
E4environment Ltd reached its 25th year in business in December 2024 – congratulations to E4. It’s no mean feat for a small business that was established when the whole “climate thing” was often viewed as being like a fashion accessory – a nice to have when you had spare cash but to be dropped if not necessary!
So, have things changed much in the 25 years we’ve been running and what does the future look like?
I joined E4 in 2010, so although not the full 25 years, I’ve nonetheless seen some tremendous changes in the ‘environmental landscape’. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll split my 15 years at E4 into Pre-2019 and Post-2019. For me, I see 2019 as pivotal in the UK climate debate when we had the timely collision of the following key events.
1) Airing of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II and the view everyone can still see of the seahorse wound around the plastic straw alongside the tragic data of seabirds starving while their stomachs are full of plastic.
2) The 16 year old Greta Thunberg hitting the global stage after her school protests at age 15 to addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos and the UN’s Climate Action Summit in New York.
3) The first Extinction Rebellion (XR) civil disobedience, two week protest in April in Central London.
I think these three key factors coalesced in their timing to challenge the ‘comfortable’ progress previously being achieved resulting in the UK Government declaring a Climate Emergency and setting the 2050 Net Zero target.
Prior to 2019 solar, wind and other renewable energy projects had started to take off – but then the FiTs was stopped and on-shore wind was effectively halted bringing great uncertainty to the renewables market. The introduction of the ‘Waste Hierarchy’ in 2011 required all businesses to consider recycling prior to disposal but if it was ‘cheaper’ to dispose of something then hey ho. Large companies had to disclose their carbon emissions in their company reports – but only Scope 1 & 2 emissions and not the other 85% Scope 3 ones. Further, they didn’t have to take action to reduce emissions.
I paint a dark picture but there were good things happening – the Packaging Regs were in place, there was action to encourage energy hungry companies to reduce their consumption, and the Air Quality Directive was having impact on action to reduce concentration of particulates, particularly from car emissions in cities.
But it seems to me that from 2019, things have taken on an urgency (not enough for my liking but …) that we didn’t previously see.
So there is now a requirement (with more regulations coming down the line) for businesses not only to count their full carbon emissions, but declare them publicly, say what action they’re taking to reduce them and if they don’t achieve those actions say why not. Some key drivers in the carbon reduction area include
· the general requirement for contractors to have a carbon reduction plan if they’re providing services to public bodies (PPN06/21)
· the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in Europe already and with the UK CBAM coming in in 2027
· regulations against ‘Greenwashing’ so if companies want to make a sustainability claim about their product, they have to evidence it
In the area of waste
· (in general terms) from April this year businesses and households must segregate their waste and waste collectors have to collect segregated waste
· the Extended Producer Regulations (2024) require those who produce packaging waste to more fully pay for its disposal (including that collected by local councils)
· the Plastic Packaging Tax and the banning of single use plastics and micro-plastics were introduced to drive a reduction in the use of plastics
For wildlife, there is now a requirement that for planning applications to get approval they need to include a plan to achieve at least a 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG).
In buildings the planned introduction of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) means new buildings have to be built to higher standards and existing properties have to reach minimum standards if they’re to be rented out.
There’s a lot not happening – practical support to small businesses for example, a genuine recognition of the urgency with which we should be addressing climate change and still a surprising and frustrating lack of company recognition that they can do something in their business activities, even small things, to make positive steps to address climate change. So, while I feel we’ve still got to get more businesses involved with being part of the solution, overall, for me the mood music and direction of travel is positive (ish)!
Deb Cairns-Stoll
Director, E4environment Ltd
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