the ‘Bio-Bug’. This VW Beetle, which runs on methane gas generated during the sewage treatment process, is definitely remarkable, having received worldwide media attention since its release in August 2010.

The event ended with the three speakers taking part in a ‘Blind Date’ style question and answer session, followed by a brief summary of the key points discussed. With well over 50 attendees and plenty of lively debate this was arguably our most successful event yet; in the words of one attendee ‘the venue, the speakers and the topic were excellent, as was the bar afterwards…!’

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Carbon Challenge members network on sub-let offices

by Sally Bennett

10 January 2011

How do you manage your energy use in a sub let office space?

At the end of last year, the West of England Carbon Challenge hosted a network event looking at this difficult carbon reduction issue. 

Co-hosted by Business in the Community (BITC), the networking event was held at the Start Living shop; a ‘Greener Events’ registered venue and exhibition space in an impressive city centre location. 

After a green-themed icebreaker (bingo!), delegates were asked to individually identify the barriers to measuring, monitoring and reducing energy use within their respective organisation and workspace.  With a diverse range of companies and organisations in attendance, the results provided an insightful overview into the perceived factors working against carbon reduction across the region. 

Barriers included office mindset, staff motivation, lack of energy data, poor communication with landlord, lack of resources and nature of business.

Having identified the barriers the group then turned their attention to solutions.  With a room full of experience, delegates exchanged ideas and picked apart the barriers with their knowhow and examples of best practice.  Solutions included award schemes, green reps, tenant groups, building the business case, energy monitors, task lighting (per desk), publishing of metrics, social media (Facebook groups to rally people) and a staff green code.

The session concluded with three presentations.  The first, by the Centre for Sustainable Energy’s (CSE) Martin Holley, talked through the CSE’s strategy for knocking an additional 10% of existing, already ambitious, carbon reduction targets.  Martin discussed how ongoing gas and electricity monitoring is used to create a thorough and accurate picture of energy use in the CSE head office.  Energy monitors are connected to a dedicated PC and software is used to analyse data.

The second, by the Audit Commission’s Paul Bowtell, discussed guidelines for carbon reduction across government estates and strategy behind the “greenest government ever”.  Paul talked through energy saving measures such as identifying and implementing an “optimal core hours window” for heating and cooling, and measures to eliminate unnecessary or redundant internal or external lighting – going on to explain that lighting can account for up to 40% of an organisation’s electricity bill.

The final presentation, by Benchmark Software’s Simon Harvey, highlighted the business case for carbon reduction within an SME.  Benchmark Software is the first SME in the country to achieve carbon standard accreditation; Simon discussed how this is more than just an exercise in saving money.  The business case for Benchmark is strong – it allows them to stand out in the crowd and is identified as a decision breaker for customers looking to “green” their supply chain.

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Avon Fire & Rescue lead Carbon Challenge

by Sally Bennett

29 October 2010

With sensor controlled lighting and state-of-the-art drying equipment, the new timber framed Urban Search & Rescue centre at Nailsea in Bristol is probably the most low carbon fire station in the UK.

Eager to discuss the impressive strides in carbon management made by Avon Fire and Rescue Service  (AFRS) in the last few years, business leaders and sustainability champions a like joined Rescue Services’ Simon Richards this month for a breakfast event co-hosted by Forum for the Future.

Meeting on Wednesday 20th October – the day that marked the announcement of the severest government spending cuts since World War II – talk of success and progress came as welcome relief and provided the perfect backdrop for the West of England Carbon Challenge (WECC) members to meet and share ideas with other from across the region.

Simon Richards (service Environmental and Energy Improvement Co-ordinator),  talked through how carbon management has been embedded in the organisation, from making a public declaration to climate change and having the Chief Fire Officer chair the internal green group.  The data really illustrated the origin of the footprint of the service, principally on energy costs of the aging estate and vehicles. Members got a real idea of the demands of the fire service, and the impact on its carbon footprint e.g. maintaining the heat in stations for drying.

Simon highlighted areas of quick wins such as rolling out smart metering across their sites, internal staff engagement working with the fire service union, as well as boiler and heating controls. He also highlighted where research was ongoing, such as examining the fleet.

Next followed a tour of the breakfast venue itself as nestled in the beautiful North Somerset countryside, the Nailsea-based Urban Search and Rescue Station is a beacon in ecologically sustainable station design. From sensor controlled lighting to state-of-the-art drying equipment, a tour of the station demonstrates the innovations in station design.

