How Swindon & Wiltshire businesses are tackling climate change

2nd February 2021

Ian Larrard, Director of Business West in Swindon & Wiltshire, introduced the first Initiative Business and Economy meeting of 2021 with a focus on business and climate change in light of our recent commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

More than 50 local businesses registered to attend the event, highlighting the enthusiasm for tackling climate issues in the Swindon & Wiltshire business community.

RWE Renewables UK's Country CFO Ben Freeman was the first of our expert guest speakers to present at the meeting.

Ben charted the rise of the ‘renewables revolution’ over the past decade, which has seen the share of fossil fuel energy fall from 75% of all energy produced in 2010 to 43% last year.

RWE has made a solid commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels said Ben, highlighting how the firm had recently turned off its last remaining UK coal power station in Swansea and now boasts the 3rd largest biomass operation in Europe.

The scale of their UK power generating operation is equally impressive, with onshore and offshore wind and solar panel generation located across all four corners of the British isles to ensure continuity of supply when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

A key growth area for RWE Renewables is commercial organisations looking to buy their energy direct from UK wind farms. As more and more businesses begin to take to take climate change seriously, doing so enables them to reduce their carbon emissions and shields them from price fluctuations in the energy market.

Following questions from Festival of Tomorrow organiser Rod Hebden and Chairman of Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative Mike Godfrey, SWLEP CEO Paddy Bradley highlighted a number of activities that the LEP is engaging in across the region to help accelerate the fight against climate change.

Paddy spoke at length about the development of a hydrogen fuel network throughout the South West and the future user case that is being developed for the Honda site in Swindon. SWLEP has commissioned a sustainable transport study to account for any potential increase in occupancy after the site is redeveloped as well as scoping out options for powering the site using 100% renewable energy.

In addition to this, Paddy said SWLEP has been active in providing direct support to ‘green’ businesses, having recently provided loans to a local biogas firm and a construction company looking at replacing concrete with graphene.

A leading local business and Initiative member Recycling Technologies has also been the beneficiary of SWLEP support, with funding to establish an innovation campus for the circular economy at the University of Bath. The aim of the project is to identify commercial applications of academic research focussing on replacing non-organic materials with greener alternatives. As part of its tie in with the University of Bath, Paddy said SWLEP were jointly funding a PhD studentship along with the Treasury, to investigate the concept of ‘natural capital’ in order to define a universally accepted methodology in accounting terms.

Paddy ended his update by reflecting on the increasing importance of climate change to SWLEP’s activities. When the LEP first came into being in 2010, the types of economic development projects being prioritised back then might not be given the go ahead today said Paddy given the growing importance of climate change considerations.

Robin Bailey, Chairman of GreenSquare – a Wiltshire-based housing association and developer that puts sustainability at its core - was the next guest speaker.

Robin talked about the merger the organisation was currently undergoing, the growth in social housing investment and GreenSquare’s experience of the pandemic.

At the end of the meeting was the regular ‘charity slot’, which gives the opportunity to a local charity to showcase their work to the wider business community.

Paul Baker of Julia’s House gave an overview of the charity, which provides support to terminally ill children and bereaved families and spoke passionately about their experience of the pandemic.

Business West Director of Policy Matt Griffith spoke briefly about how Swindon & Wiltshire businesses are adjusting to life outside the EU, before Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative Manager Dave Battrick gave an update on recent activities and invited attendees to join us at our upcoming Business and Economy meeting on 23rd February. 

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