The end of days or a new beginning?

As we launch The Sustainability Partnership, it feels like strange timing with Cop27 underway but uncertain times for green issues in the UK. For companies wanting to improve their sustainability there are a number of factors out of their control currently, and some of these rely on a government being committed to embracing the "green crap", to misquote a former prime minister.

That comment in 2013 was a response to rising energy bills at that time, which led to cuts in energy-efficiency schemes, reductions in subsidies for renewable energy, and the scraping of zero-carbon homes, which has led to a million new homes being built with lower insulation standards. According to Carbon Brief, the result of these actions is energy bills being £2.5b higher than they would have been.

As well as higher prices for households and companies, it also means that a lower proportion of our electricity is from renewable sources than could have been the case, leading to higher greenhouse gas emissions, and of course there is an impact on energy security.

So, for companies that are on a journey to improving their sustainability, a quick win, as simple and mundane as switching to LED lightbulbs feels like a no brainer, but wouldn't it be great if the electricity powering those bulbs was all from renewables?