Cost-Of-Trading Crisis - Free Digital Carbon Planner Helps Cut Bills

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• Cost-Of-Trading Crisis - Free Digital Carbon Planner Helps Cut Bills

To support every business through the current cost-of-trading crisis, NatWest has created a new Carbon Planner tool, a free-to-use digital platform designed to help cut businesses energy costs, whilst reducing their carbon footprint.

The tool is particularly aimed at construction and supply-chain firms and is strictly not only NatWest customers.  

Making a business case for investment in sustainability is seen as a key barrier for businesses looking to take action on their climate impact, however, NatWest’s ‘A Springboard to Sustainability’ report, published in November 2022, estimated that there is a potential £175bn revenue opportunity available for the UK economy through the decarbonisation and the drive to net zero.

The report, commissioned in partnership with McKinsey, also found that with rising energy costs, the business case for decarbonisation is stronger than ever. For example, installing a heat pump pays back today in half the time that it would have taken in 2021 whilst elevated energy prices also mean that deploying solar panels today could pay back nearly 25% quicker than estimated in 2021.

 

Climate and Sustainable Funding

The launch follows the bank’s broader commitment to lend £100bn to businesses in Climate and Sustainable Funding and Financing by 2025. The latest financial results published by NatWest shows that the cumulative contribution made to date now stands at £26.2 billion.

 

Carbon Planner

The NatWest Carbon Planner provides personalised actions based on user-data, enabling users to make better informed decisions when looking to reduce their carbon emissions. Businesses can benefit from vital information such as the potential savings of adopting sustainability measures and the time it will take to earn a return on investment. Around two thirds of businesses that sign up to the NatWest Carbon Planner are making use of the tool to create a transition action plan.

 

 “Construction businesses of all sizes are coming under increasing pressure due to rising energy costs. Our Carbon Planner tool is designed to help navigate these challenging conditions by providing a clear case for investment in sustainability”

– Solange Chamberlain 

Chief operating officer (commercial & institutional), NatWest Group

 

Switching

“By equipping businesses with greater insight into areas of high-energy and high-carbon consumption” continues Chamberlain, “the tool can help businesses invest to save by switching from volatile commodities to renewable sources with predictable prices and support construction businesses in taking actions to measure, evaluate and act to reduce their climate impact.

“We must support UK businesses through the current challenges without falling behind on taking the sustainability measures that will ultimately lead us towards a cleaner, greener future.”

 

The Carbon Planner takes a business through four practical steps to help them take action:

• Inform – lets businesses know their current emission hotspots and suggests alternatives.

• Diagnose – helps businesses understand what is best for their business.

• Plan – supports businesses in developing a plan of actions.

• Deliver – signposting potential options available to help them to take actions that can help their business and have the potential to reduce impact on the environment

 

Development

NatWest engaged with environmental management consultancy, Green Element to develop the questions, actions and model. The bank also worked with other 3rd parties to develop the tool, including consultancies and academic experts. The platform was customer-led in design and developed with the support of more than 1,000 businesses. 77% believed the Carbon Planner will be ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ valuable to their organisation.

 

Picture: To access the NatWest Carbon Planner – Click Here

 

 

Article written by Cathryn Ellis
01st December 2022

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