I went to a fascinating property seminar focussed on the charity sector in London last Wednesday (May 15^th) where the challenge of Sustainability was among the topics illuminated during the day.

Mayfair Capital’s Annual Seminar, “Charity Investment: Turning Challenges into Opportunities”, was well worth the time spent and interesting because charities have large property portfolios and their remit is to maximise the income/yield from them.

One of the topics covered was sustainability and was led by Louise Ellison, Responsible Property Investment Manager at PRUPIM and Kate Brown, Group Director – Sustainability for property group Grosvenor.

They advised that Sustainability is a challenge that is not going to go away and should be met by all organisations. They suggested that charity sector should not to feel fear around Sustainability but should treat it as another part of their risk profiles when focussing on the risk/reward equation for property yields.

Knowledge is power and the charity attendees were advised to ensure that they have accurate data and other information to help make effective sustainability decisions. This knowledge would underpin the understanding of what charities want to achieve.

The seminar highlighted the pressing concerns and issues around the UK Government’s introduction of improved standards of energy efficiency – MEPS (Minimum Energy Performance Standard) for commercial buildings.

MEPS is a specification that has a number of performance requirements for an energy-using device, and that effectively limits the maximum amount of energy that may be consumed by a product in performing a specified task.

Although the exact details of MEPS are to be advised, a new area of risk has already been introduced into the market which needs to be quantified now. The standard will make it harder for landlords and occupiers of the worst-performing properties to let properties after April 2015 in Scotland and April 2018 for England and Wales.

Progressive landlords and occupiers should assess which of their buildings are affected and quickly adapt current strategies to manage their potential risks.

As property is all about income/return, MEPS clearly demands better sustainability strategies – if a building is less likely to perform then there is a substantially higher risk to income.

The words “steward” and “stewardship” were used quite a bit in the seminar I believe that this means shaping Corporate Social Responsibility strategies to move beyond simple compliance and into proactive, effective areas that embrace fully the challenge of sustainability. Buildings are long-term investments and therefore sustainable stewardship is now, practically, a given requirement.

The seminar audience also were advised of increasing social and political pressures that demand better sustainability strategies. For example, 50% of populations currently live in cities but by 2050 it will be 70%.

These pressures may have an impact on the UK’s commitment to EU carbon reduction strategies, with a national target of 35% reduction (below 1990) levels within seven years. The UK has also signed up to the climate deal, which means delivering reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. This will require very robust monitoring and measurement.

On other items of interest to the charity sector, Mouhammed Choukeir CIO, Kleinwort Benson, spoke about “Preserving Purchasing Power”, James Thornton CIO, Mayfair Capital Investment Management gave an overview of the Property Market and Dame Clare Tickell, CEO, Action for Children presented a case study: “Raising Funds and Investment in a Challenging Environment”, supported by actress Jenny Agutter OBE, who is an Ambassador for the charity and who gave a personal perspective of her involvement.

The day was also illuminated by panel session contributions from Andrew Cunningham CEO, Grainger plc who offered views on the Private Rental Sector, David Faulkner Fund Director, UNITE, who addressed themes around the student accommodation sector and Mike Adams CEO, MedicX, who advised on the Health/Medical sector with Graeme Rutter, Head of Property Multi-Manager, Schroders acting as panel moderator.

The investment seminar, attended by more than 100 charity professionals, trustees and their advisers, examined the asset allocation challenge facing charity investors as they seek to maximise returns from their endowments at a time when economic difficulties remain, inflation continues to erode returns and many asset types continue to produce negative real returns.

The sustainability perspective is one that I think every organisation could engage with now to help achieve the targets set for the short-, medium- and long-term. What’s more, they can do so in ways that reduce carbon footprint while making effective cost-reductions.

It seems to make sound commercial sense to embrace proactive sustainability strategies. Charities are not alone in trying to meet a number of financial challenges and the adoption of solutions that reduce energy and water consumption while providing quick Return on Investment is perhaps something that every financial officer should be championing.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.

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Green Office Week comes to a close today with ideas around Innovation but we all understand that successful sustainability strategies go beyond the occasional initiative.

This is not to deride the excellent work of the Green Office Week team at office supplies company Avery, far from it. We think the past five days have been a brilliant boost to working-life awareness and have offered many practical ways to change office culture for the better.

