MOVING TOWARDS NET ZERO
Brad-Chem Ltd made significant progress towards net zero CO2 equivalent emissions, by installing solar panels, last week. We manufacture our own products (corrosion inhibitors & speciality lubricant additive packages) and we also distribute. As a result of our 1:1 ratio manufacturing to distribution, we determined that most of our energy use derives from our own production. Consequently, we prioritize energy usage reduction and the decarbonization of our energy supply in our efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions.
Brad-Chem maintains its longstanding commitment to sustainability as one strand of our corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. Moreover, alongside the economic, social, and administrative strands, we continue to pursue best environmentally sustainable operations practices. For example, we minimize our waste, using the waste management, hierarchy. We also dispose of any unavoidable waste responsibly. Additionally, we try to develop highly effective products with as low environmental toxicity and human health hazards as possible.
In line with UK Government targets, we intend to reduce our scope I and scope II carbon emissions to net zero by 2030. However, Greater Manchester Combined Authority targets full net zero for scopes I, II and III by 2038. Accordingly, we plan to achieve net zero for scopes I and II significantly sooner than 2030. We believe that the sooner that we do so, the sooner we will be able to achieve net zero carbon emissions for every scope.
Solar Panels and Net Zero
We also dispose of any unavoidable waste responsibly. Additionally, we try to develop highly effective products with as low environmental toxicity and human health hazards as possible.
Brad-Chem has installed Rooftop Solar Panels of all of the buildings on its manufacturing and distribution site. Furthermore, we estimate that we will receive more than 65 KWp peak power from this installation. Indeed, we have made an important step forward in our journey towards decarbonizing our electricity supply, which is one strand of our journey towards net zero.
We expect that the energy that the energy that we draw from our solar panels will significantly reduce the energy demand that we place on the national grid. Successive UK Governments have increased the proportion of our electrical energy that derives from renewable and zero carbon sources. In fact, in 2021, the UK Government announced a commitment to achieving a fully decarbonized power system by 2035. We believe that manufacturing businesses such as Brad-Chem must contribute towards this achievement of this objective. Furthermore, we believe that lowering our energy demand on the National Grid will make this objective more easily attainable.
In summary, the installation of solar panels represents a step forward along our road map towards our net zero carbon emissions target.
Decarbonizing our Electricity Supply
In addition to our solar panels initiative, a high proportion of our current electricity supply derives from zero carbon sources. Furthermore, we intend to switch to a REGO-certified 100% renewable energy supply tariff in April 2024. In doing so, we will decarbonize our electricity supply. Moreover, we will, thereby, achieve Carbon Neutrality for our scope I and Scope II emissions. We recognise the achievement of Scope I and Scope II carbon neutrality as a major milestone in our net zero road map.
For the avoidance of doubt, we do not consider Scope I and Scope II carbon neutrality to be our end goal. By this phrase, we mean that our manufacturing and warehousing operations will not generate CO2 equivalent emissions. In practice, we will continue to draw the local energy from the National Grid; some of which currently derives from fossil fuels. By selecting a REGO-certified 100% renewable supplier, we will purchase our portion of that energy only from non-fossil fuel generators. Additionally, the renewable energy generating companies invest profits from sales into expanding their capacity. Consequently, the net effect is to increase the proportion of renewable energy supplied on the grid, and to reduce the proportion generated from fossil fuels.
However, we recognise that the most sustainable way to reduce carbon emissions is to actually reduce our carbon footprint. In practice, we need to avoid unnecessary and wasteful use of energy. That is to say that we can reduce our carbon emissions from energy use is to use less energy in the first place. For this reason, we will work with sustainability experts to analyse our energy use and to identify which of our energy demands can be reduced. Additionally, we intend to find and eliminate any current wastages of electrical energy. Where possible, we will also reschedule any higher demand processes to times when demand on the grid is lower.
We maintain our firm commitment to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. As always, we strongly prioritize environmental policy as one of the major strands of our sustainability strategy. Moreover, we consider the achievement and maintenance of net zero carbon emissions to be a very important aspect of our environmental policy. Lastly, we expect and hope that our new solar panels will contribute significantly towards our Net Zero target.
Click here to discover more about Brad-chem.