COP26: what UK business brings to the table

There’s an urgency behind COP26. After a year’s delay due to the pandemic and a full six years since the signing of the Paris Agreement, the climate change summit brings together world leaders, negotiators, businesses and thousands of delegates.

Global action is needed. Governments need to raise the bar on ambition. But businesses will do a lot of the heavy lifting.

So for firms, COP26 is not just an opportunity to showcase their innovations and their progress. It’s also a chance to share best practices and ideas to tackle common challenges. It will be an important opportunity to forge new alliances too, with the goal of bringing the whole of the UK over the line in the race to net zero.

A countrywide effort

Since the Paris Agreement, the UK has committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. It’s led many businesses to adapt, collaborate, and make their own commitments to decarbonising the economy, opening opportunities for countrywide investment and innovation.

In Scotland, where Glasgow hosts this year’s event, more than 50 years of experience of working with oil and gas means the services sector has positioned itself to help drive decarbonisation and energy transition – with asset managers, accountants, lawyers, systems engineers or software developers all keen to play their part.

As an example of business and governments working together, the Aberdeen City Deal supported the development of the Net Zero Technology Centre. Projects under its remit include the Robert Gordon University’s decommissioning simulator – a world first, using software to support decommissioning oil and gas wells across the globe.

It’s no wonder BT has recently released a report outlining Scotland's climate tech opportunity.

And even traditional businesses can help create innovative alternatives to fossil fuel dependency: Celtic Renewables converts waste from the whiskey industry to produce high-value chemicals and biofuels.

In Wales, Welsh Water has a target of delivering net zero carbon emissions by 2040 – as one of the largest energy users in Wales, it’s uniquely positioned to tackle the climate emergency head-on. It currently generates 23% of its own energy through wind, hydro, solar and advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD), with the rest procured from 100% renewable energy resources. By investing a further £21m over the next four years, it will be 35% energy self-sufficient by 2025. This is a significant step on the path to becoming 100% energy self-sufficient by 2050.

On Deeside, Toyota plans to cut carbon emissions at its hybrid engine plant – aiming to be net zero by 2050. The automotive firm is investing in a series of innovative technologies including a new kind of waste-to-energy solution, alongside more traditional energy sources like solar and wind.

And on Teesside, the National Horizons Centre is leading research into the role of biotechnology in mitigating climate change – replacing traditional petrochemical dependence with renewable, biological alternatives.

Restoring the natural flora is another essential part of decarbonisation.  Peatlands, for example, cover 11% of England’s landscape, storing the equivalent of 580 million tonnes of carbon, but currently emitting 11 million tonnes per year. Cheshire headquartered United Utilities has pledged to plant more than one million new trees by 2030, creating 550 hectares of woodland, and restoring 1,000 hectares of internationally important peat bog.

Capital commitment

More than half of the CBI’s London Council members are committed to net zero by 2030 or soon after. The committee is made up of more than 60 of the largest employers in the capital.

London will be at the forefront of UK cities ‘making markets’ around decarbonisation. Two prominent examples of this are mobility and retrofit: TfL has begun a multi-year programme to decarbonise its train fleet and have welcomed several e-scooter trials across London’s boroughs to encourage micro-mobility journeys and save carbon. And the CBI is working with City Hall and other business organisations to determine the scale of the challenge for commercial retrofit in the capital – including the costs and timeframes for compliance by 2030, and the skills needed for new roles.

Combined with the City’s role as a global hub for green finance, London will lead the way on tangible initiatives and joint ventures between government and business.

Collaborations and clusters

Right around the regions and nations, businesses are investing in and collaborating on all aspects of climate action. In the Northwest, for example, engineering firm ABB has partnered with Statkraft, Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy, to create facilities to provide grid stabilisation. This first-in-the-UK project will help to decarbonise the energy sector by allowing the grid to better adopt renewable energy and provide a low emissions alternative to regulation through traditional generators.

In the midlands, Midcounties Co-operative and green energy provider Octopus Energy have a joint venture – Younity – which has partnerships with 100 community generators. The renewable energy from these partnerships powers ‘Your Co-op Energy’s Community Power’ tariff – the only tariff in the UK that comes solely from the electricity generated by community power projects. All the food waste from its food stores also goes to anaerobic digestion to generate power.

Meanwhile, South Wales has designs on becoming a net zero carbon region by 2050 – and the UKRI’s Industrial Decarbonisation programme has just awarded the South Wales Industrial Cluster £1.5m to map out what is needed to support this ambition. The cluster is a partnership between Welsh industry, energy suppliers, infrastructure providers, academia, the legal sector, and service providers. It’s aiming to develop a world-leading net zero cluster by 2050, already employs more than 100,000 people and is focused on circular economy innovations, energy efficiency, carbon dioxide avoidance, the hydrogen economy, carbon capture usage and storage, and low carbon power generation.

Working more closely with supply chains is another increasingly important example of collaboration. Take Somerset-based Cheddar business Wyke Farms – it's using more sustainable packaging, less of it and it’s displacing artificial fertiliser, but it also has 150 British Red Tractor Assured farmers in its supply chain, the majority of which are within a 50-mile radius of its Somerset Dairy and pays a bonus to farmers to incentivise sustainable farming initiatives

In the Northwest, James Cropper has developed a project called CupCycling – the world’s first recycling process dedicated to upcycling take-away cups and converting them into high-quality materials. The project includes collaboration between brands such as Burberry, Lush and Selfridges.

Time to zero in on 2050

Despite all these steps being taken by businesses right across the UK, the journey to net zero is only just beginning. To encourage more urgent collaboration and bolder action, Deloitte, along with the CBI, Chapter Zero, A4S, Dell and the Met Office have launched the Goal 13 Impact Platform. To date, over 300 companies have contributed to the international platform, offering key insights into how climate action should be implemented across each level of a business.

The CBI also supports the UN’s Race to Zero campaign and calls for immediate action from business and government to drive this fundamental change – asking businesses to commit to decarbonising and government to support transition through clear sector road maps to net zero and long-term policy support.

With more commitments across business, strong collaboration and shared learning, and the essential support from government, the goal of leaving no business behind on the race to net zero should be possible – are you ready to join it, or share your story?