We’ve shared our ideas daily this week and hope that they have helped in providing innovative roadmaps to sustainability in companies around the UK. We have focused on simple, small solutions that reduce carbon footprint while saving a lot of money.

Products such as tap aerators, eco taps and eco shower heads make a big difference to water use and cut carbon by reducing the energy needed to heat that water. LED light solutions are almost a “no brainer” for companies that want to make savings and see their carbon footprint reduced.

None of these innovative solutions will “break the bank”. In fact, they pay back outlay very quickly and then go on saving companies a lot of money month on month, year on year.

We have effective, innovative solutions in other areas as well, from ways to make boilers far more efficient to optimised heating and ventilation. Again, both of these repay the investment quickly and continue to contribute to the bottom line after that.

Innovation, as Avery suggests in its guidance today, is also about changing people’s minds. The company asks people to become “eco-warriors” in the workplace, making suggestions, checking whether everything is being done to ensure sustainability and grouping together with other like-minded workers to help this process.

And that signals to us the need for companies to revisit their Corporate Social Responsibility strategies because without a proactive approach, the energy of the green champions in organisations will dissipate.

We shared some ideas around this in a recent post, following an illuminating meeting in London with some of the key players in the Corporate Social Responsibility field. The meeting reinforced our commitment to helping organisations reshape their CSR strategies and go beyond the “tick in the box” or “just enough” mind-set when dealing with Sustainability.

We think that Sustainability should be very high on the agendas of every CSR team, not least because effective policies that blend environmental benefits with sound business sense and empower the internal “green champions” will help companies and, indeed all organisations to face the enormous challenges of the next 20 years.

You can find out more about Green Office Week here

You can follow and contribute to Green Office Week on Twitter twitter.com/greenofficeweek.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.

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Green Office Week focuses on Purchasing on the fourth day of the initiative and this is a topic close to our heart because we know so many sustainable ways that companies can make a huge difference to their carbon footprint.

It’s true that by better management of consumables such as stationery, printer supplies and so on, that businesses can be greener. But they will have the biggest impact if their purchasing strategies include the acquisition of office solutions that cut carbon and save money,

Avery, the office supplies specialist that is driving Green Office Week, offers five tips on Green Purchasing today, and we wanted to expand on two of them:

• When choosing electrical products, choose items with energy star ratings which are more efficient and economical to run.
• Switch to a green energy tariff which will help towards investment in clean energy from renewable sources

We couldn’t agree more. Companies should be looking at their lighting products, both internal and external, and taking stock on how they can replace current solutions with products that will cut carbon footprint substantially. These solutions will also save a massive amount of money by slashing electricity use.

For example, retro-fitting the right kind of internal LED lighting reduces energy use by up to 85 per cent, reducing carbon footprint by 80 per cent and also gives out 85 per cent less heat. You would also reduce your maintenance costs by 80 per cent Find out more here.

Exterior lighting costs can be a significant “fixed cost” for businesses, although with the spiralling bills from electricity suppliers, that “fixed” element is looking less certain. If your external lighting demands are high, there are solutions that would deliver savings of up to 75 per cent. See the light here.

There are other ways of reducing energy consumption and so cutting carbon emissions. Think about how water is heated in your offices and consider retro fitting tap aerators, eco smart taps and eco shower heads – three simple, cost-effective ways to reduce water consumption and the energy needed to heat the water.

These solutions pay for themselves very quickly and then go on delivering savings month on month, year on year. In fact, you can quickly see the water savings by using our flow bags, measuring before and after installation of the chosen products – we provide these for free when we deliver your orders.

We’ve shared thoughts on the first three days’ initiatives: Energy, Transport and Waste, all of which in their own ways reflect our business vision and underline our proven strategies to help both companies and consumers cut carbon and save money.

As an added bonus, these solutions have no negative impact on performance or the people using them – they are invisible miracles.

Tomorrow (Friday 17^th May) is the last day of Green Office Week, rounding off with “Innovation” and Avery is encouraging every office professional in the UK to be “a true green champion” by extending the Green Office Week themes into daily work life.

For us, that includes asking their companies’ sustainability stakeholders about energy and water-saving initiatives that have a strong impact on carbon emissions and business costs.

You can find out more about Green Office Week here

You can follow and contribute to Green Office Week on Twitter twitter.com/greenofficeweek.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.

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Green Office Week enters its third day and every office worker is being encouraged to think about “Waste” as part of the drive towards sustainability in the UK.

