Beyond net zero emissions
With the climate emergency and biodiversity loss being two of the most serious issues of our time, Mackenzie Construction recognises it has a responsibility to play a leadership role in the sector and has made the commitment as an organisation to reduce its carbon emissions over the coming years.
Our team is fully committed to reducing the impact Mackenzie Construction has on our natural environment. We understand that this drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions cannot be achieved as a lone entity, but by working in close collaboration with our staff, clients, contractors and our wider supply chain to improve the environmental performance of our products and services.
With this goal in mind, we have already implemented an ISO 14001:2015 environmental management system to establish a baseline and introduced Carbon Reduction Key Performance Indicators. Moving forward, we will look for a significant year on year carbon emission reduction, reaching 75% by 2030 and net zero by 2040.
To achieve this, our Carbon Reduction Roadmap takes a holistic approach in considering the embedded carbon in the materials we purchase, the fuel we use, our products and materials, and the waste we generate from our activities. From this, we seek to establish more carbon effective solutions, wherever possible. We are focused on, not only minimising our impact on the environment, but also seeking continual performance improvements in our people and processes.
To implement this, our HSEQ team and IMEA trained in-house ‘Carbon Champion’, Ryan Taggart, are working through a 5-step integrated process with our staff, clients, delivery partners and supply chain. We understand the significance of our role in the water sector’s supply chain and are working within our geographic integrated hubs across Scotland to ensure clear, coherent, and focused development towards our sustainability and emissions goals.
1. Seeking ideas
We recognise dedication to innovation and resource efficiency needs to be encouraged at all levels of the business in order to be implemented effectively, with the whole team on board. There are no expectations on one person to identify, test and improve a problem as we all have individual skills and attributes which need to be harnessed collectively in order to achieve the best results. New innovations in regard to carbon emission reduction, such as our Smart Surface service, will also continue to be identified through the use of Quality Improvement Request Forms.
2. Create the right environment
For innovation to flourish in respect to carbon emission reduction, we need to establish and foster an environment that encourages participation, honesty and collaboration. Our commitment to deliver inclusive, triannual Carbon Reduction Lessons Learned and Innovation Meetings will support this process. Invitations will be extended to every area of the business and representatives encouraged to voice their thoughts, lessons learned, opinions and opportunities for improvement, so that ideas can be shared and explored in a safe and creative environment.
3. Nurturing the learning process
As an organisation committed to learning and development, we will encourage all workable ideas to be tried and tested. All lessons learned will be shared openly throughout the business to ensure everyone feels part of, and invested in, the process.
4. Measuring success
The success or failure of any carbon reduction process should be measurable. We will develop robust reporting in order to highlight the benefits, or potential drawbacks, that each process brings. This will be reported on our Monthly HSEQ Report and at the senior managers monthly meeting in order to monitor progress.
5. Sharing knowledge
Central to our commitment to ongoing carbon reduction is the sharing of our knowledge with our own workforce, our clients and supply chain partners. Regular e-newsletters, HSEQ quarterly updates, our quarterly published newsletter, website and social media will all be used in order to ensure we update everyone with progress towards our net zero goal. We will also establish a programme and project specific SharePoint dashboard, which will include provision for carbon reduction. These will be available on our intranet to ensure everyone has a shared knowledge of our journey.
At Mackenzie Construction, we are working to ensure that we do absolutely everything in our power to embrace the circular economy, transform our emissions and, ultimately – through our work in the water sector – play our part in protecting, replenishing and enhancing a sustainable natural environment.