Sustainable building: how to make your office work for you  

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The building you’re working in right now could be making you sick, stressed and less productive than you can be. Through some relatively straightforward design and refit actions you could dramatically increase your performance and that of your colleagues and staff.

In the UK, we spend, on average, between 80-90% of our time indoors. With around 20 hours per day spent within a building it seems odd, that until recently, limited attention has been given to how the design and layout of buildings impact the people within them. The fact that poor design can reduce enjoyment of spaces seems obvious, but it is only now that the building industry is waking up to how homes, work environments and leisure spaces can be designed to maximise health, well-being and, crucially for businesses, productivity.

This is happening at the same time as many organisations are trying to reduce costs through consolidating office space, increasing occupancy levels, and reducing floor area per employee. Done poorly, this can result in ‘workhouse offices’ full of row upon row of workers in large, noisy, anonymous, open plan spaces. Employees are left unhappy, distracted, unproductive and increasingly likely to get, or call in, sick. If done well, balance can be found between increasing workplace density and staff well-being; delivering buildings that are efficient, healthy and productive.

The results can be staggering. Recent studies have shown that taking account of well-being in office design can result in improved productivity, staff retention, reduced absenteeism, and staff stress levels. With staff salaries and benefits making up 90% of a typical company’s operating costs – these changes can have major positive impacts on the bottom line.

Landlords should also take note – with many reporting increased building value and rent potential from buildings which take account of well-being design features such as:

  • Lighting levels and amount of daylight
  • Thermal comfort – temperature, air speed and humidity
  • Indoor air quality and ventilation rates
  • Noise and acoustics
  • Access to windows and views
  • Visual comfort – colour, texture, and variety in space design
  • Access to amenities

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has produced a report looking at the business value of delivering healthy, green buildings. Reviewing studies from across the world, reported benefits include:

  • 101% increase in cognitive performance for workers in a green, well-ventilated office
  • Workers in offices near windows reported getting 46 minutes more sleep per night
  • 4-6% fall in staff performance when offices are too hot or cold
  • 5% variance in sick leave between two offices – one with higher levels of daylight and access to views through windows

With figures like that, Finance Directors, Human Resources and Estate Managers should all pay attention. As the WorldGBC states, “a better understanding of how buildings impact people should drive improvements in the workspace, which may be one of the most important business decisions to be made”.

To date, most attention on healthy buildings has been on new build and major refurbishment projects. This is not surprising since this is the time when large scale changes to office design can be made. Staff are also more open to new set-ups when they are entering a new office environment or one which has undergone wholescale change.

There are existing building performance assessment methods and standards (such as BREEAM, LEED and the Well Building Standard) which already incorporate some well-being aspects, and are available to organisations undergoing such large-scale projects. However, this focus risks ignoring the vast number of existing offices which are not due a refit, or where budget does not allow such investment. Even in these circumstances there is much that can be done and we are increasingly being asked by clients to include well-being assessments and recommendations into our energy audit work. The cost of doing so is low compared to the potentially very high payoffs.

For me, using a wider definition of sustainable buildings to not only include energy and resource efficiency, but also direct and indirect impacts on health and well-being is an obvious progression. It mirrors our desire to support clients to move away from a negative approach to sustainability – using less, turning down, telling off – to a positive view of how sustainability can enhance our lives and help individuals and businesses perform better.

Find out if your buildings have the power to improve your environment and make you healthier, calmer and more efficient. Make sustainability work for you.

Questions: the silver bullet of engagement  

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When delivering workshops and presentations I often say that there is no silver bullet* when it comes to engagement and behaviour change. Sure, there are many powerful tools and techniques which can be applied as part of a campaign, but from my experience none of them are universally applicable across organisations and stages of sustainable development. Apart maybe from one: the power of asking great questions. This blog will cover why this is the only universal silver bullet, what makes for great questions and how to approach the process.

Why ask questions?
Questions are the essential tool in your engagement armoury because of the insight you gain and how it makes people feel.

It is clear that through them, you get to find out more about what is going on in your organisation and how to align your programme to what is important. The magic of great questions is also how it makes the questioned feel. They can inspire people to take action, expand their range of vision and empower them to take ownership by offering the opportunity to think about what they could do themselves.

Great questions are those which empower both parties involved: the questioned feel good because they feel somebody is genuinely interested in them and their views and feelings. It empowers the questioner because you get to see the world from somebody else’s perspective and can build empathy with them.

