A key message for our national infrastructure services client May Gurney is about sustainability. Tribe has secured a regular column in the Eastern Daily Press for May Gurney's Director of Sustainability Tom Macagno, with the first being published on 29th January 2010. The text is featured below.
For more information either contact
Patrick Peal or visit
www.maygurney.co.uk
There is now scientific and political consensus that climate change is real, its effects are already being felt and we must respond to it.
Here at May Gurney, we have made a commitment to cut our carbon emissions by 50 per cent by the end of 2012, and to be carbon neutral two years later.
This is no easy task when you consider that last year we used 13,712,849 litres of fuel, and emitted 36,064 tonnes of CO2 from fuel usage alone – 93 per cent of the company’s total emissions.
But there are a number of steps we are taking to start to bring this figure down, almost all of which can be adopted by many different businesses.
Crucially, we have good support from staff at all levels which will help overcome obstacles to the changes that must happen, especially as much depends on changes in human behaviour.
Key initiatives include:
- Getting our baseline certified, so we know our starting point. In 2008/9, our emissions were 39,342 tonnes of CO2.
- Running ongoing awareness campaigns among staff, including a “green” photograph competition, producing an information video and prominently displaying energy-saving stickers and signs.
- Introducing SLIM, a driver training programme focusing on reducing speed, driving efficiently to maximise litres, reducing idle-time and better journey planning to cut mileage. All staff will have received the training by March 2010.
- Using satellite tracking to monitor the routes we drive and examining the data to see if we can save miles.
- Piloting a Smarter Driving Course run by the Energy Savings Trust, initially for up to 50 staff. The impact of the course will be measured using satellite tracking data taken before and after the course.
- Trialling a new type of hybrid vehicle technology for commercial vehicles, which could save three tonnes of CO2 per vehicle per year.
A management system is essential, rather than just standalone initiatives, to embed the culture of change.
We hope that carbon budgets for our six business sectors and individual depots will promote ownership and an element of competition, and that company car returns which include details of emissions will focus minds.
Obviously we can’t do this in isolation, and we must push for the UK to establish common standards for measuring carbon footprints and comparability, and for our supply chain to obtain certified carbon emissions audits.
We must also work with our partners to look beyond short-term budget issues to consider long-term ways of adapting our business to cope with the climate changes that are already inevitable.
Happily, there is a massive silver lining to all this: that sustainability and carbon reduction is a huge economic opportunity which will only strengthen with increasing volatility in oil prices.
Tom Macagno is head of Sustainability for May Gurney, who work on road, utility, rail and waterways networks, make sure public buildings are well maintained and that household waste is collected, managed and recycled.
Posted: 04/02/2010