Category: Business & News

Posts on business matters & GDB

The SDGs: Important & Relevant in the UK

21st January 2018 By admin Comment Closed

The SDGs: Important & Relevant in the UK In 2015 Governments across the world signed up to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 in total covering people, planet & prosperity. If The Global Goals are to have a chance of succeeding, certainly within the timetable of 2030, we all need to contribute - governments, businesses, individuals. Those that are of particular interest to me are obviously the environmental ones, e.g. 13 Climate Action or 12 Responsible Consumption. But actually they are all interlinked in some way, with activities in one area trickling down / along & having a positive effect elsewhere. We need to understand that the SDGs are not just about the richer countries simply funnelling money to the less developed ones. These goals apply a key equally to us. Here are some stats put together by UKSSD showing the situation in the UK. SDG 1 No Poverty - 16.8% of people in the UK live in poverty SDG 12 Responsible Consumption & Production - ...

News for 2018

5th January 201821st January 2018 By admin Comment Closed

Environment in Business - News for 2018 All companies should be embedding the environment into their business to get the commercial benefits. I work with organisations to identify improvements, calculate carbon emissions & put in Environmental Management Systems (EMS), so that you become more efficient, reduce risk & win new business. This year, you should be aware of deadlines & legislation requirements that may affect your business. ISO 14001 Deadline Does your organisation have an EMS (Environmental Management System) certified to ISO 14001? If so, then you need to upgrade to the new version of the standard by the deadline September 2018. There are some significant changes required, which need to be ASAP - including context of the organisation, leadership, risks and opportunities, life cycle & evaluation of performance. More info is here. I’ve helped a number of organisations with the transition - making it smooth & successful. ESOS Phase 2 ESOS (the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme) is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for large organisations in the UK....

10 Environmental Moments of 2017

23rd December 201727th December 2017 By admin Comment Closed

10 Environmental Moments of 2017 Well, 2017 has been an ‘interesting’ year dominated by Brexit and the US president. There’s been lots going on in the environmental arena too; I reflect here on just some of them. Climate change - hurricanes, floods & wildfires You can't have missed all the news about the extreme weather experienced across the globe: Hurricane season in USA & Caribbean, dreadful flooding in Bangladesh, thick smog in China & Iran, wildfires in California. Thousands have been killed & millions affected, losing their homes, farmland & livelihoods; people’s health is deteriorating & business is being impacted. Climate change is just making these natural phenomena worse & more frequent. Renewable energy The rise of renewables in the UK has progressed, despite cuts to feed-in tariffs, this summer providing more than half of UK electricity for first time. National Grid reported in June that power from wind, solar, hydro & wood pellet burning supplied 50.7% of UK energy (include nuclear it’s up to...

Roffey Park’s ISO 14001 Success

10th October 201710th October 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Roffey Park’s ISO 14001 Success I am pleased to say that another of my clients has successfully recertified to ISO 14001 - Roffey Park Institute is an internationally renowned leadership institute based near Horsham, operating across the UK and in Singapore. The Environmental Management Systems (EMS) is used to manage impacts, reduce risk, identify opportunities for cost savings and address customers’ needs. Key achievements include paper usage down by 22% this past year, electricity by 16% and oil consumption has fallen dramatically since the installation of a ground source heat pump. The extensive grounds are well managed and the kitchen garden even grows fruit and veg for the restaurant (see picture above). The new ISO 14001 standard has extra requirements, including a strong focus on leadership and alignment to the business strategy. Eshcon guided Roffey Park through the transition process starting with an ISO 14001 Gap Analysis, improving the EMS documentation, conducting the internal audits & attending the certification. With a change of staff...

Student Mentoring

1st September 20171st February 2018 By admin Comment Closed

Student-Business Mentoring Scheme It's been a while since I left university & went into the world of business. I have over 20 years of experience in the environmental management sector. I enjoy what I do & get satisfaction from helping my clients improve. And it occurred to me that I had experience that I could share with others, perhaps younger people starting out on their career. So when the Head of the School of Business, Management and Economics at the University of Sussex asked me to become a Student Mentor, I thought that would be a great opportunity. Sussex runs a program linking local business people with their students. The idea is to share experience, the things we've learned along the way. This is particularly good for me, returning to my old Uni. I was linked with a young woman studying economics. At our first meeting we completed the Mentoring Wheel diagram. On each spoke of the wheel, an issue or area that was important...

