Green issues high on agenda for Shropshire businesses entering a new year

As companies battle to overcome a raft of problems, efforts to reduce carbon footprint are high on the agenda.

Indeed, for many potential employees, it is becoming a dominant factor in their own decisions as to whether to join a company.

In addition, according to Forbes, 62 per cent of Gen Z prefer to purchase from sustainable brands and are willing to pay more for ethically-produced goods.

And a survey by Bupa recently revealed 63 per cent of Gen Z and millennial respondents report feeling the burden of climate change and expect sustainability from the companies they work for.

Some 64 per cent of respondents said it is essential for their employers to act on environmental issues.

Shropshire Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive Richard Sheehan certainly agrees, and believes green issues are becoming increasingly important in the recruitment process.

“The environment is impacting on people’s decision-making,” he explains. “Some businesses now have to make sure they have a very clear and transparent environmental policy to make sure they attract particularly young people, who see it as really important now.

“If you can’t demonstrate you are very much focused on reducing your carbon footprint and you are invested in reducing impact on the environment, then you might struggle to recruit. There are many employees out there now for whom it will be a very important issue.”

The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership is leading the county’s drive to a net zero future and helping businesses drive down their energy costs and emissions by adopting green, clean energy and environmentally-responsible technologies.

The LEP brings together the business community, the public sector and academia to drive economic growth across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Herefordshire and has invested £196million in the region over the last decade.

It has just launched its new Marches Energy Grant, a £1.5million funding programme open to all businesses in Shropshire, which can provide up to £20,000 per business towards the cost of cutting energy wastage, power bills and emissions.

Marches LEP chief executive Rachel Laver explained: “Businesses get a free energy audit to show them how they can reduce their energy usage and a maximum grant contribution of £20,000 towards the cost of implementing the measures.”

Other projects in the region included Marches Network Monitoring to support community decarbonisation.

The project is delivered by the National Grid and EA Technology to install monitors at 250 substations across the Marches which help make the most efficient use of the energy available and so boost capacity.

There’s also the Herefordshire Low Carbon Technology Centre with a scheme to be delivered by Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College which will develop new training in green skills.

The efforts come as environmental charity Save Our Shropshire insists ‘going green should not hurt you’ when it comes to business.

“Businesses in Shropshire are starting to tackle climate change and understand what they need to do,” said the charity’s Richard Watkins. There are around 26,000 businesses in Shropshire, and 90 per cent of those have 10 people or less, so it will be difficult for that 90 per cent to spend a lot of time on it.

“But most companies will need to be reporting on their contribution to emitting harmful gases in their annual reports, so they need to get prepared.

“They should start with looking at their carbon footprint. They need to look at energy – how much do they use of oil and gas in buildings and business, and what they can do to reduce how much they use.

“Can they get more from solar panels, and renewable sources? Can they buy green energy economically? Can they invest in renewable energy? Firms can look at their buildings and see if they can improve insulation anywhere in the business. Can they stop heat going up into the atmosphere?

“Companies can also look at travel budgets and see how much in the way of harmful gases they are causing.

“Let the train take the strain rather than fly and go electric with cars and vans, or could employees car-share, or bike to work?

“Owners should look their own business but could also look at their suppliers and see how much they can improve greenhouse gas problems by working with them to reduce the usage of theirs.

“And businesses could also look at the design of products and services and see if they can save cost and eliminate carbon dioxide by redesigning them. They may well find customers beginning to insist they change products and services.”

Businesses are unquestionably grasping the bull by the horns and tackling the challenge.

Telford-based AceOn is one example and recently announced a £20,000 investment as part of a series of measures, including fitting an EV charging point, reducing plastic use, installing more efficient LED lighting, shredding cardboard for packaging, recycling more and minimising energy use.

Managing director Mark Thompson said: “Our vision as a company is about offering solutions today for tomorrow’s world, so getting solar panels fitted at our Shropshire headquarters in Telford was a really obvious next step in our own journey to net zero.”

Kensa Creative has ploughed some of the profits from a record trading year into improving its carbon footprint as part of its wider aim to be carbon neutral by 2025.

It has installed a £28,000 solar panel system which is expected to pay for itself in 11 years through reduced energy bills.

Managing director Scott Clarke said: “We’ve always prided ourselves on our sustainable ethos, so when we decided to build our own offices here in Telford it was always our aim to invest in solar panels.”

“Electricity powers everything we do so the aim is to be able to power our operations from 100 per cent renewable energy, which is not only great for the planet but will also prove to be a sensible investment in these times of soaring energy costs.”

Specialist welding company Fabweld Steel Products (FSP) is another which has committed to investing more than £500,000 in phase one of its sustainability and self-reliance plan. Half of this money has been spent on the installation of a 180,000kWp solar PV system to generate power via solar panels on the roof of its production facility.

Managing director Wayne Carter said: “Our philosophy is that whether you start the journey now or later, we all need to get to net zero by 2050, so why put it off? We know it’s worth the investment as we are future-proofing our business and helping our customers achieve their environmental targets.”

Some businesses have even made it their mission to help the environment, such as Lost Years Rum, who are totally plastic-free and plough profits into charity to help endangered sea turtles.

But whatever a company’s ambitions, hopes and dreams, moving forward, the environment is a focus and businesses don’t have to make changes alone. There is help and advice available.

Richard, from Save Our Shropshire, adds: “There is help out there and businesses should use that.

“Firms may well reduce their costs in these incredibly challenging times by going green. But doing nothing about going green is not an option!”