It’s a fair COP – but we can all do our bit on emissions

The Conference of the Parties has concluded. We know it better as COP29 and the parties are the 198 nations that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Brazil in 1992.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer used the conference to announce that emissions targets for the UK were to be even more ambitious – a cut of 81% from 1990 levels by 2035, instead of the previous 78%.

The UK has come a long way on this, having cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared to levels around the time that document was signed, whilst still seeing a 79% growth in the economy over the same period. It proves that economic success does not need to (literally) cost the Earth.

But what can we do next?

While government figures state UK industrial emissions have decreased by 66.3% since 1990, a significant proportion of this is due to the offshoring of manufacturing, a reduction in foundation industry production and increased efficiencies. There remains a long way to go.

In my role leading the industrial sustainability programme for the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVM Catapult), I’ve seen the role innovation can play in supporting UK industry to reduce environmental impacts.

Technology is always moving, and it invariably becomes more efficient as it matures. Investing in more efficient equipment and streamlining processes are key enablers for any business that wants to increase productivity.

One area that cries out for a more efficient and streamlined process is emissions reporting (carbon accounting). There are many baseline processes for carbon accounting and hundreds of variations within those. Rationalising how we report industrial emissions would save businesses time and money, ultimately benefitting all.

The Innovate UK Catapult Network, in a project led by HVM Catapult, has grasped this opportunity and developed a framework that aims to standardise how business report their emissions, reducing the process to fewer, much simpler steps, relatable to any business, in any manufacturing sector. The framework means data is easily comparable between businesses and sectors, so we know that we can compare apples with apples or, more importantly, cars with cars.

We believe the increasing importance of understanding carbon emissions in industry should result in the creation of an official Carbon Regulator, appointed by the Government, to oversee measurement and reporting for businesses.

The advantages of having a regulator are that every manufacturing business in the UK reports its emissions in a verified way, the same way.

A carbon regulator for the UK would be a world first, no other country has such a body. Our framework has laid the foundations for the types of standard information it would regulate.

Much data already exists but having so many different approaches to its collection and assessment have made overall assessment of industries tricky.

For businesses, it’s often more of a psychological barrier than a physical one. Net zero is an opportunity for businesses rather than a threat.

HVM Catapult has teamed up with the University of Leeds, the University of Bath and Carbon Chain to develop a website which gives a broad picture of sector emissions. You can find out how your industrial sector is doing on our special Carbon Accounting website https://hvmc.carbonchain.com/

By 2035, the UK manufacturing sector aims for a 67% reduction in emissions based on the 2018 figure. That’s going to be all manufacturers, from giant multinationals to the SMEs that make up 99% of the manufacturing businesses nationally.  It should be possible to grow the manufacturing sector in the UK and reduce its emissions at the same time – using efficiency reporting, advanced technologies and an increasingly green energy grid.

Given the pace and scale of change that is both expected and necessary, our website and carbon accounting framework provides some insights for businesses and information to help them get started on their net zero journey.