Investec are successful at many things. One of them is reducing their carbon footprint... by 14%. Teresa O'Brien, Environment Manager at Investec takes us through the steps they followed to achieve this.

Step 1: Learn more about your current energy usage

We started by installing smart meters throughout our offices to help measure our energy use. The meters cover 80% of our electricity and gas consumption and give real-time kWh readings of the energy being used in different areas, so we know when the most is being used and where.

Step 2: React to what you find out

The smart meters showed that we were using energy and lighting when it wasn’t always necessary. So we adjusted the timings to more accurately reflect the needs of our business and employees.

Step 3: Look at things with fresh eyes

Many of our energy usage habits are just that, habits. So it’s worth looking around and identifying what you’re using which you may not need to. For us, it was lighting. Lights were turned on in the morning and stayed on, even when natural light was adequate or there weren’t people working in that area.

Step 4: Pick the most suitable solution

Our building has large windows. So a practical solution was to install daylight sensors, which adjust lighting according to whether there is enough natural light or not. We also added motion sensors, which stay on after dark only when there are people around. Of course this doesn’t mean we never use the lights. And even in a windowless environment there are things you can do, such as install LED lighting which we are beginning to do.

Step 5: Hello computer

Don’t forget your IT systems. They’ve become so much a part of our lives that switching off computers can seem almost sacrilegious. But it is important to do it! We’ve installed an automatic hibernate solution which makes sure we’re operating on the lowest power over night. And there is more you can do with your servers and computing processes. Check out Global Action Plan’s report An Inefficient Truth and chat to them if you need some advice.

Step 6: Involve everybody, including senior management… and use humour

We‘ve put in place lots of technological solutions, but from working with Global Action Plan, we know engaging our employees is essential. So we launched a campaign: ‘Switch on your conscience, switch off your electricals’.

As with any business, there are lots of messages struggling for attention, so we took a slightly different approach to grab employees’ attention: funny videos showing our senior executive team doing their bit. They went viral in no time. Employees understood that these were changes we were trying to make at every level.

Step 7: Appeal to your audience

Adding a light-hearted, competitive element gets everybody involved. We challenged each floor to reduce their energy use. We used data from our smart meters to show how they were doing, and increased motivation by showing the results daily on the ticker-tape in our canteen alongside other business results. It was a huge success, and the winning floor reduced their energy usage by a huge 34%! 

Step 8: The bottom line

We always link our sustainability agenda to the bottom line. Doing this when reducing energy use is easy to measure and communicate. We have already saved about £98,000 and this will keep going up the more we save and year-on-year.

Step 9: You’re not alone

Every business is tackling their environmental footprint in one way or another, so talk to others about what they’re doing and find out if they’re working with anyone who may be able to help you. Support from outside is invaluable when making changes. Global Action Plan has remained on hand to help us prioritise what we are doing, chat to our employees and provide expert advice.

Step 10: Keep going!

No matter how much you’ve done, there is always more you can do. Advances in technology, rewarding employees, engaging suppliers, the list goes on. One of the ways we’re keeping the momentum going at Investec, is by hosting bi-monthly green movie nights. We show films with an environmental theme, in an informal set up and then chat about them. It’s informative, but more than that, it’s fun and gives employees a new way to get to know each other and mingle across teams. Even across competing floors!

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Please get in touch with us if you'd like find out more about how to cut your business's carbon footprint. 

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