| Energy
New research shows that business is more
committed than ever to taking action on
sustainability
UK businesses are more committed to taking action on sustainability than ever before, with the vast majority now
planning to go well beyond compliance in key areas such as sustainable packaging, low-carbon infrastructure and fleet
electrification.
hose were the key conclusions
of a major new report officially
launched by environmental
media brand edie during the
first day of the edie Live 2018
exhibition at the NEC
Birmingham. The 44-page report is part of
edie’s Mission Possible campaign, which seeks
to empower and inspire sustainability
professionals to achieve a sustainable future for
their business.
Mission Possible: 2018, produced in
association with E.ON, includes the findings of
an extensive survey of 200 sustainability,
energy and resource professionals about their
drivers, challenges and opportunities related to
the five Mission Possible campaign pillars:
energy, resources, infrastructure, mobility and
business leadership.
Key findings:
• 63.5% are now more committed to taking
action on sustainability than they were 12
months ago
• The majority are either ‘extremely confident’
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18 | Farming Monthly | June 2018
(25.5%) or ‘fairly confident’ (39.5%) they would
continue to make sustainability progress if
environmental regulations were removed
• 37% are actively planning to make a
commitment to eliminate all avoidable plastic
waste ‘in the near future’
• 49% believe their vehicle fleet will be fully
electric by 2030
• 78.5% believe their buildings will be ‘net-
zero carbon’ before 2050
• 83% would be willing to join a new
movement that helps businesses to achieve a
sustainable future
The report includes a foreword from Forum
for the Future founder-director Jonathan Porritt,
who stresses the importance for businesses to
turn these ambitions into actions to achieve a
sustainable future.
“Despite the fact that more and more
companies are committed to doing more
around a broadly-defined sustainability agenda,
levels of trust in the business community are
still stubbornly bumping along at a very low
level, and the progress made to date on a host
of big-picture sustainability challenges remains
woefully short of what is needed,” Porritt writes.
“The message behind Mission Possible is
clear: embrace ‘the fierce urgency of now’ in
going much further, and much faster, to help
build a genuinely sustainable world.”
The report also incorporates a range of
expert op-eds on the future of sustainable
business, provided by the likes of E.ON, PwC,
the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the
World Green Building Council (WorldGBC);
along with video case studies from BT, P&G,
Landsec, Heathrow Airport and Carlsberg.
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