Helping Bristol businesses and organizations to Go Green

In February this year, over 300 people attended the launch of Go Green Bristol, an initiative under the 2015 European Green Capital Programme (Bristol 2015) which saw the launch of a new tool for Bristol’s businesses that SEI had a key role in developing.

SEI researcher Chris West said: “SEI has co-developed the Go Green Tool with NETpositive Futures and the Go Green team to provide the right information to businesses and other organizations in Bristol and the South West. The tool helps them to plan and deliver sustainable business practices and enables them to measure their impact and social value. The tool also provides data to monitor progress; identify where there are gaps in activity; and target future engagement opportunities.”

The tool, which builds on previous work conducted within the NETpositive Initiative, is designed so that businesses and organizations with no prior sustainability experience can create a free, bespoke action plan that signposts them to local initiatives, events and further information. It addresses five key areas:

• Planning and resilience.
• Travel and transport.
• Energy and efficiency.
• Sustainable sourcing.
• Happy and healthy.

Action plans are developed based on what is relevant to the particular business. This allows businesses to think about a whole range of things they can do to improve, starting with the ones that matter most to them. They are also invited to “Prove it”, or rather, demonstrate where they have implemented actions.

Andrew Garrad, Chair of Bristol 2015, said:“We want to ensure that every business in the region has the chance to benefit from the awareness created by the European Green Capital award.  We want to celebrate the success of our greenest companies, but also encourage many more to seize this opportunity to become greener, save money and find new customers”.

According to Go Green Project Manager Jessica Ferrow, the Go Green Tool is “Like having a sustainability expert in your pocket . . . We know that many businesses are interested in how they can become more resource-efficient, reduce their environmental impacts and engage their staff in new ways, but they have limited time to implement these measures, let alone research them. This is where Go Green can help.”

The Go Green Tool has already garnered significant interest from businesses in the region, with more than 80 companies starting an action plan during the first two weeks of launch. If successful it can be used as a template for other UK cities aspiring to become low-carbon and will be of wider interest to future European green capital cities. SEI will be analyzing the data entered into the tool and will be making enhancements to the platform as it evolves.

Go Green Bristol is aimed at helping businesses play a major part in making the Bristol City region healthier, more competitive and more sustainable. It is led jointly by Business West and Low Carbon South West Go Green, with funding from Bristol 2015. For more information visit www.gogreenbusiness.co.uk.

Follow on Twitter @gogreenbristol | @NETpositiveOrg