Additionally, the answers can stimulate your creativity: the responses might not directly give you what you need, but they should give you a new way of looking at things. Even if they don’t give you answers you’re looking for, or stimulate creativity, they can provide vital insight. For example, if you’ve been getting excellent responses, and then somebody completely misunderstands the point of the questions, that’s great! Why? Because it gives you an insight into their personality, and not everybody will respond well to your carefully crafted cues, and therefore may need different communication methods in your eventual campaign. Or alternatively you accept they may struggle to ‘get it’.

What makes a great question?
Rather than closed questions (e.g. “is sustainability important to our organisation?”) you should ask open questions (add “why” to the start of the last sentence).

As the questioner, you will encourage openness and honesty. Try tailoring your questions so that they celebrate answers that come from the head AND the heart (e.g. “why do you feel…” in addition to “what do you think…”). Whilst logic is important, people’s feelings are just as valuable; and from my experience if people emotionally feel great about something, even if it doesn’t entirely logically stack up, it has a good chance of success.

Whether you frame the question positively or negatively can make a big difference on how empowering it is. For example, “what went well and what could be done to improve?” versus “what went wrong?”.

How should you approach asking questions?
It is possible to ask great questions, but not get that much out of the process. The attitude with which you ask questions is therefore critical. As well as open questions, it is important that you approach the process with an open mind and humility. This helps because you will almost certainly get some answers which you weren’t expecting, or even didn’t want. These are the best answers you can receive as they give you a perspective that you wouldn’t have been able to see without their assistance, helping you tackle those sticky problems from multiple perspectives.

Related to this is having genuine curiosity and gratitude for the answers. If you were just asking the questions because you feel as though you should be seen to be interested, when in fact you’d already made your mind up what you were going to do, then you’d be missing the point a little. Genuine curiosity and gratitude means you celebrate all the points of view in your organisation.

Once you’ve asked your question, then active listening will enable you to build rapport with the questioned and ensure you are able to take in all the information. You’ll be mindfully present to the conversation, staying focused on what the person is saying, pulling yourself back to the person if you drift (which will happen!). You will also be demonstrating this through your open body language, giving visual and verbal indications you understand what the person has said and maintaining appropriate eye contact.

To conclude, great questions can help you immensely when you are building your engagement campaign, as not only can they give you the information you need to effectively align your programme to the needs of the organisation, but also directly empower the people being questioned. Importantly, it can be fun when you build good rapport with someone by asking them great questions. So go forth, be curious and enjoy!

Interested in finding out more? Then consider attending the next “Engage employees and change behaviours” run by the author of this blog, our Head of Engagement, Adam Woodhall.

*In folklore, a bullet cast from silver is often the only weapon that is effective against a werewolf, witch, or other monsters.

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

Experiencing the “Engage & Change” workshop – a testimonial  

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A workshop that clarifies the complex map of engagement, workplace culture and human response to change

Attending a workshop to help you improve engagement around sustainability at your organisation shows a certain level of humility, and courage. And some people have come from far and wide to attend Adam Woodhall’s “Engage and Change” workshop.

What is striking when listening to the people in the room is that they are all facing problems that are very unique to the culture and fabric of their organisation, and yet they all have something in common: they are all responsible for driving and sustaining action for change, and it is clearly not the easiest job to get done.

Adam, author of the Empower Change guide, establishes a three-tiered strategy to improve engagement, and takes the morning’s attendees through a series of concrete examples and activities that constitute a path through that journey. He explains certain theories behind behavioural change and different ways of approaching change of the sustainability kind. These notions clearly resonate with the audience, and everyone is encouraged to think hard about where they are on their journey.

The main take home lesson? ‘There is no silver bullet’. If that might disappoint some, Adam really helps his audience establish the groundwork over which they can build an action plan that suits their particular needs: the importance of a strong culture and good timing, the power of asking the right questions, thinking about the way people respond to innovation, how to deal with extreme behaviours to sustainability and how far is too far from your comfort zone to act are some of the lessons he shares along the way.

The workshop’s unadmitted objective is also to serve as a cathartic session, where people are not encouraged to vent, but rather to share experiences and realise they are not alone. Adam presents the role of empowering change as requiring a lot of personal involvement. Guest speaker of the day John Hutton, Head of Sustainability at BAM Nuttall, reinforced that notion in an inspiring speech where he stated that ‘any action to improve sustainability and increase engagement should always come from the heart’.

Ultimately, Adam encourages everyone to think about what’s stopping them from moving forward and asks what the next step needs to be. Giving the attendees the time to think on their own or to share their experience gives everyone the opportunity to be truly honest, especially with themselves. The morning provides the attendees with the space they need to take a step back and reassess, only to return with a renewed dose of enthusiasm and some new tools to their belt.

