To watch this event, you can rent or buy the video here.
Tuesday 28th April saw The Future Economy Network run a very exciting interactive online workshop Becoming Carbon Neutral. The event was attended by a very engaged group of participants from diverse perspectives interested in carbon neutrality.
The team introduced everyone to the virtual events space and gave quick training on how to make the most out of the interactive webinar and networking opportunities. Once everyone was used to the space and had networked a little, the seminars began. Katherine Piper, Director of The Future Economy Network, welcomed attendees, highlighting the benefits of joining the Network and also sharing updates about The Future Economy Network’s Carbon Neutral Hub in Bristol, Future Leap. Katherine also briefly ran through the plans for The Festival of Sustainable Business, where you can check out the video here.
To support the interactive nature of the workshop each attendee was given the opportunity to do a 20 second pitch outlining who they were, where they were from and what they were hoping to gain from the workshop.
We then handed over to Simon Forsyth, workshop leader and consultant for Future Leap. Simon began by highlighting how carbon calculating is full of ‘complification’, his own term, but the purpose of the workshop was to provide simplification of the subject, and he did just that. Setting out the agenda for the workshop Simon explained how the rest of the event would cover: footprinting, scopes, protocol, neutrality, standards, costs and time.
Delving into the agenda topics Simon outlined the trusted protocols for generating an accurate and transparent carbon profile and introduced the audience to the dataCollator. Sophisticated custom-built carbon profiling software that has been developed over 20+ years, the dataCollator has the greenhouse gas protocol methodology and carbon conversion factors inbuilt. All the complicated processes and calculations are done in the background so users can simply enter their raw data.
Shelby King, Human Resource Manager at The Bristol then spoke to the group of her experience using the dataCollator and working toward carbon reduction presenting the hotel as a case study. During the workshop Shelby offered her valuable insight and first-hand experience to the group. After one hour we all took a break for a well deserved ‘cuppa’ and then reconvened to begin the first interactive part of the workshop. Groups of about 5 were sent to Zoom breakout rooms, with a FEN team member leading, to have a go at inputting raw data into the dataCollator through screen sharing.
The first part of the workshop prompted some very interesting and challenging questions as the audience quickly got into the deeper end of carbon neutrality discussions. And to give reassurance to the methodology and algorithms used the dataCollator even includes a carbon calculus.
Afterwards we came back together and Simon gave a further presentation on neutrality and standards offering key advice on offsetting such as the importance of ‘additionality’; ensuring that your carbon offset contribution goes towards supporting additional carbon reduction projects rather than investing in something that was planned to go ahead anyway. The Gold Standard is a trusted accreditation that helps you to ensure your offset is fully traceable. And to help with convincing the board that carbon reduction or neutrality is a priority Simon, as part of the consultancy service, can provide a clear one-page breakdown of the cost and time undertaking carbon profiling would require.
For the final part of the workshop the group was again split into breakout rooms to work on an exercise of filling in the UN Climate Neutral Now self-declaration form which prompted further interesting discussions within the groups. The event concluded with a Q&A session with attendees physically raising their hand and taking part in the discussion with their microphone and camera. It raised highly relevant questions relating to the real challenges business face in tackling carbon neutrality and reflecting how live and immediate the need for carbon reduction is.
As part of the consultancy service Simon can provide a clear one-page breakdown of the cost and time undertaking carbon profiling would require. This can help towards convincing the board of the importance of and manageability of embarking carbon reduction. This workshop provided attendees with the opportunity to sample what is required to complete a carbon footprint. Simon offers his consultancy services, on behalf of Future Leap, that can include:
• Carbon neutrality (PAS 2060) • Carbon foot printing (GHG protocol) • Scope 3 supply-chain analysis • Science-Based Targets analysis (SBT) • carbon modelling of products / activities / scenarios • ESOS compliance (Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme) • SECR compliance (Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting) • ACA certification (Airport Carbon Accreditation scheme) • ISO 14001 systems / training
Consultancy services are charged at £600 per day.
Access to the dataCollator can be provided for one year for £150 per license.
Contact Simon to discuss your plans and to get a free estimate.
simon.forsyth@thefutureeconomygroup.co.uk
and finally, responses to the questions posted in the chat box during the event have been added to our blog.