“Climate change isn’t stopping and it isn’t going to wait”

We’re not moving fast enough to combat climate change.

This is what Laura Plimbey, head of partnerships and propositions for British Gas Business, told us.

But businesses are making changes. Laura told us that ‘20% of businesses have switched to renewable energy contracts and a further 68% say that they plan to switch in the near future, which is promising.’

She added: ‘We’ve seen that 73% of businesses are planning to invest in their CO2 monitoring and reporting.’

She noted that businesses can use simple techniques to reach net zero.

‘To get to net zero, there’s two things. One is your monitoring and reporting, understanding where you use energy, where you waste it.

‘Are your appliances running efficiently? Are they old? Is any equipment needing a service? Have your windows got all the seals?

‘All the basics, all the things that you can tick off to say I'm not using any energy above what I need to run my business?

‘And when you've got a handle on that, so the energy you are being supplied, that you are paying for and you are using is what you absolutely need.

‘The second part then is to have that supplied by a zero carbon or better still, renewable supply. And that makes you net zero because you're using only what you need and what you need is being supplied from a non CO2 admitting source.’

Laura noted that business can focus on cutting emissions if they cannot afford to switch to renewable energy.

She said: ‘There is [something you can do] – your CO2 monitoring, your reporting, understanding your business usage, understanding how your colleagues and the people you employ are using energy within your business and creating that energy culture, to basically change everyone’s attitude and understanding and not just pinning it all on the supply type.’

Listen to the full podcast to know more about how British Gas Business can help businesses reach net zero.