Manage rising energy costs

• For a quick win, consider changing lighting across a building to more energy efficient options such as LED bulbs and lighting control – this can make a big difference and have long lasting effects
• Ensure proper insulation of buildings
• Sourcing on-site renewable energy generation (such as installing solar PV panels on roofs)
• Use energy storage units to maximise the yield of such technologies, while allowing it to be stored and released when needed.

• One university in London has installed combined cooling, heat and power at their main campus
• The upfront capital cost was nearly £5m, although the system provides annual cost savings of £0.5m and an annual CO₂ saving of over 1,000 tonnes per year
• The new system provides up to 30% of the gas the university requires in winter. In the summer, the heat produced is used for chilling, reducing the need to rely on electric chillers.

• Read how to build the business case for net zero energy
• Discover how employee benefits can support your business’s race to net zero
• The CBI is a Coalition Partner of Zero Carbon Business (ZCB). Find guidance on reducing gas and electricity use with low-cost measures for small businesses.

Staff will need to understand what it means to take meaningful climate action. This can be done by:

• Bringing in sustainability experts to shed light on broader issues
• Running interactive sessions to explain your business’ targets
• Creating practical toolkits to demonstrate how sustainability can be a part of every day

Building the right environment for employees to shape the long-term sustainability vision is equally important. Businesses can set a clear vision and engage employees from the start. This will ensure that employees are bought-in, motivated and excited about taking climate action. This will all contribute to the success of the process.

• One multinational company that specialises in the production and processing of industrial minerals, invested a shared ownership vision of the climate agenda across the organisation. The company implemented the Sustainable Development Challenge, a platform that allows best practice sharing and for the submission of example initiatives that the employees are implementing across the globe
• For another of our members, a large multinational, employee engagement is a crucial step in their sustainability journey. They have been running the #do1thing campaign to engage their 55,000 colleagues in company’s net zero commitments. They have seen colleagues on their Yammer community cycling when they used to drive, using post-it note reminders to turn off the tap and lights, eating more plant-based food and using reusable coffee cups.

• Learn how to empower employees to save resources and make a difference
• Time’s up: why boards need to get strategic about sustainability
• Returning to the office? Discover five ways to decarbonise your team’s commute.

• Start by being clear on how higher prices will impact your business. Can you pass costs on, or is it a direct EBITDA hit to your bottom line? If you can take the risk, then consider a floating spot contract. If you can’t, cover out 2022 and look at your options for future years
• Look at longer-term options. Can you reduce consumption by investing in self-generation or energy efficiency measures? Are you eligible for grants? Are you open to and big enough for a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for onsite or remote generation? Can you implement increasing monitoring and control to limit how much energy you consume?
• Green Energy Supply Contract – buy residual electricity from a supplier offering a green tariff. Many energy suppliers offer green tariffs for any additional grid-supplied power and gas. But beware – not all green tariffs mean the energy supplied has originated from a renewable source
• Select the optimal supply contract mix – it’s all about managing volatility - select from fixed contracts, flexible contracts, power purchase agreements, financial instruments, self-generation etc. The options will depend on your business size.

• Two of the CBI members, Tesco and ScottishPower have partnered to deliver the UK's largest unsubsidised wind farm as part of the UK’s largest ever unsubsidised renewable energy Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Find out more here
• Another two CBI members entered into corporate PPA , Ørsted, enabling Northumbrian Water able to reach its sustainability goals and cut costs. Find out more here.

• The CBI is a Coalition Partner of Zero Carbon Business (ZCB). Find guidance on reducing gas and electricity use with low-cost measures for small businesses
• Read Ameresco's inside view of energy prices over the past year, and their practical advice for looking at energy costs going forward
• EDF outlines available options to help your firm ease the cost of doing business.

• Businesses with heavy equipment and factory equipment might consider the feasibility of running this equipment during the evening and/or early morning hours, for example, while conserving energy throughout the day
• Other options could include powering down or switching off electricity to reduce demand; and /or using on-site generation or stored energy instead of grid supply
• Think income generation not just savings. Explore the use of flexible revenue streams from demand side management.

• Read how National Grid ESO, are engaging with their customers on demand management.

• Consider investing in analytics software to understand energy usage patterns in the business.

• One of our small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) members, a manufacturer of electronic assemblies, saw an opportunity to boost their productivity and efficiency by adopting sustainability practices
• The company invested in an end-to-end software solution which is allowing them to analyse their purchasing including the energy efficiency of their building. This is the start of the journey to understand how the business can achieve net zero and includes an in-house audit of all their activities to prioritise their strategies.

• Read Microsoft’s four ways data can help your organisation achieve net zero
• Get involved with the CBI's new Make the Most of your Data campaign.

• Consider downsizing your office footprint.

• Use cloud services to go green and reduce costs - techUK recommends organisations should review their existing infrastructure because hyperscale hosted cloud services are typically more efficient than on-premise data-centres, as well as being powered by more sustainable energy than the national grid. This enables organisations to save money while reducing their impact on the planet.

• In the post-pandemic world, one of our members has decided that while office spaces will still be used for colleagues, clients, and partners to benefit from collaborative working, offices will be used carefully and appropriately to ensure people only travel when they need to.

• Has your business transitioned to hybrid working effectively? Find out how you can. 

• Generate your own energy. Generating electricity and heat at the place it is needed could reduce grid-supplied energy costs by up to 60%. This requires an investment in suitable onsite renewable technologies, ideally using latent energy in free feedstocks such as sun, wind and the earth. The business case for onsite renewables has never been more compelling, the key is to size a renewable technology (or combination of) with energy storage to meet the energy demand on the site
• The CBI is a Coalition Partner of Zero Carbon Business (ZCB). Check out this guidance on generating your own energy for small businesses. 

• In 2021 one of our members, a purpose-led, responsible business, Capita set their science-based carbon emissions reduction targets for energy use, business travel and supply chain in line with global ambitions to limit warming to 1.5C. These targets have been verified by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the global standard for company climate targets
• Underpinned by these science-based targets, they have set out an ambitious and far-reaching roadmap to take them to net zero by 2035
• The three-phased approach begins with being operational net zero by 2025. The second milestone is operational plus travel net zero by 2030 and thirdly, full net zero including supply chain by 2035
• To successfully achieve these targets, Capita has set out several key initiatives:
  • They will complete their transition to renewable power wherever options are available, switch gas boilers to renewable where technology is ready and continue their program of building efficiency initiatives.
  • By 2030 Capita will reduce business travel emissions by 75% from 2019’s baseline and reduce business mileage by 75%, transitioning their fleet to EV by 2032. These efforts to reduce travel emissions will be underpinned by the hybrid working model and a virtual first approach whereby all meetings will be screen-based by default
  • Capita will engage with and support their 24,500+ supplier base to set science-based targets and work with them to decarbonise their operations. They will be offering guidance and information to suppliers who need support in measuring their own emissions, implementing targets, or setting decarbonising strategies. Capita is calling for 85% of them to have set these targets by 2030
  • Reducing emissions is Capita’s priority, and only when they are unable to abate or completely eliminate emissions, will they utilise carbon removals. This will include a mixture of technology and nature-based removal and compensation measures.
  • These ambitious commitments are linked to executive pay from 2022.

• Want to build the business case for net zero? This could help
• Discover the CBI's roadmap to decarbonisation.