Interested in the next workshop? Click here to find out more.

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

World Environment Day 2015: Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with care.  

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World Environment Day (WED) is an initiative led by the United Nations in order to raise awareness internationally and encourage action to protect the environment. This year – on June 5th to be precise – the focus is on the link between economic development and the preservation of our environment and natural resources.

Finding ways to become leaner and more efficient through growth is a challenge we work with every day here at Carbon Smart. We are thrilled to take this opportunity to reflect on the ways to solve this challenge, and we are proud to say that our clients are thinking about it too.

This week, the first week of June, will be bubbling with activity as our clients unroll their own initiatives and we take action ourselves. Here are some examples:

  • We are supporting Lloyd’s of London to tackle different environmental themes each day of the week ending on WED, encouraging employees across international offices to think about the food they eat, the way they travel, and the waste they generate, amongst other subjects. A highlight will be a special display laid out in Lloyds’ iconic building in the heart of the City, showing towers of paper to illustrate the amount of resources used for printing.
  • Dentsu Aegis Network in London has built an initiative around work commutes with its own app to log individual participation and help plan everyone’s bike rides and walks to and from work. We applaud this bright idea to encourage green travel.
  • We will be celebrating the day with our sister company, Paper Round, and carrying out activities at the London zoo with our top recycling clients. Through their participation, we will be donating to our charity partners Friends of the Earth and Trees for Cities, as well as Fareshare and Springboard.

 

World Environment Day is a great opportunity to facilitate engagement around the office and make environmental issues more visible. It is a way to show that action around sustainability is approachable and should not limit itself to initiatives that require a high level of commitment. By encouraging all employees to participate, organisations can build a sense of pride and enthusiasm around what they have achieved, and use this to reflect on what they can do next.

 

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

Empower Change in your organisation  

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Employee engagement and behaviour change are the single largest untapped opportunity in many organisations. We are passionate about supporting our clients to take these opportunities and to inspire action in this critical area, we have launched a guide called ‘Empower Change’, written by our Associate Director, Adam Woodhall.

The guide has received excellent testimonials, including Mike Barry’s, Director of Sustainable Business (Plan A) at M&S: “Employee engagement is crucial to building a sustainable business. There is a growing body of literature on how to engage but little as practical and down to earth as Woodhall’s work.”

Click here to read more about the guide.

 

Launch event

The Empower Change guide and our Smart Change service to support organisations with employee engagement were launched at an event we recently held at the showroom of the sustainability pioneers, Interface Carpets.

There were over 50 attendees from a broad range of organisations such as Prudential Insurance, EDF Energy, Investec, PwC, BBC, Allianz Insurance, Adnams Brewery and the City of London.

Five speakers shared their experience of empowering change in their organisation over the course of an hour, chaired by Carbon Smart’s MD, Ben Murray. Attendees observed that the talks gave a rich tapestry of examples to understand how to make change happen in organisations. Highlights were Mat Roberts talking about how he had demonstrated the value of sustainability in Interserve and Audun Clark sharing a great story about how a colleague at Tesco’s had driven carbon reductions.

Adam Woodhall opened and closed the event, with interactive presentations to encourage attendees to think about what change means to them and highlighting the Smart Change process.

 

‘Smart Change’ assessment tool  

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Carbon Smart has considerable experience in helping many organisations engage employees and generate positive behaviour change.

We have comprehensive expertise of mobilising programmes of advanced engagement and communication techniques – from one day to multi year – to ensure sustainability efforts maintains momentum and delivers tangible change.

Our ’Smart Change’ assessment tool will enable you to evaluate your employee engagement and behaviour change situation.

You will both be able to gain a high-level assessment of strengths and weaknesses and a much more detailed appraisal of your position.

As a companion to this tool, we highly recommend you read our “Empower Change” guide. You can find out more by clicking here

To receive the assessment tool, please email our Associate Director, and author of the Empower Change guide, Adam Woodhall: [email protected]

Beginning  

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Today is one of exhilaration and nerves.

Why am I exhilarated? Because I have launched the #80DaysofChange campaign which is intended to inspire and empower people to take positive action to change others, their organisation and themselves.

Why am I nervous? Because whilst I know what I want to achieve, I don’t know what will happen, and I will also need change, to take risks and do things that I’ve never done before!

Any change has to begin with two things; a choice and then an action. I made a choice that I wanted to start an online campaign to accompany the launch of the book that I’ve written: the ‘Empower Change’ guide. I could spend a couple weeks perfecting a plan and enrolling partners in the campaign before its public launch. Or I could just start.

