The sugar and salt taxes in the recently announced national food strategy made the headlines [1]. However, the original brief for the author was to review the entire food system. Many of the resultant recommendations relate to environmental protection. The bulk of...
The “Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill” has completed the first stage of a 12 stage journey to becoming UK law [1]. Inspired by a similar law in Wales, the proposed bill, will require public bodies to improve “the economic, social, environmental and cultural...
Our friends at Safecility told us about some of their remote testing innovations that can help reduce carbon emissions. Here’s what they say: While the current spotlight is on long term deep property retrofits to enhance homes and make them easier to heat – there are...
Hydrogen is regularly discussed as a form of low carbon heating. Theoretically, hydrogen can be transported using existing gas infrastructure. For this reason, hydrogen has been viewed as a good low-carbon alternative. There are several ways of producing hydrogen gas,...
The UK Government has recently announced plans to end the sale of halogen lightbulbs from September 2021, to cut carbon emissions and facilitate the journey to net-zero carbon[1], with fluorescent lightbulbs likely to follow suit from September 2023. In addition to...
The recently released Procurement Policy Note (PPN)[1] presents how the UK Government will take account of suppliers Net Zero Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major contracts. The PPN applies to all Central Government Departments, agencies and public...
UK Government recently requested feedback via a consultation on the regulation of climate-related financial disclosures by public quoted companies, large private companies, and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs). Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to...
At SHIFT Environment we are truly committed environmentalists. Which is why, as well as running our consultancy business, we spend some of our time engaging with Government, regulators and key organisations. This has led to the creation of SHIFT’s "Fund Net Zero...
Heat networks are systems in which heating, cooling or hot water is generated at a central source and supplied by the operator to multiple third party consumers. Heat networks serve either multiple buildings (district heating) or multiple occupants in a single...
It seems that the Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion is not too impressed by the way “Social Factors” in ESG investments are being handled by investors. In a recent consultation, he states: “I am concerned that social factors are not well understood. “Many...
While there has been a focus on reducing energy demand for heating, with global temperatures set to increase, there has been little consideration for future for cooling systems demand. There is no doubt that in recent years, the UK has experienced record breaking dry...
If you haven’t purchased a new freezer in recent months, you may not know about the changing energy efficiency standards for white goods. Richard Lupo, SHIFT’s Managing Director, recently purchased a new fridge. Ever the conscious environmentalist, his choice of a...
The loss in global biodiversity and protection of green spaces has been rising up the agenda for building owners, particularly from Environmental Social Governance (ESG) reporting. ESG reporting involves demonstrating environmental credibility to banks and loan...
The National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS) incorporates aspects of The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. Both of these plans show a direction or travel towards greening the economy and decarbonisation but lack clear timeframes, objectives and key...
The Government review of the Decent Homes Standard is currently underway, and we were grateful for the opportunity to contribute our thoughts to the review. We believe the new Decent Homes can be an excellent mechanism for delivering environmental improvements that...
A client paid us a very nice compliment about our Energy White Paper response[1]. They also asked whether they should sign up to a tree planting scheme. We’ve been asked about this topic a few times, so we checked the scheme and shared our thoughts. Tree planting...
Following the International Day of Happiness (20th March 2021) we have compiled a number of statistics to see how close we are to reaching a goal of 100% long-term wellbeing. Since March 2020, there is no surprise that we have faced unprecedented challenges, and our...
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published an “over and above” cost for energy efficient new build of £4,800 [1]. However, many building professionals we speak to cannot replicate this figure when they are planning an EPC A new build. We took a closer look at...
Coastal Housing, a Swansea based social landlord asked SHIFT Environment to develop an optimised retrofit strategy that would meet the Welsh Government target of Net Zero Carbon Housing. By interrogating Coastal Housing’s property data, the project also offered an...
Following on from our blog on the New Homes Ombudsman, Paul Surin [1], IBM’s Global Lead on the Built Environment and BIM, shared his experience of very poor quality new build. He thought he was moving into a highly energy efficient performing home, but after moving...