Almost two thirds of manufacturers have taken ‘positive action’ towards their net zero targets within the last year according to new research from Make UK. The manufacturers’ organisation emphasises that this figure marks a ‘huge leap forward’ from 18 months ago, when very few companies had a specific net zero strategy in place.
Now, its ‘COP26 Six Months On’ research has found that 35% of businesses have a fully formed net zero strategy in place and are implementing it, while a further 14% have set their strategy but are yet to activate it.
Over a third of companies said achieving net zero is high priority for their business and 9 in 10 manufacturers are planning further action on decarbonisation in the next 12 months.
“Britain’s manufacturers have long shown that they are at the forefront of innovation globally and they have already gone a long way to improve their processes in the quest to reach net zero,” said Make UK chief executive officer Stephen Phipson. “They are making huge leaps forward and have taken much from initiatives such as COP26 as a driver for further change.”
“With energy costs at historic highs, cutting energy consumption has taken on a further layer of urgency, and new business opportunities from the green economy make change even more attractive,” he added.
The research found that for 77% of companies, cutting energy costs is the main focus for achieving net zero within their factories, while 48% of manufacturers looking to make production processes more energy efficient. In addition 32% say they want to increase their resource efficiency by using or wasting less resources.
A lack of skills was cited as a barrier to change however, with around 40% of companies stating they do not have the relevant skills within their business to implement net zero policies. A quarter of firms are already training staff on sustainability to help tackle this issue.
Make UK also welcomed that, outside the factory, close to three quarters of manufacturers are already engaging with their supply chain to deal with their indirect Scope 3 emissions.
Additional findings show that 62% of manufacturing businesses are driven to take further action on net zero by the rising cost of energy, while gaining competitive advantage through innovative products or services was a driver for 38% of companies.
A quarter of manufacturers also mentioned commercial opportunities such as being listed as an approved supplier for public/private procurement schemes (24%), access to new higher value ‘green’ markets (24%) and access to finance for new projects (25%) as drivers to speed up their decarbonisation journey.
The report also revealed that 43% of companies see digital transformation as an important enabler for net zero transition, with 37% having already implemented at least one digital project related to sustainability and 35% planning to do so in the next 12 months.
Just one in ten manufacturers surveyed do not have a net zero strategy and have no plans to introduce one.