Office supplies specialist Avery offers some simple tips that reduce waste by harnessing the 3Rs: reduce/reuse/recycle. The company advises that more than half of office workers do not re-use cardboard boxes, for example.

We’ve shared thoughts on the first two days’ initiatives on Energy and Transport, both of which in their own ways reflect our vision and strategies to help companies and consumers save money and cut carbon emissions but wanted to add a few ideas around “Waste”.

The tips from Avery are, as always achievable and sound. At the same time, we can see other focuses that will reduce waste. The aim, for us is always twofold and the clue is in our name! Save money on energy and water usage and cut carbon emissions.

Encouraging people to change their habits and behaviour is always positive while adopting solutions that simply ensure a massive reduction in waste with no impact on how people act is even more effective.

That’s how we approach waste reduction at SaveMoneyCutCarbon. We guarantee that our cost and carbon-saving solutions will be “invisible” to the user.

We know that every company can reduce waste by investing in a range of products that will make a huge and positive impact on their running costs (water, lighting, heat), with the solutions paying for themselves within a very short time.

For example, simply by fitting tap aerators, a business can reduce water use by up to 60 per cent – and with water bills heading ever upwards, this can only be a commercial benefit. With the most effective LED lighting, you can save up to 85 per cent on your electricity bills.

And all the solutions make as significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions.

The solutions can range from the tap aerators to eco showerheads, from lighting to heating/ventilation (HVAC) and better boiler management. The financial benefits are tested and proven, and you can learn more about how much you will save month on month by reviewing the products and solutions on this site. For more light on this, start here.

Green Office Week has a different focus for each of the five working days. Tomorrow’s theme is “Purchasing” and then the initiative rounds off with “Innovation” on Friday (17^th). Avery wants every person working in UK offices to become “a true green champion” by extending the Green Office Week themes into office life, day-by-day – that can only bring commercial and environmental benefits.

You can find out more about Green Office Week here

You can follow and contribute to Green Office Week on Twitter twitter.com/greenofficeweek.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.

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Day Two of Green Office Week turns the spotlight on Transport as part of the initiative to raise awareness and activity around the increasingly pressing issue of sustainability.

Thanks to office supplies specialist Avery, Green Office Week celebrates its fifth birthday and we have big respect for the company that has helped to drive growth in understanding with its yearly initiative – and beyond.

We shared thoughts on the first day’s initiative, which is close to our vision and strategies to help companies and consumers save money and cut carbon emissions but wanted to add a few ideas around “transport”.

The tips from Avery are, as always achievable and sound.

Tip 1: Avoid the morning rush hour and help reduce traffic on the roads. Try to work from home one day a month.

Tip 2: Save cash and make friends – find someone who lives close by or who is going to the same meeting as you to car share tomorrow. Write a travel policy which specifies rail travel where possible. Travelling to Europe by train typically saves time, money and carbon emissions!

Tip 3: Research how to set up conference calls – they’re a lot easier than you think and you’ll save heaps of time in the car! Skype is a free service that takes minutes to set up and allows you to make calls and video calls to fellow users

Tip 4: Opt for a cycle courier rather than your man with a van or choose a courier offering alternative energy or low carbon services

Tip 5: Find out if your city has a ‘Bike’ scheme – more fun than the gym! Explore whether your company can offer tax-free incentives to staff by purchasing bicycles through payroll.

At SaveMoneyCutCarbon, we are very aware that our business is quite intense in the way that it harnesses transport to do its job and so we try to do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint, from ensuring our vehicles are the most efficient, are well-maintained and used only when absolutely necessary.

We also contribute to rain-forest renewal projects to offset our carbon emissions but perhaps most important, we decided to develop our own distribution system and ensure that it worked in the most efficient way.

In this way, we minimise the impact on the environment because we always deliver direct and try to schedule these deliveries so that we do not make similar trips twice or three times. We also avoid the “depot shuffle” where a product can be moved several times to different delivery company depots on its journey to the buyer.

We also take the idea outside of work and several of us use bikes for leisure and local journeys. It’s a small gesture but it keeps us healthy and makes a difference.

Green Office Week has a different focus for each of the five working days. Tomorrow’s theme is “Waste” with Thursday (16^th) looking at “Purchasing” and then “Innovation” on Friday (17^th)

Avery asks every person working in UK offices to become “a true green champion” by taking the Green Office Week daily themes and making them work each day, every week of the year. We heartily second that.

