Blog

How much waste is your local area producing?

How much waste is your local area producing?

Introduction England’s waste recycling rate was 44% between 2023-2024, but how does your local area perform compared to this? Some areas in England are known for having a better reputation than others when it comes to waste production, but do the official statistics...

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The Seventh Carbon Budget

The Seventh Carbon Budget

The Climate Change Committee has recently released its seventh carbon budget, and this is how it could affect your property portfolio. Carbon budgets get released every five years by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) to advise the Government on the necessary targets...

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A new metric for sourcing materials responsibly

A new metric for sourcing materials responsibly

Our governing institute, IEMA, kindly published our article on evaluating the degree to which materials are responsibly sourced [1].  Here’s what we wrote. When using UK-based suppliers, it is easy to assume you are not using materials produced unethically or at the...

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Financial benefits of sustainability

Financial benefits of sustainability

Governments have been encouraging businesses to incorporate sustainability for decades. New research has found that over the past 10 years, global ESG regulations have increased by 155% (1). Many companies see this as costly compliance work, that “burdens companies”...

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Avoiding overheating and active cooling in care homes

Avoiding overheating and active cooling in care homes

          Summertime overheating is a key risk for the elderly, as heatwaves coincide with increasing mortality rates [1]. The 2003 ten-day heatwave across England and Wales, caused a 33% increase in deaths for those aged above 75 [2]. The...

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Millie’s millet – research into climate resilient crops

Millie’s millet – research into climate resilient crops

  Before Millie’s time here at SHIFT Environment, she completed her BSc in Environmental Biology at the University of Nottingham. During her final year, she grasped the opportunity to work alongside academic professionals on an ongoing project, launched by the...

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The benefits of monitoring solar PV

The benefits of monitoring solar PV

          Following our various environmental reports, many of our clients have gone on to install solar PV panels.  That is a great thing and an even a better thing is to monitor the performance of those panels.  We had a chat with Solar...

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Hydrogen vs conventional fuels in maintenance fleet vans

Hydrogen vs conventional fuels in maintenance fleet vans

Hydrogen fueled maintenance fleet We recently had a query from a landlord looking to reduce emissions from their maintenance fleet (DLO). They requested a comparison of the emissions produced by travelling 12,000 miles in an average van of different fuel types,...

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Building for a Net Zero future: What clients need to know

Building for a Net Zero future: What clients need to know

Building for a Net Zero future: What clients need to know The construction industry is evolving, with an increasing focus on sustainability and carbon reduction. Two key pieces of guidance - the LETI Client Guide for Net Zero Carbon Buildings[1] and the UKGBC’s...

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SHIFT Environment response to EPC regime change consultation

SHIFT Environment response to EPC regime change consultation

Introduction In a recent blog we highlighted Government’s proposed changes to the EPC regime: Consultation on a new domestic and non-domestic EPC regime | SHIFT Environment We have now submitted our formal response. Here is what we said: Chapter 2: What EPCs measure...

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Consultation on a new domestic and non-domestic EPC regime

Consultation on a new domestic and non-domestic EPC regime

Introduction The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero have released a consultation document [1]. The aims are: Better quality data will be particularly beneficial for businesses or landlords who...

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COP 29 – observations from Baku

COP 29 – observations from Baku

Background COP 29, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. In essence, COP is where global leaders gather to make decisions on actions to combat the climate crisis. This includes efforts to limit global temperature...

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Improving supply chain sustainability – a case study

Improving supply chain sustainability – a case study

In the course of our assessment work we look at supply chain sustainability in large organisations. We came across a particularly good example from Southern Housing and they very kindly shared their thoughts about the assessment. Here’s what they said: 1. What...

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Caber-Net Zero

Caber-Net Zero

Chilworth Manor Vineyard and sustainable wine SHIFT Environment are known for our specialism in social housing. We also do work outside of that sector and here is one example. We recently worked with Chilworth Manor Vineyard to measure the embodied carbon footprint of...

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RdSAP updates – changes to domestic energy assessments

RdSAP updates – changes to domestic energy assessments

A long time coming Our governing body on domestic energy assessments has released news on long overdue updates to the way domestic energy assessments are carried out [1]. There are loads of rumours about when these changes come into force but no hard facts yet.  In...

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How to know if an ecolabel is any good

How to know if an ecolabel is any good

The importance of ecolabels Many organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of focusing on their environmental impacts[1], particularly in areas like carbon emissions and biodiversity. But when it comes to responsibly sourced materials, there's...

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How to gain sustainability reporting data from colleagues

How to gain sustainability reporting data from colleagues

  We work with a wide variety of organisations to produce excellent environmental reports. To do this we need some key business data, which, when working with us, is normally very easy for clients to collect. We normally work with one key point of contact in the...

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