Date: Tue 23rd February, 2010
Venue: Bridgewater Hall, Great Bridgewater St, Manchester, M1 5HA
Number of Guests Attended: 100
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The £72bn Green Opportunity
With over a hundred delegates turning out for a business breakfast, the business world is clearly keen to find out what the North West’s £72bn green opportunity means for them.
We’ll know we’re making real progress with the sustainability agenda when speakers at environmental events no longer feel compelled to spell out how this is actually the cost-effective way to do business now and that the big beasts of UK business – the likes of Tesco, M&S, Boots et all – will some day soon only deal with companies doing the right thing. All true, but it seems that the message is still finding resistance.
Perhaps what we need are more closer-to-home case studies of businesses making a green success of it – local boys and girls made good if you will. Asked how small businesses should tackle sustainability, Todd Holden, programme director at Enworks, told the audience here:
“Companies can see this as an opportunity or a threat. But those that continue to see this as a risk or threat will ultimately go out of business because energy and material prices are only going one way. The case studies that are usually used invariably focus on corporate giants because big numbers grab attention, but we work with a lot of small businesses, and if you can save a small business £3.000 on the bottom line, the’yll usually listen.
“One business we’ve worked with is a small florist. They’re now harvesting grey water and only stocking seasonal flowers. Because they’ve built a compelling green story, they’ve been able to win public sector contracts, where at one time they didn’t get a look in – it’s set them apart. If a business can use their story to gain an advantage, going green will work for them.”
The event was addressed by keynote presentations from Chris Matthews, head of sustainability at United Utilities; and Jason Meers, head of IT at Energi. Matthews spoke of the moral and business incentives in driving sustainable energy use – UU has so far instigated measures including a £22m investment in Combined Heat & Power technology.
It has won a string of awards and is recognised by programmes including the FTSE For Good list and, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as a leader. Matthews said: “There is proof that those who do well in this area outperform their peer group overall. So there is direct investor benefit, as well as engaging the workforce – and a happy workforce is a better performing workforce.”
Meers, an adviser to both the Cabinet Office and Shadow Cabinet on IT, spoke on low-carbon computing, pointing out the often-massive waste inherent in many company IT systems. Energy and carbon costs could, he said, be cut hugely by more efficient use. “I’d say driving energy efficiency in what you already do is paramount, before you look at bigger ideas like renewable energy.”
Holden concluded: “There are no barriers to driving resource efficiency other than making the time to do it. This is something we need to address.”
