Sustainability in the era of opportunity

For suppliers looking to grow their business in the public sector, a sustainability strategy and action plan is now 'table stakes'. For many public sector procurements, environmental sustainability can account for 10% or more of the overall scoring evaluation.

However, for many organisations, in particular small to medium sized businesses (SMEs), setting out on the road to becoming a carbon neutral business can seem like a daunting task. Where do you even start? What data do you need to capture? How can you make inroads into your carbon footprint?

Help is out there!

Fortunately, because the drive to net zero is being led by the UK Government, there is plenty of clear and comprehensive guidance available for those looking to set out on this journey.

Firstly, it’s worth being aware that UK Gov drives its strategy across a number of initiatives, including sustainability through what are known as PPN’s (Procurement Policy Notes). The most pertinent one when it comes to sustainability is PPN 06/21 'Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts'.

The Policy Note, along with a raft of guidance, FAQs and a model template is the perfect starting point on your sustainability journey. This sets out how suppliers to the public sector need to report on their Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and their plans to systematically reduce their carbon footprint over time.

The road to sustainability

Suppliers must consider the practical steps they can take to reduce their carbon footprint. This journey must start with measuring your current carbon footprint – after all what gets measured gets done.

To do this correctly – unless you have a qualified carbon accountant in your business – suppliers will need to seek external support, but fortunately there is plenty of expertise out there. Asire’s partners are the organisation Carbon Neutral Britain, but there are plenty of other high quality carbon consultancies out there including:

• Carbon Trust
• Go Climate Positive
• ClimatePartner
• Verco

And many more too. It’s always worth asking around among other suppliers who have already begun their carbon reduction journey for suggestions and recommendations, or using a well-known rating sites such as Trustpilot or Checkatrade.

Simple steps to a greener future

There is something of a mythology built up which suggests it is complicated/difficult to become a more sustainable business. For sure achieving the ultimate goal of Net Zero will be incredibly challenging and will heavily rely on advancements in technology and legislation, however reducing your carbon footprint and getting to the point of achieving carbon neutral status is eminently achievable and can be accomplished with a number of relatively simple initiatives including:

• Establish an electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme – All companies – large or small – with a PAYE Payroll can do this. Your company will save money, your employees with pay less tax and NI and you’ll be helping to drive down your GHG emissions. A win/win/win scenario!
• Review your travel to work policy/incentives – For professional services firms such as IT managed services, approximately 50% of your total GHG emissions will be as a result of employee commuting and business travel. Could you encourage your colleagues to walk or cycle to work, or to use public transport as an alternative to driving? For those that still want to drive, how about encouraging them to transition to hybrid or full electric vehicles? If you offer car parking, have you considered asking your parking provider to fit EV chargers?
• Review your energy tariff – Could your offices stop using gas altogether and transition to an electric only office/site? In terms of your electricity tariff, there are plenty of 'green' tariffs out there, where at least your energy supplier will offset the GHG emissions directly attributable to your electricity usage.
• Harness the power of your people – Why not set up a colleague group to promote all things sustainable. This is a great way to foster employee buy-in, as well as generate new ideas and initiatives. At Aspire, our Sustainability Network Group was pivotal in us achieving the ISO14001 Environmental Management standard, as well as coming up with a number of sustainability initiatives including changing all of our paper and carboard to recycled supplies.
• Challenge your supply chain – Now this can be complicated, but even taking simple steps to identify your top 10/20/30 suppliers and asking for evidence of their sustainability credentials is a good starting point. Did you know that only 57 companies worldwide were responsible for generating approximately 80% of all greenhouse gas emissions over the last decade or so? It would be a good starting point to understand if any of these companies are in your supply chain. A good carbon consultant can help you with this exercise.

Aspire and the crucial role of technology…and technologists

Winning the race to carbon neutrality and ultimately net zero will constitute the greatest technological achievement since humankind put a man on the moon. Almost all the solutions in the race to net zero are driven by technology and as a North East technology company, it is our responsibility to lead the way in our home region.

We already have incredible partnerships with the likes of the North East Automotive Alliance – and we provide the network connectivity to the UK's first Electric Vehicle Gigafactory, AESC UK, in Washington. But, we #Aspireformore. With the first EV factory being based in the region and the world's largest wind farm, Dogger Band, being developed off the North East coast, the North East is rapidly transitioning to be the sustainability capital of the UK and arguably Europe.

There is one major obstacle. The relatively small number of students, especially girls, coming out of schools, colleges and universities into careers in Science and Technology (STEM). At Aspire we aim to turn this tide. For example, we're working in conjunction with our partners at the Newcastle United Foundation and the Foundation of Light to inspire more youngsters into careers in STEM through a programme of community engagement.

Make no mistake about it, it will be technology and technologists that will win the race to net zero. As a technology company, this race is a challenge we must be ready to accept, one we must be unwilling to postpone and one we will help to win.

Watch how we go!

Steve Watson is Head of Strategic Engagement at Aspire Technology Solutions and co-chairs Aspire’s Sustainability Network Group. Aspire became a certified Carbon Neutral business at the start of 2024, the first IT managed service provider in the North East of England to achieve this status.