Every company can invest in a range of products, from taps and tap aerators to eco showerheads, and from lighting to heating/ventilation (HVAC) and better boiler management. We’ll continue to write about different ways to cut carbon and save money, with the solutions paying for themselves within a very short time, over the next few days.

You can find out more about Green Office Week here

You can follow and contribute to Green Office Week on Twitter twitter.com/greenofficeweek.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.

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Green Office Week is up and running again – and hats off to office supplies specialist Avery for driving this very welcome initiative.

This is the fifth year that Green Office Week has been organised and it seems that each year, the awareness of how much this type of environmental initiative is needed grows massively. Avery has also commissioned research into office worker attitudes to sustainability, which make for interesting reading.

This year, according to the Green Office Week survey, 58% of office workers want to be more resourceful and less wasteful. Avery says that despite the global economic uncertainty, only 12% of office workers feel that the environment is now less of a priority for their business than before.

Nearly half of office staff members (42%) say that the financial crisis has actually increased the need for their workplace to be as green as ever, encouraging greater resourcefulness and less waste.

Green Office Week has a different focus for each of the five working days. For example, yesterday, Avery highlighted the need to cut energy consumption and today it focuses on “Transport” while offering a range of simple ways that every member of staff can do something to help in the sustainability drive.

Here’s the focus timetable:

• Yesterday (Monday 13^th May): Energy
• Today (Tuesday 14^th May): Transport
• Wednesday (15^th): Waste
• Thursday (16^th): Purchasing
• Friday (17^th): Innovation

The company says: “This can be as simple as ensuring that lights are turned off in areas that are not in use or that PCs, screens, copiers, peripherals etc. are switched off overnight or when not in use. It really can be as simple as that.”

We will be following the week closely and adding our thoughts on ways that people in offices can make a difference – cutting carbon emissions and saving the company money at the same time.

Avery asks every person working in UK offices to become “a true green champion” by taking the Green Office Week daily themes and making them work each day, every week of the year. We heartily second that.

And we’d also suggest that every company professional can make the organisation’s sustainability stakeholders aware that there are simple, structural changes that can take being green to the next level – saving companies a small fortune by slashing energy and water bills.

Every company can invest in a range of products, from taps and tap aerators to eco showerheads, and from lighting to heating/ventilation (HVAC) and better boiler management. We’ll tease out these different ways to cut carbon and save money, with the solutions paying for themselves within a very short time, over the next few days.

You can find out more about Green Office Week here

You can follow and contribute to Green Office Week on Twitter twitter.com/greenofficeweek.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.

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The standard guidelines will help to make a difference to your bills and your carbon emissions but to make really significant inroads into domestic spiralling utility costs, you can use these top six energy and water saving tips in your home.

There is also a climatic bonus at the same time as you watch your electricity and gas use drop dramatically – you are helping to reduce carbon emissions.

Tip 1: Fit an eco shower head. Make sure you get the best quality to ensure long life and truly efficient use of water. You can cut your water usage by more than half and save energy used to heat water. Remember that there is no effect on shower quality if you choose the right model. More info

Tip 2: Fit tap aerators in the bathroom(s). These mini-marvels, if they are the right quality, should amaze you with water savings over 50 per cent in many cases. And don’t forget the kitchen sink – tap aerators are ideal there for rinsing and hand-washing. More info

Tip 3: If you plan to change your taps, fit eco taps – these are the most efficient and stylish on the market. More info

Tip 4: Measure water use before and after so you have a benchmark you can refer to. Flow bags are a brilliant and simple way to do this. More info

Tip 5: Where possible, fit LED lighting. This is simply the most efficient and best light-quality solution in the home. You can choose between spotlights, lightbulbs and downlights to ensure electricity savings of 85 per cent. More info

Tip 6: If you have external floodlighting, fit an LED model. This delivers energy savings of 50-70 per cent. More info

You can also see how easy the water-saving options are to install. Watch our range of videos; you can start here

And just for reference, we’ve pulled together the main standard energy and water saving guidelines for you.

Water

• Take short showers, keep baths for special occasions
• Don’t leave tap running when brushing teeth
• Be sparing with the loo flush; fit an eco-flush unit
• Use dishwasher or wash up once a day if possible

Lighting

• Fit energy-saving bulbs
• Turn off lights when not needed
• Turn off equipment last thing at night

Heating

• Turn thermostat down one or two notches
• Fit thermostat controls on radiators
• Keep boiler in tip-condition
• Insulate home

The Department of Energy gives sound advice on when to turn off the lights here: http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/when-turn-your-lights

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.