What does my logo mean?

1st September 201722nd November 2017 By admin Comment Closed

What does my logo mean? This last month I've been working on my business not just in my business. I've redesigned my website (it's looking nice and fresh now). I've been thinking about marketing strategy. And I've even revisited my logo. As you know I am an environmental management consultant. I work with businesses to manage their impacts, reduce risk, save money and find commercial benefits. Indeed, my mission is to make environmental management the business norm. I often talk about putting the environment into the heart of the business. I don't want it to be an add-on. It should be part of core business operations. That's how you get the true benefits. I have redesigned my logo recently. It hasn't changed much, except the colouring & accents. You'll notice the green 'o' - this represents the green world, within the core of the business. That's what Eshcon is all about. Making environmental management straight forward for you to put it into your business so you...

Awards winning tips

Awards winning tips

19th July 201721st December 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Tips on How to Win Awards - A View from the Judges' Table What's the best way to promote your company's achievements on the local, regional or national stage? There are many, many business awards around now; do you take advantage of them? Just entering an award scheme has many benefits. It’s an excellent learning experience & satisfying too putting the application together - show the best parts of your business & share your achievements. Also it’s a good opportunity to look outwards, at the competition, what customers are looking for, what best practice is. Position yourself as a leader. At the awards ceremony, finalists get their name up on screen in front of the numerous guests. Why not bring your staff along to say thank you for their hard work? For the winners - not just a glittering trophy, it’s the prestige, the recognition for all of the company & it’s great to be able to use the strapline ‘award winning company’. I've...

Chair at edie Live

Chair at edie Live

30th May 20175th November 2020 By admin Comment Closed

Chair at edieLive Last week I chaired two sessions at edieLive, the UK's leading two day energy, sustainability and resource efficiency event for businesses. Taking place at the NEC, it welcomed thousands of people interested in environmental & energy management - businesses, consultants, suppliers, students alike. We were all there to learn, to network & improve our industry. In the afternoon, I chaired the Resource Efficiency theatre session “Putting the O in H2O - Where is the opportunity in water?”. We had great presentations from L’Oréal & IHG - Intercontinental Hotels Group, about the work they’d done to integrate water efficiency into their businesses. At the hotels, clearly water in kitchens & bathrooms was key. Whereas for L’Oréal it was the water within the products & in the manufacturing processes. See my blog for edie.net earlier this year on this. Earlier in the day at edieLive, I chaired the “Getting under the skin of an energy manager” session (photo above is a view from...

Green Growth 2017

Green Growth 2017

22nd February 20175th November 2020 By admin Comment Closed

Green Growth 2017 - Report from the Chair I was very pleased to chair the recent Green Growth 17 Conference in Brighton. Green Growth 17 was organised by the Green Growth Platform, an initiative run by the University of Brighton to promote the environmental & low carbon sector. Zoe Osmond, Director, told us that since starting in June 2014, the GGP has attracted 740 members – a mixture of supplier of environmental products & services, & other businesses who wish to improve their environmental management. 130 new green sector jobs have been created, plus 70 students & graduates are working with members, on projects, research & marketing. The objective of Green Growth 17 was to inspire & enable members to connect, innovate & grow. Slides from the conference speakers are available, but I thought I’d share some of the key points I noted during the day. Tara Dean, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Brighton gave the welcome, sharing some of the UoB’s...

Overcoming the Challenges to Environmental Management

Overcoming the Challenges to Environmental Management

20th December 20167th September 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Overcoming the Challenges to Environmental Management There are many challenges to environmental management in business, some external but more often coming from within. Here are my thoughts on overcoming some of these challenges. Make it your USP and gain competitive advantage Customers and clients expect their suppliers to do an element of environmental management, from carbon footprint calculations to ISO 14001-certified Environmental Management Systems. So take the initiative: use it as your USP to differentiate yourself from your competitors; show customers you reflect their values, and use this to win business. Overcome your short-termism Most organisations (private & public) tend to focus on the short-term - budgets, pay-back periods, share price, terms of office, KPIs etc. To truly understand the risks & opportunities for your business, thinking a bit longer term makes sense. A sustainable business should engage with everyone it works with to look at, and reward, longer-term results. Why exclude energy efficiency projects that have a pay-back period of 2 years? Why aren’t the...

