With sustainability being a hot topic for corporate events, being offered to attend the Sustainability Conference at Rothamsted Enterprises Hertfordshire was something we simply could not miss.
We have become a carbon neutral business and are always setting targets in our daily and yearly goals, to ensure we strive for better.
We're committed to working with all of our staff, clients, partners and suppliers to promote the development of sustainable business practice. There is always room for improvement and experts to learn from, we all have a part to play in supporting our planet.
Welcome and setting the scene
The day started off with a 10-20 minute talk from some of the top sustainability guru’s. From the likes of Steve Malkin the chief executive at ‘Planet Mark’, discussing how to become a net zero company, to Fiona Edwards head of sustainability for JPA workspaces, explaining why sustainability matters. It got my brain ticking and I found myself asking questions like “how do I help in my day to day activities?”.
Lynne Ceeney who works for the Hertfordshire county council discussed the key areas including carbon emissions, air quality, biodiversity, and how cooperation between residents and businesses are necessary to deliver a more sustainable Hertfordshire. I for one, truly believe that everyone has a part to play, even if it is being more aware of your waste or unnecessary use of carbon emission, all helps us now and future generations to come.
Breakout sessions
After a tasty lunch, we were lucky enough to be able to choose one of the breakout sessions, although I wish I could have seen them all! I am aware of carbon emissions and also try to do my best in my personal life, but I wanted to understand more about it, especially with the growing task of rising energy bills. We got to learn about how to calculate this properly with some useful online tools, great discussions with likeminded businesses and to really just remind us to be a sustainability leader and educate everyone around us.
Naturally, we all need to do better with saving energy but also understand that money is needed to do this. I learnt that even with all the answers put in front of you, there will always be the “real life blockers” who opt to choose the easy/cheaper way to do things and that is okay for now. But it begs the question, why save today when you could spend more tomorrow. Fiona spoke a lot about failing, and failing is something that shouldn’t be frowned upon, if you take your lesson and learn from it. If you can’t afford a big goal right now such as installing solar panels, invest your time in smaller projects until you can get there!
Reflection
Even though this conference was there to help businesses, big or small, it also left me feeling that we can all do better, in our personal lives too. I want, like so many others, to look after our planet for us and for our future generations. I know that the team at Rockitfish all take care with the sustainable things they can achieve, and together, the big achievements will eventually come.
‘‘You may be tempted to think that Climate Change is an issue for large companies and governments and that SMEs have no part to play. But think again.’’
Fiona Edwards, JPA workspaces
