Free sustainability support to help local firms  ‘go green’ in 2024

After another successful Net Zero Conference at The Growth Hub, led by keynote speaker Conservative Councillor David Gray, Gloucestershire’s businesses are being encouraged to take up the offer of free sustainability support in 2024.

Attendees heard from Barnwood Group and Stroud Brewery on how they’ve tackled their very different sustainability strategies, as well as getting plenty of technical expertise from Lighthouse Sustainability, Target PR, Mypower, and Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking. For the full highlights and to read the opinions of delegates and speakers, SoGlos have written an excellent roundup which you can read here.

The event concluded with an introduction to carbon auditing from The Growth Hub’s Andrew McKenzie. As the resident specialist, Andrew is the brains behind the support available to all Gloucestershire businesses for free. The Growth Hub’s Net Zero programme is designed to help the county play its part in the UK’s goal – halve all greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and completely eliminate them by 2050.

What is Net Zero?

It’s a fact of modern life that almost every business is responsible for at least some greenhouse gases. Some industries, like manufacturing and transport, emit more than others – but most businesses have at least some impact. You ‘reach Net Zero’ when your business removes as many greenhouse gas emissions as it produces.

For some, this will mean eliminating all emission-producing activities.

For others, where some emission-producing activities are business critical and therefore unavoidable, carbon capture projects are designed to offset this and still reach Net Zero.

What support is available?

We’ll help you in three main steps, all of which are completely free of charge to you:

1. We’ll meet with you and carry out a diagnostic, to understand your business, its goals, and to help you understand the real world benefits of going green.
2. Over a three month period, or longer if required, we will conduct a full carbon audit for you. This means calculating your baseline carbon footprint and providing you with a way to track it, as we work together to reduce it.
3. With the carbon audit in hand, and guidance on how to improve it, we’ll signpost you to other organisations and resources you’ll need along the way. From B Corp support, to Life Cycle Assessments, to help addressing standards and environmental measures – we can point you in the right direction to make your journey easier.

For more information on how we can help and how you can get started, visit: www.thegrowthhub.biz/netzero