Manufacturers who
put sustainability and environmental improvements at the heart of their
businesses reaped the benefit in cost-savings across their business, according
to a new survey released today by Make UK.
Manufacturing: stepping up to the sustainability
challenge takes the temperature of sustainability progress in
manufacturing and shows that despite the challenge of Brexit, 50% manufacturers
are making headway with their sustainability programmes with 71% of those who
implemented environmentally friendly processes seeing a reduction in their
costs.
However the main
drivers towards sustainability remain cost savings. In fact 71% of respondents
reported that the last environmental improvement they made had reduced costs.
Nearly a fifth of
those surveyed said they were going further by implementing imaginative energy
efficiency improvements.
Energy saving is the
most typical first step for businesses to take because the cost efficiencies
are easily quantifiable. Strategies put in place include onsite battery
storage, installation of onsite renewable heat systems and onsite renewable
power generation. Replacing outdated equipment also delivered energy cost
saving benefits for those companies surveyed along with working towards
voluntary standards such as ISO 14001 was another common step, introducing high
level international standards.
Nearly a fifth of
companies are going much further with imaginative energy efficiency projects
such as demand side response, which essentially means the turn down of
equipment at peak times. Again onsite battery storage to store excess energy
and onsite renewables generation was widely utilised.
Additionally,
businesses are starting to look past the immediate cost saving drivers towards
sustainability for the long term. Investor confidence and attracting the
brightest and the best could be a significant towards ensuring the most
innovative systems are developed going forward.
The businesses which
were most successful in driving sustainability and environmental improvements
and cost-savings adopted a boardroom to shop-floor approach to promoting
change, ensuring they took the whole of the workforce with them on the
sustainability journey, making the environment at the heart of their business.
The UK’s decision to
leave the EU has significant ramifications for environmental policy, which has
largely been driven and overseen by the EU. A new framework is now being
developed to manage England’s environment over the long term. Scotland and
Wales have their own plans. For manufacturers, the future governance process
can seem abstract, but it will set the boundaries within which they will be
expected to operate long into the future.
Additionally, over
the last couple of years, public concern for the environment has been given a
new weight. The problem of plastics waste caught the public’s imagination and
the Government is now taking significant steps to dealing with this issue. Furthermore,
high profile climate groups such as Extinction Rebellion are ensuring
environment issues are climbing up the political agenda.
Sam Pentony Make UK
Environment Policy Advisor said: “Our survey results demonstrate that despite
the level of Brexit uncertainty, our members are moving along the path towards
sustainability. Whilst they are rightly conscious of the cost of implementing
environmental and energy improvements, some are going much further and already
thinking about the risk of climate change could pose to their businesses.
“We commend the
Government for taking action on the big environmental issues of today such as
plastic waste, air quality and climate change: however, business needs a solid
policy landscape that can only come from proper consultation with those
affected. We would therefore urge the Government to continue its engagement
with manufacturers and ensure business can take the next steps along the path
to sustainability”.
Energy and Clean
Growth Minister Chris Skidmore said: “This is concrete evidence that
sustainability in the manufacturing sector makes good business sense. It’s
great to see businesses benefitting from becoming greener and cleaner and that
cutting emissions can be a win-win: reducing costs, improving investor
confidence and attracting the brightest and best employees.
“We’re determined to
drive even more ambitious action as we strive to become the first major economy
to legislate for net zero emissions. During this year’s Green GB Week starting
on 4 November we hope to see the public and private sector coming together to
showcase the opportunities of moving to a greener, cleaner economy.”
