Net Zero is one of the most discussed topics around the public sector at the moment, with a deadline set by government and a drive to tackle the effects of climate change forcing organisations to take another look at how they operate. Despite the majority of organisations understanding the major environmental benefits of achieving net zero carbon emissions, not as many have an understanding how it is good for the economy.
In order to discover the environmental benefits of net zero, Public Sector Executive hosted a webinar – sponsored by Crown Commercial Service – that brought together a group of industry and sector leaders. Pete Waddingham (National Net Zero Lead) from the Health Innovation Network hosted the discussion, and was joined by:
- Kristen Green – Head of Sustainability, Crown Commercial Service
- Serena Badaloo – Sustainability Officer, Gloucestershire County Council
- Matt Caville – Senior Advisor, Energy Systems Catapult
- Andy Brennan – Climate Change Manager, Eastleigh Borough Council
The webinar opened with Pete asking Kristen of the main reasons why it is important that businesses and the public sector lean into sustainability. Kristen touched on this, saying:
“I think the moral argument of it being the right thing to do and something that we need to do as good, ethical people is well established. Everyone knows that narrative and everyone who’s motivated by that is already enacting it.
“I think the conversation needs to expand and mature, and actually focus on what the wider benefits of sustainability are, because actually doing the right thing isn’t what’s going to get the business case signed off by financial directors. We need to look at it as its benefits to your business, to the public sector, and to the wider economy.”
The conversation also moved on to the decarbonisation of transport, with Andy talking about the advice that he would give to people looking to reduce the carbon emissions coming from their fleets. He said:
“My advice would be to look at the data and crunch some numbers. One of the things we did when we looked at bringing electric bin lorries onto the fleet was converting the diesel usage into kilowatt hours and then we converted that into cost.
“An electric bin lorry will roughly cost you £100,000 more than it does a conventional diesel bin lorry, but when you look into it, the reduction in fuel prices by going electric. the reduction because you don’t need AdBlue, you have service reductions, and lower tax – over the life of the vehicle you have somewhere between two and five thousands extra cost per year to have an electric bin lorry.”
By embarking on projects to decarbonise areas such as fleet and transport, investing in technology with a sustainability focus can bring economic benefits as well as furthering the drive for net zero emissions. To gain more expert insight into the economic and environmental benefits of furthering net zero projects, watch the webinar on demand here.
