SUSTAINABLY DESIGNED SOLUTIONS
DESIGN - ADVISE - PLAN - DELIVER
Planning a Route to Net Zero
Net Zero is a term often heard but rarely properly understood. While the UK government has agreed to a target to achieve Net Zero by 2050, what does this actually mean?
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Net zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas that's produced and the amount that's removed from the atmosphere. It can be achieved through a combination of emission reduction and emission removal and emission offset, direct and indirect actions
Net Zero in Operation when looking at individual new building projects is comparatively straight forward to achieve with the right will, guidance and investment, but the same when looking at an existing business with pre-established building stock and operations across an entire company or estate is something entirely different altogether.
Net Zero can be very different things to different organisations, some are concerned with just a single building or part thereof, while to other organisations, a Net Zero commitment is across an entire estate, government department or Council and requires consideration to very many different buildings, operations and processes across many separate locations.
It is very easy to say that Net Zero must be achieved, but where do you even start? Throwing vast amounts of money at it and hoping for the best is certainly not the answer as without doubt, across large established organisations there are parts of the business operation or building stock where Net Zero on a localised scale is simply unachievable.
That is not to say that Net Zero on a business wide scale is unachievable, it just means that you must make the most of gains that are available by investing accordingly in what you can change, and if necessary, to offset the remainder by modifying supply chain strategies or finally by using approved investments.
The Route to Net Zero is targeted using three distinct areas known as 'Scopes' which are assessed individually to provide the overall emissions figure for a business:
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- Scope 1 relates to direct emissions from operations such as consumption related to, heating/cooling, lighting, manufacturing, company vehicles etc. These are the emissions being at least partially addressed by the 'Energy Demand Management' offer described on the previous page and are fully able to be improved locally.
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- Scope 2 relates to indirect emissions from the purchase of off site energy such as electricity or gas for any heating/cooling, manufacturing etc that the company consumes. These emissions can be altered by providing local solar or wind power generation, aligning with local district energy providers, or changing energy providers to certified green energy suppliers.
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- Scope 3 relates to all other indirect emissions that occur in the company's value chain, both upstream and downstream. This includes emissions from activities like employee commuting, transportation of goods, waste disposal, and the entire lifecycle of products. These are more difficult to control but with appropriate due diligence on external providers, it is possible to understand the direction of travel of their own Net Zero journey to allow appropriate alignment with like minded suppliers only, for mutual benefit.
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As at mid 2025, Scope 3 emissions reporting is not mandatory but it is strongly encouraged and considered good practice. The problem with influencing scope 3 emissions is the indirect relationship, and therefore the realistic influence of a business over their supply chain.
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We can look into all of these Scopes and their respective issues to assess current emissions vs target emissions and plan a Route to Net Zero based on the findings. We will also show right from the outset, how each proposed improvement will feed into the whole target showing which are incremental vs substantial gains tracked over time to the agreed Net Zero target date.