Our Journey To carbon neutrality

Our journey to carbon neutrality.

It’s been a busy few months for the team at BTS, as we’ve been learning about how to make our façade and fabricated products sustainable, as we’re on a mission to achieve NetZero by 2030.

Last month, we announced the fantastic news that our company is carbon neutral thanks to a verified offsetting scheme we secured with the help of environmental experts.

The experts, from Blue Marble, have also enabled us to work out our Scope one, two and three emissions – but if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry… we didn’t either.

The progress we’ve made has been months in the making, and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind. We know that making a start towards a sustainability can be a minefield, so we thought we’d share our experiences with you, in case you’d like to take your first steps towards lowering your carbon footprint.

We caught up with Phil Atkinson, our managing director, who has driven BTS’ sustainability project forwards, to see how he’s found the experience so far…

Why did you want to kick-start your sustainability journey?

“It’s all about doing the right thing. Our values are all about our stakeholders and community, so we wanted change, especially carbon neutrality for all our stakeholders as it’s a fantastic milestone and something to build on.”

What barriers did you have to overcome?

“One of the biggest struggles the team faced is education, and fully understanding the impact the manufacturing industry has on the environment.

“The environmental field has a lot of jargon and confusing terminology to overcome, but I took the time out of my busy schedule to learn more about it and started implementing courses for the team so they could learn more too.

“Eventually I sought help from experts at Blue Marble but finding the time to attend conferences and webinars was certainly very demanding.”

Were any mistakes made?

“Definitely. On two occasions I engaged with environmental specialists who had a hidden sales agenda.

“We chatted to an environment specialist whose sole objective was to sell us Solar. They went on to provide our carbon footprint, but it was alarmingly low as they didn’t include our scope 3 GH Gas emissions.

“Then there are the specialists who know what they are doing but want to charge £20,000 for a GH gas assessment!”

What was the most frustrating point for you?

“Once we got the ball rolling with assessing our emissions, I found our supply chain were bewildered by the concept, some unwilling to change their ways.

“The utopia in this case would be for every supplier to understand their operational carbon footprint, but they don’t.

“I felt frustrated, scope 3 emissions are over 80% of BTS’ footprint, I was scratching my head wondering how we’d ever fully achieve NetZero.”

When did you finally start to feel excited about the project?

“I started to get excited when we collaborated with great experts.

“Blue Marble were first class, and every step was logical. When they came back with our footprint and said we can get to neutrality quickly, that’s when I thought ‘wow, we’re getting somewhere’.”

How do you intend on tackling scope 3 emissions?

“We will be working closely with our supply chain on this and hopefully by sharing our journey will help them, and ensure they are brought up to speed.”

What’s next for BTS?

“With the help of our experts, our products are undergoing EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) so we can communicate our embodied carbon in our rainscreen systems.

“This is a key objective so the construction industry can work to decarbonise buildings.”

What direction would you point people in if they need help?

“I’ve already had a few private messages on LinkedIn and I’m very happy to help.

“Please call the land line at BTS and I will offer any help. We’re in this together and it’s for the greater good.”

What’s the best advice you could give someone looking to embark on a sustainability journey?

“Find an experienced expert with a clear transparent pricing structure.”

To find out more about BTS’ sustainability journey, read one of our latest press releases here: https://btsfabrications.co.uk/news/