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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.”

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Grab a grant, don’t miss out!  

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The team at Grants 4 Growth have been awarding windfalls left, right and centre over the summer. With £2.5 million to award before March 2015, there is still plenty of grant money to go around if you get your application in fast.

Eligible businesses can receive up to 28% grant support towards investment in efficient machinery, building fabric or building services upgrades (e.g. plant, glazing, insulation, lighting and heating systems). Grants 4 Growth is easy to apply for and provides multiple benefits to recipient businesses because they also stand to reduce carbon emissions and utilities costs through their new purchases.

Matthew at Precision Marketing was looking for help to reduce his carbon footprint and also for ways to fund his low carbon investments. He worked closely with the Suffolk Carbon Leaders advisors during early 2014 and together they put in a successful application to Grants 4 Growth.

Matthew said: “Getting clarity and independent advice from Suffolk Carbon Leaders on low carbon measures was a fantastic help. With the level of capital expenditure required for implementation, having experts in the area on hand to advise Precision allowed us to proceed with confidence. Getting the grant support was the icing on the cake that is creating a greener business.”

See what you are missing out on at the Grants 4 Growth website or get in touch with the Suffolk Carbon Leaders team for more information: [email protected] or 01473 264472.

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Government commits to buying locally-sourced food to help cut waste  

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In an attempt to reduce food waste, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that from 2017 all of central Government will commit to buying fresh, locally sourced, seasonal food: promising that “all food that can be bought locally will be bought locally”.

This will be done through a new, simplified food and drink buying standard: ‘The Plan for Public Procurement’. Public sector buyers will judge suppliers based on their environmental credentials and will look closely at the resource efficiency of food production, such as water and energy use and waste production and recycling. This makes it an exciting prospect for businesses that are focussed on minimising their environmental impact.

Not only will it directly benefit environmentally responsible businesses, according to Defra, it will further benefit rural economies and the British public. Defra has estimated that the standard will equate to around £200m of potential new business for British farmers.

Liz Truss, the recently appointed Environment Secretary stated that; “This move will mean that food served in canteens across the public sector can be more local, seasonal and tastier… it will help drive Britain’s first class food and drink industry and benefit the environment through reduced waste, higher take-up of meals and less unappetising food left on plates”.

In addition, the wider public sector will be encouraged and supported in using the new framework with the expectation that all schools and hospitals will, in future, serve more locally reared meats and freshly picked fruit and vegetables.

Suffolk Greenest County
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Educating Green  

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The Suffolk Carbon Leaders team have been working closely with a number of Suffolk secondary schools to help them improve their sustainability performance – and also help them shout about it. Schools present a great opportunity to make a significant and long lasting impact. More so than with many businesses, when it comes to schools the focus is not just on minimising the negative environmental impacts such as carbon emissions and waste, but is also about maximising the opportunities for positive environmental impacts.

Many local schools are struggling with large energy bills as a result of old buildings and inefficient heating and lighting systems and Suffolk Carbon Leaders have so far identified over £170,000 worth of savings that could be made through energy efficiency improvements; this amounts to over 700 tonnes of carbon.

With hundreds or in some cases thousands of young people walking through their doors daily the potential to use sustainability initiatives to educate and inspire is huge. It’s not just about making savings behind the scenes but about getting the students involved. Initiatives such as switching off lights and recycling will only be successful if everyone takes part, so alongside more technical advice the Suffolk Carbon Leaders team will also be supporting schools in communicating with their students and getting them engaged with their school’s carbon footprint.

Educating students about sustainability is not only good for the school – which reduces its bills and its footprint, and good for the students – who expand their knowledge, but it is also positive for the universities and businesses that these students will go on to in the future as they take their environmental awareness with them. Schools represent a really exciting project for the Suffolk Carbon Leaders Team and we are looking forward to growing and developing a really strong and innovative green schools network in Suffolk.

Suffolk Greenest County
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Suffolk businesses to help county to become the country’s greenest  

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Businesses in Suffolk are about to enjoy the undivided attention of the Carbon Smart team as our new resource efficiency programme launches in January 2014.

Delivering substantial carbon and cost savings across the county, the programme aims to assist medium sized businesses to get their workplace and workforce in tip top condition. Medium sized businesses (50-250 FTE) are one of the carbon hotspots in Suffolk. Although they account for just 0.2% of the organisations in the county, they contribute 20% of private sector turnover and employ 20% of the private sector workforce. As such we are targeting these key contributors to the county’s emissions, and helping them to get their businesses in shape.

Carbon Smart’s consultants will design and implement solutions to save each businesses energy, reduce carbon emissions and minimise resource use at each site. Recognising that these challenges can seem daunting to businesses, our dedicated consultants will work on a one-to-one basis with each organisation to ensure that every solution is practical and can be put in place alongside business as usual. We won’t be shy; we really do roll up our sleeves and get stuck in! Where the right resource efficient solution requires investment, access to funding and finance sources will be sought. Business around Suffolk will be able to tap into over a dozen green finance and grant schemes, most of which are underutilised to date.

The scope of this programme is ambitious; we anticipate take-up of solar panels, efficiency boilers, biomass solutions, LED lighting system and greywater reclamation to be at an all time high across Suffolk by the end of the programme. Suffolk’s well known goal is to become the ‘greenest county’, and we will certainly be playing our part in getting them there!

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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.

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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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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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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.

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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!