Net Zero Strategy
Discover how our net zero strategy will make us a cleaner, greener business for everyone.
A message from Everyone Active’s Group Development Director, Ben Beevers.
We know the world is changing – and not necessarily for the better. That’s why we’ve developed a comprehensive net zero strategy to help us, as a company, become operationally net zero carbon emitting by the end of 2030. We all have a responsibility to make the planet a better place to live for one another and businesses such as ours are no exception.
Leisure centres consume large amounts of energy and so are also significant carbon emitters. Therefore, we have an opportunity to put in place a strategy to tackle this and other issues to help make the company’s carbon emissions net zero.
In order to achieve this, the net zero strategy that we have formulated encompasses every facet of our business. This will begin with step one, making our central Support Hub operationally net zero, which will be achieved through several changes, including moving to an entirely renewable energy tariff.
This will be followed by step two, working to make our corporate operations net zero by the end of 2030. The steps we will take in order to achieve this will include making all company owned and leased vehicles plug-in electric, installing an electric vehicle charging infrastructure at all our facilities, developing an offset strategy to deal with residual emissions and much more.
What is Everyone Active’s Net Zero Strategy?
Everyone Active’s net zero strategy comprises three main work streams. The company will start with more immediate changes before moving on to larger, more ambitious projects – both alone as a company and alongside our local authority partners, with the ultimate aim of the whole company, including the buildings in which we operate, eventually becoming net zero.
Step 1: Making Our Head Office (Support Hub) Net Zero
We’ll begin by taking steps to make our head office – or Support Hub – operationally net zero in terms of carbon emissions. This is the only building throughout the 200+ sites we operate across the country we own ourselves and therefore it’s the place where we have the most control over what can be changed. With that in mind, Everyone Active has committed to implementing a number of changes to ensure this target can be met.
These changes include the following:
- The removal of natural gas as a heating fuel
- The optimisation of the support hub’s operations through “smart building technology”
- The improvement of building fabric
- The implementation of on site renewable energy
- The procurement of 100% REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) backed renewable electricity tariff
- Reducing and offsetting material scope 3 emissions associated with the support hub’s operations.
Step 2: We will Make our Corporate Operations Net Zero by the end of 2030
Secondly, we will be working hard to incentivise our employees and key supply chain partners to embrace the concept of net zero. We are committed to decarbonising the material and relevant Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions of our corporate operations by 2030. Among the alterations we will make to our corporate operations to make sure this is successful will include the following:
- Upskilling and engaging with Support Hub users and Everyone Active colleagues
- Changing all company-owned and leased vehicles to plug in electric
- Installing charging infrastructure, and changing company policies to encourage employees to decarbonise their commuting
- Developing a robust offset strategy to deal with residual emissions
- Implementing a supplier engagement programme to improve data quality, along with supporting key suppliers to set and report targets
Step 3: Ensuring Net Zero Facilities and Buildings in the Long Term
Finally, we come to possibly the toughest challenge of all. A typical leisure centre produces approximately 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and to get this down to nothing is not an easy undertaking and certainly not one we can face on our own. That’s why we will be working hard with our Local Authority partners, as well as central Government to help us move forward and make this a reality. This, again, is a long-term project necessitating the building of new, more efficient centres, as well as the procurement of new, expensive, but ultimately more efficient plant and fitness equipment. Some of the steps we will be taking to ensure we are successful in this endeavour include the following:
- Giving carbon literacy training to all Contract Managers
- Engaging with Local Authorities to seek funding through the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS)
- Deploying colleague engagement and an asset optimisation programme through ‘smart building technology’
- Ensuring all buildings are powered by a 100% REGO (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) – backed energy tariff
What is Net Zero?
We talk about going net zero, but what does it actually mean? Lots of terms get bandied about within this subject, all of which sound fairly similar, such as carbon neutral, climate positive, carbon negative, net zero emissions and net zero carbon emissions. All are similar and all of them have a positive effect on the environment, but they are all ever so slightly different.
Net Zero Carbon Emissions
Here at Everyone Active, when we talk about going ‘net zero’ we mean we are taking steps to ensure that, after all the measures we will have introduced are taken into account, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by the company will be zero.
Carbon Neutral vs Net Zero
These are probably the two most common terms in around this subject, but what’s the difference between the two? Well, they both refer to companies or individuals working to reduce and balance the amount of carbon emitted. Net zero carbon emissions refers to the fact that there was no carbon dioxide emitted from the get-go. I.e. it was powered by renewable energy, either from commercial tariffs, in-house sources such as solar panels, or a combination of the two. Carbon neutral, meanwhile, refers to balancing out any excess carbon emissions there may have been with other strategies such as carbon capture, storage or planting trees.