Creating opportunity through energy efficiency and climate smarts

Over the coming years, Sri Lanka like many countries around the world will be forced to make the shift to a more energy efficient and low carbon future. It is vital that Sri Lanka and its business community are at the forefront of this transition.

Sri Lankan businesses have been flexible and innovative through some of the most testing times in our modern history, yet have managed to meet these challenges head on. Now as we herald in a new era of increasing competition from our neighbours, unfamiliar global economic trends, technological change and the increasing cost of doing business in a climate conscious and energy poor global environment, we need to think smart and act smarter.

As many of us have personally experienced through our increased electricity tariffs and lack of access to clean and sustainable energy sources, we need to realise that we are part of a world that is forcing itself to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and act climate smart.

Challenges, although they arise, present great opportunity for those who grasp them and disaster for those who dismiss them. Opportunities will be created for businesses that are prepared to improve their energy and resource efficiency and to identify and respond to demands for new and improved products and services.

Being energy smart and reducing our emissions will mean tapping into low carbon clean energy supplies, changing our personal habits and of those around us, changing our use of transport and logistics, responding to shifting customer preferences towards sustainable, non-polluting products. Looking around us, we already see excellent examples of Sri Lankan companies taking initiatives towards securing their place in the future.

Inherent in this ever changing world is opportunity:

• The opportunity to help create new green jobs;
• The opportunity to reach new standards of efficiency and productivity;
• The opportunity to expand into new green industries;
• The opportunity to innovate and strive for continuous improvement whilst creating a better, more prosperous future for all.

The foundations for a new low carbon economy are already being laid across the globe, and Sri Lanka is well-placed to take a leading role in the transition. Even small actions, if taken up by businesses across the country, can have a significant impact on Sri Lanka’s competitiveness.

Why be energy efficient and climate smart?

As energy efficient and climate smart activities increasingly become the new standard, it will be the early movers that take the competitive advantage. Being energy efficient and reducing your carbon footprint can help you to:

Increase your market share: An excellent point of differentiation for your business is knowing and acting upon the fact that internationally studies have shown around 90 per cent of consumers indicated they wanted business to invest in more sustainable practices with approximately 67 per cent noted they were more likely to buy a product with a low environmental impact.

Control operating costs: Many actions that reduce your energy bill and lower your emissions, such as improving the energy efficiency in your office, manufacturing process, fleet of cars and procurement process can help to protect your business from the rising prices of oil, gas, electricity and water. In fact from personal experience having implemented several energy reduction and climate change programs, I’ve seen a dramatic reduction in overall operating costs for the businesses I worked in or supported.

Improve relationships with suppliers: More and more large corporations are demanding a higher standard of climate accountability from their suppliers. This is because the carbon intensity of each business along a supply chain determines the carbon footprint of the final product or service. As a climate smart business you should take steps to examine your entire supply chain as part of your overall emissions reduction strategy.

Attract and retain employees: For Sri Lanka, wishing to attract and retain the best people, especially those that are foreign qualified and experienced, will require companies to promote their ‘green’ credentials. Also as standards of living improve and people become more aware of the cost of energy and being climate smart, a shift will occur in job-seeker mentality where they will seek initiatives and spaces such as green buildings and climate smart work places that help increase productivity and health benefits for workers.

Attract investors: For a developing country like Sri Lanka with a thirst for capital and foreign investment, acting to improve and promote your green credentials can signal to investors you are aware of the risks presented by climate change and taking action. This makes you a safer prospect for investment. Many would have seen how major global organisations publish both a corporate social responsibility report and an environmental responsibility report. Having worked for large multinationals I have seen first-hand the importance of these reports and the role they play in continued customer patronage. In fact several of my customers demanded to see our organisations green credentials and those of our suppliers before approving yearly contracts. Therefore keeping a scorecard of your green achievements is critical in this day and age.

Keeping your competitive edge: Continue to innovate and implement concepts such as bio-mimicry in your production systems, understand where your products come from and what impact they are having on your broader environment will enable you to see new opportunities arise and cease them.

Some quick win steps you can follow:

• Offset your emissions through active and passive strategies such as purchasing carbon credits or simply having an annual tree planting day;
• Encourage green commuting by providing passenger transport systems and implementing green fleet strategies;
• Do building efficiency assessments by auditing your electricity, gas, water and waste treatment usage;
• Develop a low carbon corporate culture by teaching and encouraging your employees on the benefits of energy efficiency and climate smarts;
• Purchase clean energy, in fact go one step further and implement clean energy production systems such as solar panels on your building roof, use passive lighting and cooling through smart architectural designs;
• Manufacturers should get a process efficiency assessment done across their entire production chain;
• Reduce the need for unnecessary meetings and conduct as many as possible remotely, we do after all have access to this thing called the ‘Internet’.

 I hope that all of the above has been of some use and promoted you to take the next step in being energy efficient and climate smart. Don’t forget to use the above quick wins or low hanging fruit to finance longer term goals and aspirations.