Net Zero Week - webinar articles

In a series of insight-packed webinars, BSI’s Net Zero Week presented a multi-sector view of the collective challenges that must be met for the UK to reach our net zero carbon emissions target by 2050 and what’s being done to tackle them.

We've collated articles from the presentations delivered during the webinars so that you can refer back to them at your convenience.

The climate crisis is recognized as the most pressing issue of our time. But how will the UK achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050? And how can businesses play their part?

Introducing the session, BSI’s Head of Sector for Environment, Social and Governance David Fatscher observed that the pandemic has foreshadowed the many stress scenarios that organizations will have to anticipate because of climate change. It will be essential to combine a robust approach to managing greenhouse gases (GHGs) with creating a more resilient, adaptable business culture that can prepare companies for the impact of non-financial risks. “At BSI we say standards enable innovation, collaboration and acceleration – and those all seem to be equally relevant to the debate we’re having and the road we’re on together”, David said.

The second webinar in BSI’s Net Zero Week focused on road transport. It explored the role of emerging technologies, supported by standards, in helping deliver zero-emission vehicles.

BSI’s Senior Standards Manager of Mobility, Materials and Manufacturing, Kate Busuttil began by saying there is no single solution for decarbonizing transport; we need to connect standards, policy and regulation with transport network optimization, infrastructure and investment, and enabling technologies. “As the national standards body, we’re a neutral convener of experts. We bring together people from government, industry, research labs, trade associations and consumers, getting them all into one single committee to try and develop standards. It’s the only way we can get it right.”

This webinar explored the UK’s energy sector, looking at what it will take to get to a low carbon future.

Sebastiaan Van Dort, BSI’s Associate Director of Energy, opened by saying that decarbonizing energy is critical to the huge challenge of reaching net zero by 2050 – and that standards play an enabling role in the transition. In an overview, he showed the transition from the old energy system (which is very much one-directional) to a much more flexible and interoperable grid with many more sources of energy, creating a bi-directional flow of energy. In this enormous change, standards are essential for bridging the gap, protecting consumers, and mitigating the risks of potential black swans.

This webinar in BSI’s Net Zero Week focused on the Built Environment.

The Built Environment’s Journey to Net Zero webinar was hosted by Anthony Burd, Head of Built Environment at BSI. He began with the Climate Change Committee’s sector-by-sector analysis of UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, showing the built environment (BE) sector has seen gradual improvements since 2000. But how does that compare with other sectors? Between 2008 and 2018, the power sector reduced its emissions by 100Mt but building emissions fell by only 18Mt. We clearly have a long way to go in the BE sector, and there are lessons we can learn.

This webinar focused on the challenges and opportunities in the food chain and how the sector can achieve net zero.

BSI’s Food Sector Lead on standards, Sara Walton began by saying that with clean growth at the heart of the UK government’s industrial strategy, the food system needs to make fundamental changes. We need to rethink how we produce our food and use natural capital, so we can ensure resilient future food systems that can give everyone access to healthier and more sustainable food. She mentioned: “Around 20-30% of total global greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to the food system. It’s a real priority area for the net zero agenda, and standards will play a vital role in helping the sector shift to more sustainable operations.”

This webinar aimed to progress the net zero conversation in the healthcare sector and look at how standards can help.

Rob Turpin, BSI’s Head of Sector for Healthcare, began by saying UK healthcare systems are responsible for around 5% of our overall carbon footprint, so they have a big role to play in supporting net zero ambitions. The NHS is already committed to modernising service models. To achieve net zero, these will have to factor in sustainability and reduced emissions: for example, improving patient outcomes can mean less time spent in hospital, while digitally enabled care models can reduce travel to physical locations. “As a national standards body and knowledge provider, BSI can help drive the ambition of net zero in healthcare – whether supporting the NHS directly, through the supply chain, or through work in relevant sectors like transport and food”, Rob said. 

This final webinar in Net Zero Week looked at how we can move towards net zero by taking a new approach to engineering and design, underpinned by digital transformation.

It was hosted by BSI’s Digital Manufacturing Lead Ben Sheridan, in conversation with Alan Brown, Professor of Digital Economy at the University of Exeter Business School and Martin Aston, MD of Förvanda Ltd. We need to change how we approach engineering, because achieving net zero requires complex interdependencies. For example, we now have electric cars but they’re a very small part of the equation. The car might have zero emissions at the point of use, but the current process for designing and producing that car is far from energy-efficient. “So we’re going to need a systems approach to engineering, with a much more integrated engineering design process,” said Martin.”Digitalization has a key role to play here and interoperability will become absolutely paramount if we’re going to do this.”