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Paving the way for lower carbon emissions

Richard Kirkman, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Veolia UK and Ireland discusses carbon emissions and the use of Veolia’s platform to monitor and report on businesses’ carbon emissions.


Protests and pollutants are over-taking our news outlets all with one-common goal: to reduce the risks of climate change! But how can a business improve its environmental impact without knowing what it is?

Richard Kirkman, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Veolia UK and Ireland

It’s been hard to miss the environment protests not just in the UK, but globally, of late. For the first time, businesses have been getting involved in these protests and showing their support for environmental action. Well the government has listened.

In light of new environmental policy, never has it been more poignant for businesses to manage their carbon emissions. In comes GreenPath. GreenPath is yet another tool that we at Veolia have introduced to aid businesses in their mission to get green!

Fuelled by recent YouGov research results showing that 61% of C-suite executives have not set out a target to reduce their carbon emissions, our experts at Veolia have created this platform. By enabling organisations to evaluate their energy, water and waste operations we hope to not only identify the problems but offer a strategy to solve them.

The tide is turning and our customers will benefit hugely from using GreenPath. Not only will this tool save customers potentially thousands of pounds annually, but using this tool allows customers to meet new targets set out in the environmental bill and is projected to save over 200 million tonnes of carbon emissions from 2023-2032.

Carbon positive

It’s not all talk: at Veolia we hope to inspire others’ by our actions. We have been carbon positive for a number of years which has shown that our commitment makes real commercial and environmental sense – and has allowed us to make tonnes of investment into our services.

We believe now is the time for change. Starting with small acts and recognising the problem, are the first steps to implementing long term strategies to overturn the carbon shortfall. Understanding the ever-changing policies and world we are in is key to us. Therefore we continuously update the tool to take account of any legal or scientific changes, and learn the trends and indications we have gained in order to produce reports. This keeps the accuracy and performance of GreenPath at its peak.

“The ultimate goal of this carbon reporting tool is to help achieve a low carbon future for businesses in the UK.”

Richard Kirkman

After recognising the issues using this platform, we encourage and offer a variety of means to reduce this problem. Think Procycling and deposit return schemes. We aim to promote resource efficiency and a move towards this circular economy, in-line with the environment bill.

The ultimate goal of this carbon reporting tool is to help achieve a low carbon future for businesses in the UK to save both the environment and money by achieving carbon neutrality. With the carbon tax looking to be at £30 or £40 per tonne of carbon generated, it’s only logical to cut emissions down.

No longer is there the possibility of claiming ignorance. We have the tools and the policy to kick into action and tackle climate change. All businesses are accountable for their actions, and the time is coming where everyone will be held accountable for their carbon emissions.

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