I’ll be honest, I’m not 100% sure what #80DaysofChange will look like by the time it finishes in 16 weeks. However I’m trusting my instincts that by stepping into the unknown something will be created that is valuable.

What inspires #80DaysofChange?

It is a campaign to empower people to take positive action to change, inspired by two quotes: Ghandi’s “Be the change you wish to see in the world” and Goethe’s “Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it”.

Where will #80DaysofChange happen?

This is a multi-platform campaign. There will be tweets, Linkedin and 2Degrees posts, a survey, workshops, book launches, press releases, chats over coffee, webinars and more

When will #80DaysofChange start/finish?

The campaign is running on every weekday from 27th March to 17th July

Who is leading #80DaysofChange?

The campaign is being led by Adam Woodhall, supported by the team at Carbon Smart.

Why should I join #80DaysofChange?

Join the campaign because you are feeling empowered to make change in your organisation. Changing others will also mean changing yourself, so join me a journey of personal and organisational discovery.

How do I get involved in #80DaysofChange?

The campaign will only work for you if you get involved. To get involved follow our blog, Twitter or LinkedIn, fill out the survey, apply to come to the book launch and contribute to the conversation and learning.

You can find out more about the Empower Change campaign here.

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

Adnams host Suffolk Carbon Leaders event  

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Benedict Orchard, Environmental Sustainability Manager at Adnams, has written a guest article for us about the event we organised in partnership with them on 6th March.

Adnams were very honoured to be asked to host an event for the Suffolk Carbon Leaders (SCL) programme on Friday, 6th March at our brewery, distribution centre and one of our Managed Inns, The Crown, all in Southwold. With over 30 delegates from local Suffolk medium-sized companies, the afternoon was filled with presentations, tours and tastings all with the intention of inspiring others to follow in some of our own green footsteps.

Started in January 2014, the two year SCL programme supports medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Suffolk to save energy, reduce their carbon emissions, minimise resource use at their sites and identify cost savings. The programme, which is part of Suffolk County Council’s wider scheme ‘Suffolk: Creating the Greenest County’ is being overseen by Carbon Smart, who were chosen for their wide range of experience in helping SMEs and providing energy management recommendations.

Adnams have been a proud sponsor of the ‘Creating the Greenest County’ scheme for a few years now, ensuring other local business are recognised for their stellar work through their annual awards and so were delighted to host this event. After talks to the businesses on voltage optimisation, solar energy and behavioural change, my colleague Belinda and I provided guided tours of our brewery, distribution centre and anaerobic digestion plant.

Keith Clarke, of Sembmarine SLP, shared his thoughts on the day: ‘it was refreshing to see a company’s commitment to greening their processes and that it translated through to the knowledge and enthusiasm of the personnel who took us around.’

The day was rounded off with a tutored tasting for the attendees and some new connections were made to help Suffolk continue on its journey to becoming the Greenest County.

You can see some photos of the day on our Flickr site here.

Adam Woodhall, Associate Director of Carbon Smart, who gave the behaviour change presentation at the event comments:

“The whole Suffolk Carbon Leaders team are very grateful to Adnams for hosting us and for giving businesses the possibility to see what can be done to become a more efficient business. We had some great speakers covering a lot of ground, and companies were able to ask any questions they had to be ready to implement the energy efficiency solutions discussed. Thank you to Eagle New Energy and to PowerPerfector for their very informative presentations.”

The event has done a great job of raising interest amongst Suffolk medium-sized businesses and it was a privilege to see all of our work come together and create such positive results.”

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

What Ellen McArthur can teach us about translating for sustainability  

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Article written by Adam Woodhall, Associate Director, Carbon Smart

It can be a struggle to take the language of sustainability and translate it into something that resonates with heads and hearts. Consequently stakeholders are often not connecting fully with what sustainability can mean to them. There are many reasons for this, and this article will focus on one of them: the need to effectively translate the concepts of sustainability into something accessible to your stakeholders.

Our society, and many organisations, have transformed significantly since the late 20th century, with waves of innovation rising and flowing through. Topics such as Health & Safety, IT and HR have at one point been the hot topic with a need for translation. Sustainability is the most recent of these ‘innovations’, and depending on your definition, has arguably the widest and deepest impact, and is therefore the most challenging to interpret.

Innovation Curve

To help frame the topic of translating for sustainability I will refer to the well-known diffusion of innovation bell curve that is illustrated in the diagram below. This bell curve was developed in the 1960s and has stood the test of time, being seen as applicable to many different situations. I would suggest most practitioners in organisations who are tasked with communicating sustainability are early adopters. The innovators are typically academics, activists and think tanks.