ISO 14001 Success

19th October 201622nd August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Roband demonstrates environmental leadership Roband Electronics is pleased to announce that its Environmental Management Systems (EMS) has been successfully recertified to ISO 14001 - and this time to the new ISO 14001:2015 standard. The EMS is used to manage impacts, reduce risk, identify opportunities for cost savings and address customers’ needs. Carbon emissions have been reduced by 2%, waste by 5% and electricity by 9%. The new ISO 14001 standard has extra requirements, including a strong focus on leadership & alignment to the business strategy. ESHCon guided Roband through the transition process starting with an ISO 14001 Gap Analysis. Based in Charlwood near Gatwick Airport, Roband is an independent British company specialising in the design, development, manufacture and support of electronic power supplies. Roband is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Andrew Gold, Managing Director of Roband, said: “Our ISO 14001 system has been useful in getting our staff involved & showing our commitment to environmental protection. I am delighted with the team’s achievements.” ESHCon’s Director...

Save Water

21st September 201622nd August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Free Water Saving Devices for SMEs Southern Water are offering non-domestic customers (including SME businesses, schools, charities, parish councils) to whom they supply water, free water saving devices. A free visit is offered from an experienced water expert who’ll assess your water use and prescribe a number of water efficient products that will be fitted for free. These include automatic urinal controls, water-efficient shower heads, dual flush mechanisms & Save-a-flush bags for toilets, and tap flow regulators. Controlling water use in urinals, so that it only flushes after use (and not each time the cistern fills), saves around £100 per year in water costs. The programme is being focused on certain target areas within our supply area and each visit will be for a period of four hours. All products that are fitted will work with existing taps, showers and toilets and alongside behaviour change advice will lead to ongoing savings on utility bills. To register an interest and to find out if you are in...

What is an EMS?

What is an EMS?

21st September 20164th January 2018 By admin Comment Closed

ISO 14001 - What is an Environmental Management System? All companies should be thinking about embedding environmental management into their business processes. An environmental management system (EMS) is a system to actively manage your impacts and comply with the law. This can be a simple system, or something more formal, developed to the international standard ISO 14001. With over 300,000 certificates issued across the world, ISO 14001 is the best known standard. Organisations start out on this for a variety of reasons: Customer expectation - Customers now expect suppliers to demonstrate commitment to their own values. Often, through tender documents, they will ask for carbon footprint, policy or ISO 14001. Competitive edge - Showing how their EMS makes them better than their competitors. Legal requirements – They may come under legal reporting requirements, be on the Environment Agency’s radar or are simply aware of the range of legislation that applies to them. Cost savings - With ever increasing costs and pressures on the...

GDB Chairman

GDB Chairman

1st August 20167th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

GDB Chairman Gatwick Diamond Business - Supporting & empowering local business Established for over 60 years, Gatwick Diamond Business GDB has been the leading voice for business and commerce in Sussex and Surrey. Representing business across the South East, we provide a united voice to influence local and central government issues. A member of GDB for a number of years, I still find it is the best membership group for businesses, always meeting new & interesting people, making useful contacts and finding great opportunities. For the past 3 years I have served on the Executive Board and now I am very pleased to be made Chairman. Our plans for GDB are to build on existing successes, to expand upon the real value of membership, make connections between members & provide a voice and lead on important regional issues. I am also pleased to welcome Debra Vice-Holt of the University of Brighton as Vice-Chairman. With the Executive in place and now welcoming the new staff to the...

