This month, SmartCarbon sat down with Andrew Perolls, CEO of sustainability consultancy, Greengage, to find out more about the work his organisation is doing with environmentally conscious businesses. And also to gain an insight into how the SmartCarbon Calculator is helping to facilitate that work.
Greengage was founded in 2020 to help organisations “do their bit to protect the planet” within a measurable and sustainable commercial framework. With a particularly strong reputation in the travel and hospitality industries, Greengage empowers and inspires clients to change behaviours and implement solutions through a combination of audits, training and toolkits.
As Greengage CEO, Andrew Perolls explains,
“The work we do can be broken down into three key areas: consulting for organisations looking to progress on their sustainability journey and work towards Net Zero; offering accreditations that reflect meaningful work towards sustainability; and the provision of a CO2 toolkit for measuring carbon emissions.”
Although Greengage launched amidst the challenging backdrop of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the consultancy has gone from strength to strength over the last three years. Andrew says that he and his team have been hugely encouraged by the willingness of organisations to change their habits, reduce carbon emissions and place a growing emphasis on sustainability.
“I think that, oddly, the pandemic worked in our favour because many organisations had more spare time to put into getting their environmental strategies in place. This was particularly true of hotels and hospitality venues.
“I think the public consciousness of sustainability has increased dramatically over the last few years, too. This has encouraged more organisations to play their part in reducing the UK’s carbon emissions and taking corporate responsibility seriously. Alongside this, legislation and new regulations have applied the necessary pressure within supply chains to drive change across a range of industries and sectors.
“In many ways, it’s not a choice any more. Organisations cannot ignore their environmental impact any longer.”
Finding the right path on the Net Zero journey
Much of Greengage’s work involves helping businesses to understand their carbon emissions, identify all of the contributing elements across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. From here, Greengage clients are helped to create a strategy to reduce carbon emissions in line with their corporate pledges. Andrew says,
“Often, organisations will find that a substantial portion of their emissions come from their supply chains and so they have to learn to collaborate with suppliers – or even lean on them, in some instances – to make a concerted effort to find greener solutions.
“But those conversations within supply chains is certainly getting easier. Most organisations are now aware that they need to be doing more and that their continued working relationship is dependent on reduced emissions.”
Andrew also explains that consumer demand is playing a significant role in changing the behaviour within organisations. The general public, increasingly, demand that companies provide products and services that are ethically and sustainably delivered. Against this backdrop, organisations must either listen to their customers or risk losing business.
Andrew also notes that a new generation of environmentally aware professionals are coming into the workplace and helping to drive change within the business community:
“This younger demographic are perhaps more tuned into the climate emergency than the older age groups in senior management. But what this is doing is demanding that organisations take the environment seriously – especially if they want to attract quality staff.”
The combination of all these elements has caused the whole business landscape to shift and sustainability efforts to pick up pace. But talking about cutting emissions and achieving those targets are two very different things, of course.
At Greengage, much of the consultancy’s work is focused on supporting organisations to benchmark emissions and then helping them to think creatively about how emissions can be cut in a meaningful way.
“We can’t simply ask organisations to turn all the lights off and stop working, which is what Net Zero would require today,” says Andrew. “So, instead we encourage them to look at where savings can be made – in terms of commuting and work travel, office efficiency savings, utilising renewable energy and offsetting.”
Interestingly, Andrew notes that there are often misconceptions around offsetting. Many organisations often start out by assuming they can offset all or most of their emissions. But as Andrew says,
“They are a useful tool but they should only really be used to compensate for the emissions that cannot be cut at all. To get to Net Zero, organisations really won’t be able to attribute any more than 15% of their total footprint to offsetting.”
The key personnel effecting change within organisations today
So, who is responsible for taking action within the corporate world when it comes to environmental issues? Where does real, measurable change begin and how does it come about?
According to Andrew, the personnel tasked with initiating change and embedding sustainability within an organisation can vary – often depending on the size of business and the sector. But he says,
“Fundamentally, nothing gets done if there isn’t buy in at board level – or perhaps those you would regard to be senior management within a company. Without growing awareness and a willingness to take action at the very top, it can be hard to make the changes necessary to address challenges like carbon emissions.
“We do see champions within the sales function of some companies, particularly where they can see the benefit of promoting green credentials. Similarly, it’s often the facilities team that is responsible for creating the strategy and making the operational adaptations needed within an organisation. But it only really works effectively if there’s senior buy in from a CEO or similar.
“It can’t work up through an organisation. It has to feed down from the very top. Every business we work with has advocates right at the top.”
Serving clients with the SmartCarbon Calculator
With a number of players in the emissions monitoring market now, we asked Andrew what made SmartCarbon the calculator of choice for the Greengage team? Much of it, Andrew says, comes down to the expertise and credentials within SmartCarbon. As a platform developed by experts in the environmental field, Greengage gains confidence from working with a partner that shares its values:
“Some players in the market are tech first. They’ve spotted the environmental space as an opportunity to make money. But SmartCarbon clearly lives and breathes sustainability.
“When speaking to our own customers we have to be absolutely convinced that the Calculator is accurate, that it works and that it is comprehensive. As the factors change and regulations are updated, we’ve also seen that SmartCarbon is on top of any updates that we need from them.
“I should also say that SmartCarbon’s track record of working with the NHS is of great value. We see that as a real seal of approval.”
The team at SmartCarbon have also helped Greengage to develop an adapted form of their emissions reporting tool for clients who need to report on the emissions created by individual events or functions. Working collaboratively, Greengage now have access to a tailored reporting tool that is best in class for this application.
You can find out more about EventSmart here.
According to Andrew, supporting organisations to benchmark their emissions, set goals and begin to work towards reduction plans is often a journey of education. And there is no doubt that reporting on Scope 3 emissions is a challenge for many modern businesses. But here, too, Andrew says that SmartCarbon stands out through the training provision offered in using their platform.
“The people within organisations being tasked with measuring and reporting on emissions aren’t typically experts in this field and so they need guidance. We know that other platforms in this space simply provide logins and expect businesses to do the rest. In a complex area like Scope 3 emissions, this really isn’t sufficient.
“That’s one of the reasons we also like the audit service offered by SmartCarbon – as an extra layer of assistance when it comes to annual reporting. This gives our customers a lot of comfort I think.”
Ready to take the climate emergency seriously as a business but not sure where to start? Or are you simply looking to improve your current reporting? Get in touch with the SmartCarbon team today and let us help you make a start on the calculating and reporting of your greenhouse gas emissions.