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NEOPERL designs and produces innovative solutions for water and its invisible miracle – the tap aerator – is a mini marvel of engineering. You may think that tap aerators are all pretty much the same – think again.

The NEOPERL tap aerator is a clever piece of kit but it is the attention to detail, the planning and relentless testing, that sets it apart from competitors.

We saw first-hand exactly how much research and development is committed to maintaining the highest levels of quality in what is, on the surface a simple water-control mechanism.

The tap aerator is designed to work optimally in almost any situation and is a very cost-effective and efficient product that helps to regulate the flow of water throughout a property.

The UK offices are crammed with bright engineers, scientists and support staff, numbering over 100, while the NEOPERL Group has a workforce of over 900 employees spread across 13 countries worldwide.

The NEOPERL promise is that the tap aerators’ accuracy and quality deliver consistency wherever they are installed, which itself is a brilliantly simple process. The company leaves nothing to chance and their stringent commitment to the highest standards have convinced companies such as Bosch and Toto to buy their products and use them within their range of plumbing, heating, filtration and other appliances.

NEOPERL is also committed to making a significant contribution to climate and environmental protection by helping consumers to conserve water and helping to reduce energy consumption in the production of hot water.

That’s just one more reason why we chose the company as a supplier partner.

Now, of course, anyone can search the web and find a “cheap as chips” tap aerator but we are convinced that in this case, buying cheap means buying twice. Far too many products are shipped without quality controls and they have not been developed with the engineering and scientific knowledge that NEOPERL bring to its creations.

The tap aerators are simple but beautiful in engineering terms. They are also guaranteed to last. Just fit them and forget – except you will be reminded of their efficacy when you next check your water bill.

For the hospitality/hotel sector, in particular, these invisible miracles make a significant difference, with water consumption reduced by more than 50 per cent in many cases. That has a direct impact on the property’s bottom line and there is the added benefit that less energy is used to heat the water, which further reduces costs, and also reduces carbon emissions – a triple win.

We are also often reminded by our customers how quickly this type of “SaveMoneyCutCarbon” investment pays for itself. The ROI is measured in months, not years and that applies to every setting, from a single domestic bathroom or kitchen to larger business properties with many taps, to hotels boasting many hundreds of taps.

The NEOPERL tap aerators are just one important element in our “end-to-end” solution that helps businesses to reduce their utility costs and cut carbon at the same time. You would need to work out your current flow rates and the quickest, easiest way to do this is by using a flow bag. Our video explains this in full but please contact us to discuss your measurement needs.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our full solution, click here to contact us through the website, or call 0845 123 5464.

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EU plans to make industrial businesses pay for pollution were stalled this month by its parliament, which voted to hold off on the main mechanism for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

MEPs voted down a proposal to delay an auction of “polluter permits”, which the European Commission said was necessary to increase the costs to businesses, thereby encouraging industry to reduce emissions.

At the same time, the official Climate Change Committee (CCC) reports that the UK’s total contribution towards heating the climate has actually increased because there is a hidden “green effect” – the UK is importing goods that produce CO2 in other countries.

The committee said although production of CO2 is down 20% in the past two decades, the overall trend is up 10% because the cuts in production emissions have been outweighed by CO2 in the form of imported goods.

Our actions in importing goods, the committee says, push up CO2 emissions there and, apparently, we are the second highest importer in the world of these “embodied emissions”.

While that is a phrase to conjure with, it is a sobering thought that we really are “all in this together” and that every action we take, almost, has an effect on the climate. We have been quite successful at cutting emissions at home, but another BBC report suggests that UK industry could save up to £32bn over the next four decades by reducing carbon emissions and energy usage.

The report, by the Beeb’s Business Correspondent Matthew Wall concludes: “Whether you run a corner shop or an industrial complex, energy cost savings are there for the taking. Not only will you be saving money, but you will also be making your business more resilient in the face of future energy and resource shortages.”

This chimes with the vision and strategies at SaveMoneyCutCarbon, which are simply to convince, advise and guide UK businesses on how to significantly reduce their utility costs by investing in a range of solutions that pay for themselves in months rather than years. At the same time, these solutions help to reduce energy demands and so cut carbon emissions.

