With healthcare organisations facing new obligations under the Carbon Reduction Commitment, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and a raft of other environmental legislation, strategic outsourcing and management company Mitie has launched what it claims is “the UK’s first all-encompassing fully integrated carbon management service”.
Speaking at the service’s unveiling, corporate affairs director John Telling said that, although, under the 2008 Climate Change Act, the UK is legally obliged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, many UK organisations were still “only at the beginning of their journey”. Against this backdrop, Mitie’s new CarbonCare offering will encompass services ranging from accurate data collation to site surveys, benchmarking, development of a carbon reduction plan, implementation, monitoring, and full “risk transfer”. John Telling explained that, where the latter option was selected, Mitie would offer customers guaranteed, quantified savings over a set period. He said: “While other organisations do offer carbon management packages, we believe ours is unique in that we will assume the entire risk, guaranteeing clients CO2 reductions and energy cost savings – typically of upwards of 20%.” Mitie believes that critical to an effective carbon reduction strategy is “establishing the baseline data”, as John Telling explained: “In the local government arena, for example, we regularly find that, on asking a council for data on its property and energy consumption, we get 6-7 different lists. I suspect we may find the same thing at some large NHS Trusts. Only by precisely identifying how much energy a Trust is using, and how much it is paying, will we have an effective starting point.” A CarbonCare brochure lists alongside five other key elements – “raising awareness”; data management; carbon compliance; renewable energy, and “guaranteed reductions”, “innovative ideas”. Mitie says it selected the phrase in place of “innovation” deliberately, as it finds organisations “often assume they need the latest technology to achieve real energy savings, whereas in many cases what is required is simply fresh thinking”. “What we have found in healthcare,” strategic development director Paul Burnett explained, “is that some estates teams are devoting considerable effort to running sizeable energy centres, but may well be paying scant attention to paying 20-30% more than they need to for energy. We have the knowledge, skills and contacts, as well, for example, as accreditation under the Government’s Microgeneration Certification Scheme (for organisations considering renewable energy), to develop a carbon management plan that should significantly reduce customers’ carbon footprint, and save them money.”