When considering how to effectively interpret, the opportunity for the early adopters is take the thinking, language and concepts developed by the innovators and translate it into a language that will work for the early and late majority. In the seed of this opportunity is the challenge: that the language is new, unfamiliar and relatively untested.

When an organisation launches a sustainability campaign of any scale, this is likely to be relatively ground breaking. This can create excitement and interest compared to campaigns for more established topics, and whatever the language used, there can be a lot of attention given to sustainability. Unfortunately the natural inertia and resistance to change of organisations leads to slower than expected uptake, especially in light of the seemingly compelling logic of sustainability. Additionally, whilst many sustainability professionals have the topic front and centre, for most stakeholders in most organisations, the subject is something that appears to be of secondary importance, at best, to their day job.

Effective Translator

An early adopter or ‘translator’ who has focused on interpreting the value of sustainability and taking it to wider audience is the circular economy champion, Dame Ellen McArthur. Circular economy challenges the preponderant model of “take > make > dispose” and suggests a different approach.

She has used the credibility she generated from sailing round the world single-handedly, to leverage a single minded focus on circular economy. The foundation she set up has taken what was a mainly academic endeavour, and is now talking to the key decision makers and opinion formers in a way that appeals to them. She has clearly listened to her stakeholders and thought deeply about how to communicate the circular economy in a language that works for her audience. An example of how Ellen translates is by using the term ‘Circular Economy’ rather than ‘sustainability’ when speaking publicly. This is because she believes that the word sustainability is less than compelling or involving.

The success of this approach is demonstrated by some of the world’s largest and most prestigious organisations signing up to be in the Circular Economy 100 and that Ellen was recently invited to attend the highly prestigious Davos World Economic summit.

Einstein once said “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”. The work of the Ellen McArthur Foundation is a good example of how to take a complex topic and translate it into something the majority can understand, without losing its inherent value.

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

Empowering change at the top of Carbon Smart  

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Adam Woodhall joined Carbon Smart as an Associate Director, bringing 20 years’ commercial experience in communications, people and organisational development, with the last 10 years specifically in sustainability. He has worked with a diverse range of large organisations: Network Rail, PwC, Parcelforce, Allianz Insurance, First Direct Bank, University of Westminster and many others.

Stakeholder engagement and behaviour change are what Adam is best known for, having run a specialist consultancy, PeopleProfitPlanet, in addition to a broad knowledge of sustainability and how organisations operate.

His knowledge and expertise led him to write a guide called ‘Empower Change’ that will be published in February. The guide is aimed at professionals who want to lead change in their business by empowering employees.

Ben Murray, MD of Carbon Smart, commented:

“Adam brings a strong track record of engaging stakeholders and delivering innovation, and I’m excited about what he adds to the company. A person with his background rarely comes available, so we were delighted to invite him to join the team.”

When asked to summarise how he felt about his new role, Adam said:

“I’m thrilled to join Carbon Smart, as they have an enviable list of long-standing clients. It was clear to me that the team build excellent relationships with the people they work with and deliver high quality results. I’m looking forward to working with Carbon Smart’s existing clients to help them get sustainability right and win new clients so they can achieve the same results. The new ESOS regulation will be at the forefront of our work this year, and we are already supporting a large number of organisations.”

Adam continues:

“The Empower Change guide is a distillation of my commercial experience over the last 20 years, so its launch is going to be an excellent opportunity to help the industry that has given me so much over the last 10 years.”

Adam will be responsible for growing the business with fellow directors, Ben Murray and Louise Quarrell, along with the rest of the team.

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

Britain’s climate is changing: what is your business doing to stop it?  

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More than ever, reducing our energy consumption and our carbon footprint is essential to mitigate the very real effects of climate change. 2014 has been the hottest and the second wettest in Britain for a century according to the Met Office and sadly, it isn’t just a one-off: the seven warmest years since the records started were all after 2000, showing that average temperatures are rising and pointing to climate change as the cause.

This doesn’t simply mean buying fewer jumpers and more umbrellas – the changes in weather are bound to have dire consequences in terms of floods and heat waves. The damages caused by a flood like the one Britain experienced in 2007 can be very costly, and droughts put vulnerable people at risk.

Reducing these risks is everyone’s responsibility and businesses have their own role to play. Having an effective environmental strategy isn’t simply an opportunity to get ahead of the crowd anymore; it is a no-brainer to prevent costly risks down the line. So, is your business doing everything it can?