Water Deregulation

Water Deregulation

22nd July 20167th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Water - The Choice is Yours In 2017 the water industry is being deregulated in England and Wales. So, as with electricity and gas supply, businesses will be able to choose their own water provider. Large business customers (consuming >50,000m3 of water a year) already have that supply choice and indeed businesses in Scotland have had retail competition since 2008. By having a choice of provider, it is expected that business customers will see savings, discounts and more attractive payment terms, plus providers are likely to help you improve water efficiency. All businesses and other organisations (not households) will be able to shop around for their water and sewerage suppliers from April 2017. The water coming out of your pipes doesn’t change, it’s really just who you pay! Water users with high spends or lots of sites with low spend are likely to see the biggest potential gains. What you should do now You may be able to switch supplier now - review your current water...

Ecodriving training

Ecodriving training

18th May 20165th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Ecodriving training To save money when driving it’s not just down to your choice of vehicle – your driving techniques make a big difference in fuel efficiency. Being heavy on the pedals. Not thinking ahead. Not using gears correctly. All these increase fuel consumption and make for a less smooth ride. Can your company benefit from ecodriving training? Ecodriving training can help provide: reduced fuel consumption and carbon emissions increased MPG by up to 15% reduced risk of vehicle accidents reduced vehicle wear and tear get your staff involved in your environmental work. “Since the training took place, fuel consumption has reduced across our fleet by more than 20 per cent. Some of which is from efficiencies gained from our vehicle replacement programme, which accounts for about 8% of the fleet per annum, but the remainder is generally felt to be from better driving practices. When a fleet uses about 200,000 litres of fuel a year, as we do, this soon adds up.” Rob Newman, Service...

SusLive

SusLive

29th April 20155th November 2020 By admin Comment Closed

Sustainability Live Well I had a busy few days at Sustainability Live recently. SusLive is the leading UK exhibition for energy technologies and services, taking place over three days in April 2015 at the NEC. I used the time to network with a variety of contacts – suppliers, clients and partners. It’s always good to catch up with people there in an informal setting. Plus I was busy ‘on the stage’ so to speak. I gave two presentations and chaired a session in one of the Energy Efficiency theatres. These workshops and seminars were designed to offer practical guidance and advice about implementing sustainability and energy management initiatives. ISO 50001 and 14001 – Making the Connection With ISO 50001 a route to compliance under ESOS, many companies are interested in putting in an Energy Management System to this standard, but don’t know where to start. My first session covered the connections between this and ISO 14001. There are many links in how the systems work,...

Drivers for Sustainability

28th August 20145th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

Drivers for Sustainability In researching its latest International Business Report, Grant Thornton asked 2,500 businesses across 34 economies what is driving their corporate social responsibility activity, examples of CSR initiatives and how these are being reported. They also looked at the role integrated reporting can play in improving transparency and decision-making. What drives companies to become more socially responsible? Businesses report an increase in drivers to move towards more environmentally and socially sustainable business practices. Globally, cost management is the main driver (67%), followed by customer demand (64%) and because it’s the ‘right thing to do’ (62%). How a business is perceived to be operating is also important in many countries (59%), especially China. In the UK however, client / customer demand was the top answer (62%), with recruitment / staff retention next (49%). Paul Raleigh, Global leader – strategic development and growth, Grant Thornton, says CSR could be the difference that beats the competition: “The leadership of dynamic businesses towards more socially responsible and transparent...

The Value of ISO 14001

7th August 20147th August 2017 By admin Comment Closed

The Value of ISO 14001 ISO 14001 Continual Improvement Survey In 2013 ISO conducted a survey of users of the international standard for Environmental Management Systems ISO 14001. With about 5000 participants, from 110 countries worldwide, the survey looked at their experiences in implementing ISO 14001 and the value of it to the organisation. Value for environmental management Organisations had realised significant value from ISO 14001 for environmental management issues: meeting legal requirements, improving environmental performance, and enhancing management commitment and stakeholder engagement. Value for business management ISO 14001 has provided considerable value for business management, most notably for meeting stakeholder requirements, improving public image, achieving strategic objectives, and integrating with business management systems. Factors influencing adoption These results correspond with reported motivations for adopting the Standard, including commitment to environmental protection/conservation, and reduction of risk of adverse environmental impact. Primary influences related to business management included customer requirements and public image. A more detailed summary of the survey can be found here. Return to Homepage Contact Us or Email Us ...