The concluding Q&A session raised some interesting discussions largely on the joint procurement of energy (Avon Fire and Rescue Service procure gas through Bristol City Council making significant savings), and renewable energy including biomass boilers (Bristol Zoo has significant experience to share) and the best low carbon options for your fleet cars.

A compelling session for the members of the West of England Carbon Challenge who, in the shadow of the Chancellor’s dreary forecast, could momentarily pause and celebrate carbon cutting success.

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Bristol’s Daily Carbon Emissions

by Paul Rainger

15 October 2010

Some of Bristol’s best brains are contemplating the pathway to Zero Carbon Britain on Saturday at the city’s annual Schumacher Conference. Leading businesses in the city-region are already playing their part in reducing our city’s carbon as part of the West of England Carbon Challenge.

Of course eveyone agrees that cutting carbon would be much easier if you could actually see it. Bristol currently emits some 6,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide every day.

So in the style pioneered by Carbon Quilt, Dr Adam Nieman of Sci-Five in Bristol has produced an illustration of our city’s daily carbon output, piled up in Queens Square. It stands 150m tall.

That’s a lot of carbon, every day, and we need to cut it by at least 80%. A sobering thought en route to discuss Zero Carbon Britain.

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No Impact Man

by Paul Rainger

02 September 2010

No toilet paper, no electricity, no problem?

A series of one-off screenings with Q&As of ‘No Impact Man’ are taking place UK wide on Tuesday 7th Sept – an extreme experiment in eliminating your environmental impact, this entertaining documentary certainly makes you think about the resources we use everyday.

Colin Beavan decides to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for the next year.

It means eating vegetarian, buying only local food, and turning off the refrigerator. It also means no elevators, no television, no cars, busses, or airplanes, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, and no garbage……

No problem – at least for Colin – but he and his family live in the middle of Manhattan.

So when his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two-year-old daughter are dragged into the fray, the No Impact Project has an unforeseen impact of its own.

Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein’s film provides an intriguing inside look into the experiment that became a national fascination and media sensation, while examining the familial strains and strengthened bonds that result from Colin and Michelle’s struggle with their radical lifestyle change.

You can find your nearest local screening on Tuesday 7th September here.

The Bath screening of No Impact Man at The Little Theatre, Bath, begins at 20:15, followed by a Q&A session with Paul Rainger, Head of Forum for the Future’s Sustainable West of England Programme, Sue Coppard from wwoof, and Rowena Quantrill from Climate Friendly Bradford.

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Bristol businesses leading the way on green efficiency

by Simon Billing

13 August 2010

Bristol Water became the 50^th business in August to sign up to a regional initiative that’s helping West of England firms lead the country in tackling climate change.  The West of England Carbon Challenge is the first regional initiative of its kind that brings together businesses and organisations in cutting carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency. 

By signing up to the challenge, Bristol Water joins other businesses in the sub-region demonstrating their leadership in carbon reduction.

Patric Bulmer, Environment Manager at Bristol Water says: “Joining the West of England Carbon Challenge helps us demonstrate that we’re committed to carbon reduction and that we are ready to share our experiences with other organisations in the region. We’re already taking a range of actions, including driver efficiency training with the Energy Saving Trust, where the first person to volunteer was our Chief Executive!”

The West of England Carbon Challenge was founded in Bristol by the UK’s leading sustainable development NGO, Forum for the Future, together with a number of other bodies. Major organisations already signed range from Axa and Avon Fire Service, through the Marriot and North Somerset Council, to the University of the West of England and Wessex Water.  

Organisations sign up to an ambitious but achievable carbon reduction target of at least 10% over four years. The West of England Carbon Challenge, which is free to join, then supports these organisations, helping them to measure, manage and reduce their CO₂ emissions by offering:

• advice and support on carbon reduction strategies from leading environmental organisations;
• regular networking events to showcase best practice and exchange experiences;
• top speakers from across the UK;
• free use of a web-based environmental performance tool to quantify their carbon footprint;
• opportunities to showcase actions and strengthen corporate responsibility.

This unique network, bringing together businesses across the West of England, is free to join for all businesses and organisations with sites in the city-region.

Simon Billing, Sustainability Advisor at Forum for the Future says: “There has been a really exciting response. We have a great deal to be proud of in Bristol. It’s clear that leading companies in the city are serious about improving their environmental performance. This initiative helps support the great work and share the experiences to put the region at the forefront of a new green economy and ahead of Government legislation”.