 

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Vered Karty

UN Climate Change Summit: Private sector demonstrate leadership on carbon pricing  

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The UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon’s Climate Change Summit, held last month in New York, aimed to catalyse climate action in preparation for next year’s Conference of the Parties, which has the objective of setting a new global agreement in 2015. The New York Summit acted as a platform where world leaders in government, private sector and civil society came together to announce and share their own climate related targets in order to inspire progress. Achieving resilient economies that provide clean yet affordable solutions to climate change was at the heart of the conference. It is thus not surprising that the private sector should be involved, yet it is worth noting that its presence is a very recent development in the history of UN environmental talks.

This year however, the UN Private Sector Forum formed an integral part of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit. Organised by the UN Global Compact in close cooperation with the World Bank Group and with the support of UN partners, the Private Sector Forum provided a unique platform for governments and businesses to demonstrate their leadership on climate change. The theme of the 2014 Private Forum was carbon pricing, with a focus on what private and public sectors must achieve in order to ascertain fair and equitable valuation of carbon through strategies, policies and investment. Carbon pricing mechanisms such as emissions trading systems and carbon taxes are becoming more prevalent and now cover 12% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. The World Bank estimates they are used in almost 40 countries and more than 20 cities, states and provinces, and this number continues to grow: eight new markets opened in 2013 and one in early 2014, which brings the total value of the world’s emissions trading schemes to US$30 billion approximately (approximately £19 billion).

Where does the private sector fit in all that?

Businesses are developing their use of carbon pricing and leading the way ahead of governments despite the absence of a regulatory framework. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) found that already 150 companies who report to the CDP are also using carbon pricing. It is used internally as a means of strategic planning to identify revenue opportunities and possible risks and as a way of creating an incentive for increased energy efficiency. The assumption is that climate change will be both a cost and an opportunity for businesses and a lot of them expect the creation of a regulatory framework eventually.

How do organisations set a carbon price?

The United Nations Private Sector Forum outlines three simple steps to setting an internal carbon price:

  1. “Measure CO2 emissions of existing operations and project CO2 emissions in investment decisions;
  2. Put a price on these emissions, so they have a financial value; and
  3. They ensure that the internal carbon price is set high enough to motivate the company to reduce emissions and increase share of low-carbon investments.”

At what price have organisations been valuing carbon?

Presently, prices vary dramatically from US$6 to US$60 (approximately £4 to £37) per tonne of CO2e. The fact that these prices are far above market trends in the EU and UK shows that organisations are truly taking the matter seriously and have greenhouse gas emissions reductions as a real and acknowledged objective. However, we still have a long way to go. According to the International Energy Agency’s numbers, this range is too low if we are to halve global emissions by 2050. Indeed, their recommended price to achieve those results is US$175 per tonne of CO2 (approximately £109); triple the amount that is currently set by the most ambitious businesses.

Faced with those discrepancies, we can only hope improved results will stem from the commitments endorsed at the Climate Summit in September. By the end of the summit, 1000 companies and more than 70 countries made the pledge that they would endorse the creation of mechanisms that truly reflect the costs of emissions. These encouraging statements demonstrate governments’ and the private sector’s will to keep moving in the right direction. About 30 companies, including Unilever, EDF and BT Group have also agreed to set internal carbon prices that would be high enough to have an effect on investment decisions under the Caring for Climate UN initiative. Are we witnessing the beginning of a growing trend?

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Vered Karty

New programme for London Councils and their resident businesses  

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Carbon Smart has begun an exciting project working with the councils of Barking and Dagenham, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth, who have secured funding from the European Regional Development Fund. We will be working with 60 businesses to reduce their environmental impacts and improve their sustainability profile. Participating organisations will receive the following benefits at no cost to themselves.

• Certification: they’ll join thousands of businesses in Carbon Smart’s nationally recognised certification scheme and a network of like-minded businesses in their sector

• Professional tailored communications material:

– carbon footprint: we’ll quantify their carbon footprint and put it into a slick report
– a practical and straightforward environmental action plan
– a winning environmental policy: we can help them write one or review an existing one
– a communications pack full of logos and marketing text

• On-site support: one of our experienced consultants will come to their site and install some kit (all free) to reduce their costs and impacts.

Our consultants are relishing the opportunity to take practical action onsite to reduce the environmental impacts of these organisations, with a huge variety in those already engaged. Our favourite day visiting businesses so far has included a designer handbag company in the morning and an archaeological society in the evening.

Behaviour change and office energy use
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Behaviour change and office energy use – top tips from an experiment by Carbon Smart  

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Carbon Smart conducted a behaviour change field experiment from July to August 2013 in collaboration with Imperial College London involving over 1,100 participants across four London office buildings. It was a controlled experiment: the measures implemented on one or more floors in a given building were compared to one or more ‘control’ floors in the same building that operated normally, with no behaviour change measures were implemented.

