CPA Conference gives ESG advice
24 October 2022
Practical guidance on how companies can devise and implement ESG strategies was given at the CPA Conference 2022 last Thursday, 20 October at the Heart of England Conference and Events Centre near Coventry.
Entitled ‘ESG – Driving Change: How Environmental, Social and Governance Benefits Construction Plant Businesses’, the event discussed the importance of such measures for protecting the planet, and how they could also deliver advantages for companies in terms of efficiencies, cost savings and positive feedback.
In one of the sessions called ‘ESG in Action’, Merrill Lynch, director of L Lynch Plant & Haulage, said that the company has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon status by 2040 and will do this by focusing on three areas: the firm’s plant hire fleet, its depots and its supply chain. By 2025, 80 per cent of Lynch’s HGVs will run on HVO or similar diesel alternatives and all its dozers will be able to operate with automated machine control systems. All drivers will be trained in environmentally aware driving practices. In addition, Lynch has an ongoing programme for installing solar panels, rainwater harvesting and recycling facilities at its depots.
The company’s suppliers will be expected to embrace similar plans to achieve net-zero status by 2040. Again, working together is key.
Merrill cited one example of promoting better on-site working practices through reducing machine idling on a particular highway project. It was found that operators often kept engines running so they could stay warm in cold weather. After talking to the client, it was agreed that more welfare cabins should be installed along the carriageway so that personnel could take breaks, and this saved the annual equivalent of £300,000 in diesel fuel costs.
Another speaker, Peter Beach, sales and marketing director with welfare cabin manufacturer Genquip Groundhog, explained how the company has commissioned the University of Sheffield to create a carbon reduction plan for the business, the first phase of which assessed the embedded carbon in the company’s processes at its factory in Neath. Everyone involved was asked for their input, from the managing director to paint buyers. The carbon footprints of customers, and in turn their own customers, were also explored to determine how they actually use the welfare cabins on sites.
Practical measures taken have included installing 95 solar panels on the roof of one of the Genquip Groundhog factory buildings, leading to an impressive 33 per cent reduction in electricity costs. The company is in the process of building a new main production plant opening next year, which will have no fewer than 568 solar panels.
Rachel Preen, commercial director of sustainable lighting manufacturer Prolectric Services, described how the company had benefited from commissioning a report into its environmental status by a specialist consultancy as a benchmarking exercise against which reductions could be implemented and monitored. This had examined the company’s production processes, its workplace environment and its community involvement, amongst other criteria.
Appropriately enough, given the nature of its products, Prolectric has fitted solar panels to the roof of its premises which generate 33 per cent of its electricity requirements. The company is also adopting simpler measures like installing ‘Hippo’ blocks in toilet cisterns to reduce water usage per flush.
Rachel suggested that it was all too easy to over-analyse ESG responsibilities and that if you take relevant actions, business success will surely follow because it is essentially sensible commercial practice.
CPA chief executive Kevin Minton described how ESG was another challenge that the Association was helping members to meet, following hard on the heels of issues like Covid-19, supply chain disruption, material costs, labour shortages and the red diesel rebate’s removal for construction use.
The industry had been tested like at no other time previously, he said. However, plant-hirers had proved themselves to be flexible and adaptable in addressing these challenges and exemplifying best practice.
ESG gives a similar opportunity for the industry to be modern and dynamic while remaining efficient and competitive. And as more Tier 1 contractors adopt new approaches as part of their ESG policies, these will trickle down to other sub-contractors and suppliers, he said.
Photo: Alan Guthrie