For more information about the West of England Carbon Challenge, please call Simon Billing 0117  930 7306.

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Agroforestry for a Happy Future

by Paul Rainger

18 June 2010

Bristol’s leading agroforestry expert, Adrian Morley, makes the case for our city-regions to focus just as hard on managing their biospheres, as their material flows, on the journey towards zero carbon:

Is the only sustainable security we should be thinking about is our dependency on the practically unrenewable lithosphere – the Earth’s crust? Of course not, we also need to focus on using what’s growing on the Earth to provide for our needs – the biosphere.

So far we can only manage the biosphere by using lots of energy, water and chemicals, to achieve less productive and severely degraded systems than what would have naturally been there anyway. Quite simply we need to stop digging up the Earth’s crust and spewing it all over the place (including the Gulf of Mexico), and start concentrating on managing the biosphere in order to promote its health and to provide for us. If we need to tap into the Earth, let’s be very sensible and conservative in what we use it for.

What are our needs? Is economic growth a real need for our existence, or is it a result of charging interest and making commercial profit on money creation? Is food security a real need, or is it food waste in a retail infrastructure that is the issue to be addressed? Is energy security a real concern, or is addressing consumerism; do we need disposable plastic toy soldiers for our children, or DIY tools that will never do the job that they are supposed to? Do we have to shelve too much innovation because it does not achieve the target bonuses or dividends for shareholders?

Do we have as a species the capacity to raise our consciousness and actions above greed, fear and ultimately war? And why are economic and political requirements the main drivers that define net human activity?

Can we use the biosphere sustainability to produce our needs? The answer is yes, agroecology and agroforestry provide both resource and food needs very sustainability and very efficiently.

So why do we suffer technological fixes that need constant evolution and lack systemic insight, when nature has already provided us the answers? The answer probably lies in the end report that will be produced when the human race fails to survive. Jared Diamond has fortunately already written this report for us: ‘Collapse- How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive’. Deforestation is a main component of civilisation failure: it’s a bit like an Inuit knocking down his igloo in midwinter -a very stupid thing to do.

Consider the benefits of agroforestry:

• increased productivity
• less energy use
• nutrient and water hydraulic lift
• increased natural disease and pest regulation
• increased biodiversity
• restoration of ecology
• soil protection, restoration and remediation
• increased genetic pool with enhanced resilience
• flood defence, water regulation and purification
• carbon sequestration
• wind protection
• landscape enhancement
• multi-resource yields from same parcel of land

Can agroforestry be integrated into current agricultural practices with little disruption? – Yes. Silvoarable agroforestry can incorporate the use of modern machinery and practice if so desired, but also attracting the added bonuses and benefits of agroforestry. This practice has an arable crop alley sandwiched between tree lines. Silvopastoral agroforestry can quite simply be livestock in an orchard, hens in woods, an old and to recently, before EU subsidy changes, common practice. Or agroforestry can replicate a whole forest ecosystem and provide a vast array of diverse resources.

So what do our sustainable cities rely on, considering the masses from them dictate land-use? Can rural and urban integrated transition work together?

The UK’s Royal Agricultural College, Bristol City Council, the Centre for Alternative Technology and others are all collaborating together on a Zero Carbon Bristol event on 29th June. In the heart of a city, agroforestry will feature in an event designed to take zero carbon seriously and bridge the dialogue gap between urban and rural communities.

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Cutting Carbon Together

by Simon Billing

17 April 2010

The West of England Carbon Challenge was launched by Jonathon Porritt in May 2009. The scheme provides an umbrella network that uniquely brings together all the businesses and organisations in the Bristol city-region who are working to cut their carbon emissions.

As long as organisations are aiming to cut their carbon by at least 10% over four years, whether as an internal target or as part of an external scheme like 10:10, BITC or Green Capital, then membership of this local support network is free.

Regular network events and workshops, organised by Forum for the Future, enable businesses and organisations across the West of England to come together to share and promote best carbon cutting practice.

As well as uniquely joining together the city-regions’ carbon reduction work, the West of England Carbon Challenge also provides a free footprinting tool for those who need it.

With a diverse and growing membership, from company offices to manufacturers; local authorities to hotels; lawyers, farms, a zoo, and a driving school; this unique business collective is helping lead the challenge to keep the Bristol city-region at the leading edge of carbon reduction.

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