The objective was to increase the proportion of monitors turned off when people left the office at the end of the day. Although a relatively small source of energy use, monitors were a common, visible source of wasted energy use across all participating buildings and enabled inter-building and inter-organisational comparisons to be conducted in experimental analyses.

One of two behavioural interventions were used at each site: one provided social comparison feedback cards to employees (see pics below), the other involved a public commitment flag being put on each monitor.

Both strategies were paired with a reminder placed next to the monitor’s power button saying ‘The power is still on until you push the button’

Before we started, about 40% of people left their monitors on. Our strategies reduced this to 20% across the board, saving about £30 and 100 kgCO2 per year per 100 monitors while control floors experienced an increase of 2.4% .

behaviour change

Key findings from our experiment:

 

1. It doesn’t matter if it’s a public or private sector organisation

There was no significant difference in results across private, public, and university buildings

2. The temperature of your desk is not critical

It even worked where there was hot-desking!

3. Install reminders near the points of action

Use snappy little reminders to complement approaches that make social norms more visible

4. There is no need for a ‘why’

We didn’t try and change attitudes or beliefs, just behaviour.

For inquiries about our behaviour change experiment, please contact Jack Shepherd at 0207 940 0013 or email [email protected]

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Vered Karty

Are your sustainability and facilities teams talking to each other?  

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talking to each otherSustainability is a buzz word that organisations are keen to act in the name of, but as a real concept that spans improvements to environmental, social and financial impacts; many struggle to achieve tangible results. A sustainability team may be devoted to positively impacting their organisations’ sustainability performance, but do so in isolation from the rest of the organisation. If this is the case, sustainability initiatives are often treated as one-off activities rather than a recurring component of a core strategy that is linked to future prosperity of the business, incorporating all its business functions.

Carbon Smart believe it is key for sustainability teams to understand the subtleties of how an organisation works, what the key driving factors for it are and how decisions are made in order to create a tangible impact and realise the full business benefits of sustainability initiatives.

The answer to how sustainability can be positioned in this way lies in good coordination across business functions. Engaging different business operations and taking the time to understand the role that each of them plays provides insight, and enables greater facilitation and implementation of sustainability measures. Integrating sustainability with processes within facilities, for example, provides the opportunity to pool resources which delivers business benefits such as cost, carbon and resource savings.

One of our clients, a leading insurance organisation, has won a prestigious internal award for its integrated approach to sustainability, as a result of the communication that exists between its sustainability and facilities teams. Here, an environmental working group coordinated by the sustainability team brings together representatives from the property services team as well as the external FM team to develop key initiatives that will benefit each area of the business.

Initiatives are put forward by members of property services, CSR teams, green champions and other members of staff. These are discussed at environmental working group meetings and initiatives to reduce carbon impact, resource consumption or drive behaviour change in staff, are defined as objectives. Ambitious but achievable targets are also set to implement these, and responsibilities are assigned to a member of staff for each particular objective. These are then summarised in an action plan to be able to continuously monitor progress and maintain momentum.

As a result of this approach, the client has realised a range of business benefits while furthering its sustainability performance. Among these are exceptional recycling rates, which have delivered cost savings, carbon savings and improved resource efficiency. The approach has provided a system which has improved the efficiency with which waste is handled on site, and expanded the range of materials that can be recycled. Collections have been streamlined, transport emissions have been reduced and these improvements have synchronously reduced the carbon impact.

By taking the time to understand the drivers for the business and establish strong lines of communication across facilities and other functions of the business, tangible improvements are realised across a wide range of sustainability metrics. This demonstrates the potential for success a sustainability strategy can bring about, when it is integrated with other business functions.

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

Carbon Smart Winchester Programme: Second year…twice as good!  

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winchesterIt feels like only yesterday that Carbon Smart was celebrating the first 100 businesses to be accredited to the Carbon Smart Winchester programme, and we are already celebrating another great bit of news.

Due to the phenomenal sign up rate for the initial programme and the excellent help that was provided to businesses to go green, Winchester Council have asked Carbon Smart back to operate a second year of the programme to help even more local businesses.

This year the programme aims to build on the fantastic achievements of the businesses that are already signed up to the scheme, by helping them take further steps to develop their environmental credentials and achieve the next level of Carbon Smart certification. We will also be working with fifty new businesses to join the initiative and providing them with bespoke support to reduce their environmental impact. By developing a green action plan to identify business related resource savings, programme participants will be well on their way to reducing monthly utility bills and attaining the first level of carbon smart certification.