More good news is that the CCC swatted away claims by some lobbyists that UK’s unilateral climate targets are forcing up energy prices and driving manufacturing jobs abroad. It said the UK exported its manufacturing jobs during the structural changes of the 1980s and pointed out that few industrial jobs are being lost at present. It said the impact of carbon policies on jobs is “negligible”.

The committee also said that energy costs due to low-carbon policies are expected to rise by 20-25% from 2011 to 2020 for industrial users.

Remember, as the population continues to grow, the demand for food, water and energy will rise by as much as 50% by 2030, according to the US National Intelligence Council (NIC) in its Global Trends 2030 report. Energy costs alone are forecast to grow by 25% over the next 10 years.

Many companies are now wrestling with these stark statistics and want to make structural changes, together with reforms in their corporate cultures that would aim to make a more substantial difference to carbon emissions while at the same time reducing utility costs.

This sustainability perspective should be a core element of any Corporate Responsibility strategy and should seek to go beyond a “tick in the green box” activity that has characterised so much of Corporate Social Responsibility tactics up to now.

We can help here so please do get in touch to discuss how our “end-to-end solution” can help guide your CR sustainability programmes. Click here to contact us either through the website, or call 0845 123 5464.

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Managed reduction in water consumption is something we know quite a lot about, having become one of the leading UK suppliers of end-to-end solutions in this area over the past few years.

For example, our proven, measured water-saving, carbon cutting solutions are now installed in many hundreds of hotel rooms across the country, delivering full return on investment in a matter of months.

We are actively, right now, helping businesses to reduce their water consumption by up to 50 per cent, with the “bonus” that this also cuts carbon because less energy is burned in heating the water.

Many UK households are also now feeling the financial benefit of their investment in our solutions so, as a Carbon Trust accredited supplier, we were particularly interested in what the Carbon Trust had to say about water conservation and sustainability, not least because it is a globally recognised, independent and impartial organisation.

We certainly hope to continue discussions and effective work with the Carbon Trust around this most pressing of sustainability issues.

The Carbon Trust has just launched the world’s first international award for water reduction “to catalyse business action on measuring, managing and reducing water use”.

It is a move that changes fundamentally corporate sustainability benchmarks and how investors, stakeholders and customers view companies.

The Water Standard initiative comes because the Trust says that “Carbon reduction is no longer enough”. This is something that has been central to SaveMoneyCutCarbon since it launched because we saw that cutting carbon had a commercial imperative and needed to work across every point at which we consumed utilities – from lighting to heating to water use.

The Trust and leading business pioneers in water management say that water “is the new frontier in the battle against climate change and the devastating impact of depleting resources”.

The Water Standard is a means of raising awareness and encouraging companies of all sizes to reduce their water consumption “as a matter of urgency”.

These are robust words from the Trust and we at SaveMoneyCutCarbon fully concur with its view, as do Sainsbury’s, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Sunlight and Branston, four early adopters of the Carbon Trust Water Standard.

We know that, on current forecasts, within 17 years global freshwater demand will be 40 per cent above the current supply but climate change and pollution are already having a growing impact on the useable resources. This increase far outstrips current availability of freshwater resources.

These facts were highlighted at last year’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio with UN-Water stating that the “success of green economy depends on sustainable, integrated and resource-efficient management of water resources”.

The stark figures add great weight to the argument that has been long rehearsed by little heeded until now. The basic commercial point is this – businesses will face water scarcity challenges in just a few years’ time, with the spectre of substantially increased costs, even bringing operations to a halt.

As Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, says: “Addressing water use within a business has, until now, not been high on the agenda for many businesses. However, the harsh realities of future water scarcity mean that this needs to change and fast. We’ve launched the Water Standard to help companies to monitor and manage their water usage and build resource efficiency into future business plans.

“We know from our extensive experience helping companies to manage carbon reduction that a stringent approach to use of resources can lead to new commercial opportunities and thriving businesses, particularly for those who take the lead here and set the benchmark for others to follow.”

More information on the Carbon Trust here but we would just add a final thought – companies will understand that there is a compelling need to move “beyond compliance” and focus on active sustainability as a core part of their Corporate Responsibility strategies. You can read more on this on the SaveMoneyCutCarbon blog.

If you have any questions just contact us either through the website – http://www.savemoneycutcarbon.com/contact-us/ – or call 0845 123 5464.

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