Aalberts integrated piping systems UK, the manufacturer of Pegler branded products in Doncaster, has established sustainability as a major goal as it looks to achieve Net Zero Cabon by 2050 or earlier. Here Meta Cunder, the company’s Sustainability Officer, explains what actions the manufacturer is taking to meet its target and how these steps could be translated into other HVAC businesses.
Choosing a manufacturer that has a clearly defined environmental policy, that understands its impact on the wider world, takes steps to minimise that impact and is transparent with information, is becoming ever more important to the construction sector.
Whether it is meeting built environment targets, complying with industry legislation, or supporting installers and specifiers to utilise products responsibly, the way that products are manufactured is a key driver when choosing which products or suppliers to use.
Measuring environmental impact
For a business to achieve national sustainability goals, it should know its own targets well and make sure that it is successful at each stage of the process. Measuring is always the first step when it comes to reductions and improvement.
At Aalberts integrated piping systems UK, we use a variety of tools to help us measure and reduce our environmental impact. We have a robust methodology for calculating embodied carbon of our products and have found CIBSE TM65 Embodied Carbon in Building Services calculator to be a significant asset in achieving this.
While we are already providing embodied carbon information of our main product groups, we recognise the value of environmental product declarations (EPDs). We are currently working on generating EPDs for products manufactured in Doncaster and are working with colleagues at other Aalberts manufacturing locations to do the same. Yet, with over 14,000 products, average cost of an EPD often exceeding £2000, and certificates required to be renewed every five years, the scale of the project is significant. This shows why sustainability must be a series of measures; some small, some large, but all an intrinsic part of business operations.
On an organisational level, we are already reporting on our Scope 1 and 2 emissions (Scope 1 refers to direct emission from owned or controlled sources whilst Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions from the generation of energy consumed by the business) and are currently collecting information to calculate the impact of our Scope 3 emissions. To do this, we are using the Scope 3 Evaluator tool provided by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and Quantis that covers all other indirect emissions occurring in a company’s value chain.
A clear plan
To execute this long-term plan, changes are specific and measured, as all elements of the business from manufacturing and operations to our people and company culture, are examined to see how best improvements can be made.
At our manufacturing site in Doncaster, one of the only brass foundries remaining in the UK, most of our raw material is 100% recycled copper scrap that is sourced within the UK. One of the key advantages of our manufacturing process is our ability to recycle brass swarf directly on site. This means that we can take the waste generated by our operations and turn it into a valuable resource, without the need for transportation or outsourcing to a third-party recycling facility. Furthermore, we are constantly looking at increasing the
percentage of recycled material in our products and packaging and reducing the use of plastics where possible, any plastic packaging that we do still have to use, will have at least 30% recycled material by the end of 2023.
We have had a certification for following the ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Standard since 2001 and our goal for 2023 is to expand our internal monitoring and reporting systems with ISO 50001:2018, an internationally recognised Energy Management Standard.
In addition, a modified space heating system, installation of automatic LED lighting and procurement of 100% renewable electricity, has reduced our on-site carbon emission by over 70% since they were first measured in 2019.
Unified goals
The global Aalberts Group has established a team of industry and environmental professionals to understand the impact all businesses within the group have on the environment, and together, has identified a number of unified key performance indicators (KPIs) that are easily measured. These include carbon intensity, energy intensity, water intensity and percentage of revenue linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, a global environmental policy has been created. Similar KPIs and policy goals can be easily tailored to suit other businesses in our industry.
Our commitments are to:
- Operate from sustainable buildings with world-class operations
- Increase energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions
- Reduce water consumption
- Reduce waste and hazardous substances
- Reduce and more efficient use of raw materials
- Perform LCAs (lifecycle assessment) and work towards a circular economy
- Travel consciously, limiting downstream and upstream transport
- Enhance commitments in our supply chains
Giving structure to the company’s global sustainability ambitions, these goals have been translated into our business here at Aalberts integrated piping systems UK, to ensure we give ourselves every opportunity to meet those goals.
Achieving 2050 targets
With more businesses requiring suppliers and partners to be accountable for their actions towards sustainability, and to be able to document this, an increasing number of job roles will be required. This is in line with the Government’s target to create as many as 1.8 million jobs in low-carbon and renewable energy economy by 2050.
In a study by MakeUK and EoN, statistics show that “90% of manufacturers are aware of the 2050 Net Zero target and nearly half were already committed to following through with concrete actions” giving reassurance that fellow manufacturing businesses are also embracing the need to elevate their sustainability activities to meet expectations of purchasers, suppliers and end users.
This shows that sustainability now forms part of every business with an increasing emphasis on Environmental, Social and Governance policies. With that in mind, sustainability is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a ‘must have’ and businesses should be pressing forward with clearly defined goals and plans as we head towards 2050 and our governments over-arching Net Zero targets.