Carbon Smart’s approach to the Winchester Programme can really make a difference to small and medium sized local businesses, by providing them with consultant level support at absolutely no cost. All participants have the opportunity to network with other like-minded businesses at the initial workshops and are invited to exchange valuable knowledge or ideas on how best to tackle the environmental challenges faced by businesses today. Every participant will be provided with a carbon footprint calculation; helping them to further their understanding of the impacts of their business operations on the environment and what areas should be addressed as a priority. All of this support provides the basis of a sound environmental management system, and allows those who participate the opportunity to make the most of their new green credentials to attract more customers.

Many SME programmes currently in operation across the UK, report that their greatest challenges to success are in recruitment of businesses to their schemes. Carbon Smart understands that small businesses are often constrained with resource availability, both in terms of time and staffing. As a result of this, we have designed the Year 2 programme and support to be as flexible as possible, with the majority of the ongoing support provided remotely either over the phone or via email. Workshop dates and locations will also be varied to complement our flexible delivery, and to ensure that everyone taking part gets the most out of our fun and engaging sessions.

For further information on the Carbon Smart Winchester programme and how to take part, please contact [email protected]

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Vered Karty

Carbon Smart Winchester celebrates over 100 certified businesses  

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100winchesterSome of the greenest businesses across Winchester District gathered together to celebrate their Carbon Smart Winchester status this week.

The event celebrated the first 100 businesses to be accredited under the scheme, which recognises efforts made to improve environmental performance.

Carbon Smart ran the scheme on behalf of the council and provided Carbon Smart certification to each successful business.

Want to hear more about our certification? Contact [email protected] / 0207 048 0450.

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Vered Karty

Carbon Smart supports small businesses looking to grow in the low carbon supply chain!  

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Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LCR LEP) is responsible for developing and delivering a Low Carbon Economy in the City Region. One of the organisation’s key objectives is to support the growth of small businesses looking to become part of the sector supply chain or to grow in the sector. In June 2013 LCR LEP engaged Carbon Smart to deliver a short ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) funded business support programme to support this objective.

The programme engaged with over 20 companies through 1:1 business advice and workshops, which focussed on how companies could develop their business to take advantage of opportunities in the low carbon economy. The workshops included guidance on how to market ‘green’ credentials, how to complete a successful tender and a meet the buyer session. In addition all participants received Carbon Smart Certification.

The scheme was so successful that it was over-subscribed, with Carbon Smart supporting an additional 4 businesses within short timescales.

Vered Karty
Vered Karty

Supply Cross River 2 (SXR2) – making your business more efficient  

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small biz growthCarbon Smart is thrilled to announce its participation in the new ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) ‘Supply Cross River 2’ programme, an initiative developed by the Cross River Partnership and designed to provide environmental support to small to medium sized businesses in central London and stimulate local economic growth.

The project has been designed to ensure that local businesses across all sectors are in a position to benefit from the vast array of business opportunities that exist in central London, by identifying low carbon opportunities, business resource savings and green marketing ideas. Beneficiaries will have access to environmental support workshops, one-to-one support tailored to their individual needs, to networking and to ‘Meet the Buyer’ events highlighting how to win new business in a low carbon economy!

By assisting each business, Carbon Smart will be able to help each participant develop their own environmental policy and gain certification to the nationally recognised Carbon Smart scheme. Not only will this allow businesses to stand out against their competitors, but it will create unique selling points and help businesses grow and promote their services.

The project starts now is open to all small to medium sized businesses in the City of London, the London boroughs of Camden, Hammersmith & Fulham, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster. Call Carbon Smart now for more information on how to participate!

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Vered Karty

How much energy can you actually save from trying to change working practices in an office?  

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switch offCarbon Smart is addressing a neglected area of scientific enquiry: changing behaviour in an office context. From April to October this year Carbon Smart and Imperial College’s Centre for Environmental Policy are running several experiments in parallel to evaluate exactly what the effects are of measures to change staff working practices in an office context.

The basic idea is: find two office spaces which are separately submetered and are as similar as possible – in one of the spaces try and change staff working practices, in the other (the control group), do nothing – and see what happens to energy use.

With academic support from Imperial postgraduate students and academic staff, Carbon Smart are drawing on their experience to design programmes to change working practices in the different spaces. We have a diverse range of partner organisations keen for us to run the experiment in their buildings.

This cutting edge research will lead to a greater understanding of the part that changing staff working practices should play in an organisation’s carbon management strategy.

For further information please contact Jack Shepherd on 0207 940 8285 or email [email protected], otherwise watch this space for updates on the results as they come in.