News

West Cornwall Businesses join forces to cut waste, water, energy – and carbon

Next month will see small Cornish businesses come together to share experiences and ideas on how to minimise and reuse waste, reduce water and energy consumption, and introduce low carbon procurement.

It’s the second of our carbon-focussed roundtables, and is taking part at Duchy College’s Rosewarne campus, a horticulture college which is part of the Cornwall College Group, where the first meeting explored streamlining distribution and installing solar PV. 

The aim of these informal working lunches is to encourage the sharing of experiences and knowledge between local businesses on any subject they choose.

The group first met in November last year, comprising six small to medium businesses from West Cornwall’s food industry, including Doble Foods, Roskilly’s, Carley’s of Cornwall, and WC Rowe. That may sound like a diverse group, spanning bakeries, farms and wholesalers, but they all share common concerns about their brand, ethics, profit and overheads.  This second meeting will give us a chance to discuss any progress made as a result of our first meeting, and present any new developments on the horizon which might affect them.

New members are welcome, and we are now developing an east Cornwall group, so if you’d like to be involved in one of our forthcoming roundtables drop me a line: sarah.talboys@duchy.ac.uk

Clear About Carbon to Continue Until 2013

Great news – the Clear About Carbon project has been given an extension until 2013.  The team is now gearing up for a fourth year of activity around measuring and raising carbon literacy in Cornwall’s private and public sector.

We were delighted to receive official notification from ITM, the fund managers for European Social Funded projects in the UK, that the project’s application for an extension was approved, giving a revised end date of 31 March 2013. This will allow us to continue working on our existing projects and kick-start a new set of projects for the coming year.

What do we have planned for 2012?

The key themes for the next 12 months of the project are training, information resources, research, events and dissemination and below are a few examples of what we have planned:

• Organise a processor buyer-supplier knowledge exchange with the aim of developing ideas and creating a management plan to benefit both parties
• Pilot the e-learning tool with 2 educational establishments
• Design and produce information sheets on the low carbon agenda
• A range of case studies on business engagement and implementation of the low carbon agenda, and low carbon procurement and supply chains
• Organise ‘Master Class’ events to promote and highlight changes and opportunities in the low carbon economy

So what have we achieved so far?

Clear About Carbon started a little under 3 years ago, during which time we have grown in many respects including the recruitment of 3 more members of staff.  We were voted joint winner of the 2011 ESF Sustainable Development Specialist Project Leader Awards and continue to be nominated for other awards.  The partners have developed transnational relationships and partnership with Ecoinstitut Barcelona, Agrovast , and Sweden’s Association of Local Authorities in Skaraborg.  The partnership with Skaraborg enabled Duchy College Rural Business School to lead a visit to Sweden with representatives from Cornish dairy producers Rodda’s , to learn about anaerobic digestion and low-carbon agriculture [see image of their trip to the right].

In 2011 we hosted events in and around Cornwall, including:

• Green Build – Cornwall’s first sustainable construction conference
• Carbon Matters – bite-sized presentations offering guidance and inspiration to business on low carbon opportunities
• Future of Food and Farming – with a food and farming sector focus on how to capitalise on becoming a low-carbon business

Online, the project has developed useful resources on carbon such as the Carbon Jargon Buster, the Show me the Carbon tool as well an e-learning tool.  Developed with Defra, the Department of Health, and NHS bodies as part of the Defra-led National Sustainable Public Procurement, the free Carbon literacy e-learning tool has had over 200 completions to date. We have also orchestrated buyer, supplier and manufacturer engagements in the form of roundtable discussion groups, training events and one-to-one consultations.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone for all their hard work, and here’s to another successful year!

European Commission Directives Proposal

I have written before on this blog about the importance of the European Commission Directives to advancement in Sustainable Procurement. In June I attended the Modernising Public Procurement Conference at the Commission to learn more about and potentially contribute to future changes to the Directives. The Conference wasn’t quite as I expected and indications were the changes would be fairly minor.

The proposal from the Commission was released just before Christmas and the press release can be found here.

I won’t provide full commentary at this stage but all in all it looks fairly hopeful. The most surprising entry and I believe the most important from a carbon reduction point of view makes up only one line in the frequently asked questions.

“Contracting authorities may take into account criteria linked to the production process of the goods or services to be purchased.”

This has been a major stumbling block to considering carbon in procurement in the past. Imporantly however, this statement must be supported by a solid legal framework.

When I have a chance to read this section of the 246 page full Directive I will be able to give further comment but in principal – exciting stuff! It will be interesting to see what makes it through into the final changes.

Clear About Carbon in European Financial Review Article

An article highlighting the Clear About Carbon project has been published by the European Financial Review:

Clear About Carbon: Leading Change in Procurement for Cornish Supply Chains

The European Financial Review is a leading business intelligence magazine, widely read by financial experts and the wider business community and designed to provide informed opinion on financial, business and lifestyle matters.

The article, which was published in the December/January 2012 edition of the magazine and which will also be available online, was written by the University of Exeter Business School team, and provides a broad outline of the project, its background, and explores some of the findings and challenges experienced over the past few months.

Private Sector Carbon Literacy E-Learning Resource

This free training resource can be used to develop awareness and understanding of the terminology and principles associated with the ‘greenhouse effect’, ‘climate change’ and ‘carbon footprinting’. With a move towards consideration of carbon in procurement practices it is becoming increasingly important to understand this new agenda and associated terminology.

In conjunction with staff from Glaxo Smith Klein, Wiles Greenworld, Microgeneration, Homegroup, ARM and KPMG, Clear about Carbon, Defra and Department of Health have adapted the course for the private sector. The private sector version is now available, free of charge.

The resource forms part of the DEFRA led National Sustainable Public Procurement Programme (NSPPP). It is available to public and private sector employees and anyone else interested in the subject. All materials have been tested with a range of stakeholders and industry groups following their adaptation from the IEMA approved ‘Carbon Literacy for Procurers’ 1 day workshop.

The Foundation and Enhanced Courses are typically relevant to everyone, whilst the Procurers Course has a greater focus on personnel involved in procurement and commissioning of goods and services.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the materials are intuitive, interactive and engaging. At the end of each course is a short test, following which a certificate can be accessed for personal development records.

The course takes about four hours in total; and as the system records and saves progress it is easy to complete the course in shorter sessions.

Please access the course via the following link: http://sd.defra.gov.uk/advice/public/nsppp/carbon-learning/