Energy

Environmental Management Systems: A guide for Welsh SMEs

Consuming electricity and water, producing waste, operating machinery and processing natural resources – these are just some of the ways that businesses interact with the environment at operational level and through their supply chains.  

Businesses of all sizes are realising the need to understand, manage and improve their environmental impacts to ensure they can operate and grow sustainably. An Environmental Management System (EMS) proportionate to the size and activities of the organisation is a key framework for helping businesses to do this. 

However, it can be more challenging for SMEs to measure, manage and report on climate and environmental goals, due to constraints of time, cost and human resources. So, what are the options? Do you need to comply with the internationally recognised ISO 14001 or are there alternatives? 

We hope that this guide will help with understanding (i) the key elements of an EMS, (ii) the benefits and opportunities they bring for SMEs and (iii) provide an overview of the different certification standards for EMS implementation and support for SMEs in Wales. 

Remember, there are many benefits to gaining an EMS certification but it is the journey towards it that counts in terms of practical actions and outputs. All certifications will require resource. If this is not possible for your organisation right now we hope that this guide will still be valuable to steering you towards meaningful actions.    

What is an EMS?

An EMS is a structured framework of policies, procedures and practices which help organisations assess, manage and improve their environmental impact.  

The primary goals of an EMS are to ensure: 

  • Compliance with environmental requirements (for example, under an environmental permit issued by Natural Resources Wales) 
  • The efficient use of resources 
  • Waste reduction and minimal pollution 
  • The continual improvement of environmental performance 

Read the ISO article on ‘The benefits of implementing an environmental management system for your business.’  

A core strength of any EMS should be enabling continual improvement of environmental performance. Continual improvement as defined in ISO 14001, refers to recurring activities to enhance environmental performance. For example, organisations can identify improvement opportunities through audits and monitoring progress against objectives and targets.  

For an SME, this could be implementing behaviour change initiatives to support carbon reduction and nature related goals, such as eliminating deforestation. However, from a wider perspective, continuous improvement might look like an increasing number of business areas or processes being covered by the EMS, or an accumulation of knowledge and skills in dealing with environmental issues. Overall, it’s about a move from operational management of the environment to a more strategic approach.  

The benefits of implementing an EMS for SMEs in Wales

  • Manage and improve environmental impacts: by integrating environmental considerations into their operations, SMEs can minimise their ecological footprint and reduce negative impacts on the environment. 
  • Risk Management: The tools within an EMS provide a systematic approach to identifying and managing environmental risks and help SMEs to future proof their business and avoid potential liabilities and disruptions. 
  • Cost savings: Implementing efficient resource management practices can lead to cost savings for SMEs. By optimising energy and water usage, reducing waste generation, and implementing recycling initiatives, SMEs may see reductions in utilities bills and other financial benefits from more efficient and innovative processes. 
  • Compliance with regulations: An EMS helps SMEs comply with environmental regulations and legal requirements. By staying up to date with environmental legislation, SMEs can avoid penalties and legal issues. 
  • Enhanced reputation and competitive advantage: Demonstrating a commitment to environmental sustainability is important for many potential employees and customers. Increasingly, it is also a requirement for public sector buyers to take into account the sustainability of their contractors. For example, in Wales, the Social Partnerships and Public Procurement (Wales) Act introduced a Socially Responsible Procurement Duty and at UK level,  PPN 06/21 mandates that carbon reduction plans be taken into account in major government procurement contracts. 
  • Improved access to finance: An EMS can help SMEs to identify and manage steps they can take to fulfil requirements under Business Wales’ Green Growth Pledge. It can also act as the catalyst for innovation financing, for example, the Green Business Loan Scheme from Development Bank of Wales. 

EMS Standards and Certifications

When starting out to create an EMS, there are a number of standards available for SMEs in Wales. The main ones covered in this guide are: 

ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management Systems – Requirements and Guidance for Use)  

The most widely used voluntary EMS standard globally, providing a holistic framework ‘encompassing all aspects of an organisation’s environmental management and offering tools for continuous improvement’. Certification is available for organisations that have implemented the requirements of ISO 14001.  

ISO 14005:2019 (Environmental Management Systems – Guidance for a flexible approach to phased implementation) 

This standard provides guidance for a phased approach to establish, implement, maintain and improve an EMS. It may be particularly useful for SMEs as it provides flexibility and allows organisations to develop their EMS at their own pace. Full implementation of the guidance will result in an EMS that aligns with ISO14001.  

Note that BSI’s earlier guidance standard for SMEs, BS8555, which also provided a phased approach to EMS implementation has now been withdrawn and replaced by ISO 14005.  

Groundwork’s Green Dragon Standard 

Green Dragon is a UK based environmental accreditation awarded to ‘businesses that take action to understand, monitor and control their impacts on the environment’. It operates on a staged based system over five levels, allowing a business to progress in its own time.  At Level 5 the Green Dragon standard is equivalent to ISO 14001.  One of the advantages of Green Dragon is its recognition and support from Business Wales and its acknowledgement in Welsh Government procurement processes. 

Green Key / Gorian Gwyrdd  

Green Key is an eco-accreditation awarded to businesses operating in the tourism sector. Green Key certified businesses meet a set of high standard environmental requirements across 13 areas including environmental management, staff involvement, energy and water conservation, waste management, and food and beverage. In Wales, Green Key is operated by Keep Wales Tidy on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).  

EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)

EMAS is the EU’s voluntary scheme applicable to all organisations in the public and private sectors who want to evaluate, manage and improve their environmental performance. EMAS is broader and more rigorous than ISO14001 (as explained below) but ISO 14001 satisfies the requirements for the EMS component. Following Brexit, the UK no longer has a ‘competent body’ responsible for EMAS, however, organisations doing business in the EU might find EMAS Global registration useful and we have included information about the main requirements and links to further information in this document for completeness. 

It is worth noting that businesses do not need to adhere to a certain standard for their EMS and might decide to design a bespoke system. However, using one of the available standards might well be less resource intensive and can help to ensure a robust EMS that provides reassurance to stakeholders.  

The following sections of this guide provide a bit more detail about the above standards to help you identify which might be the right approach for your business.   

Please note this is a guide based on a summary of available online information. Please check the web links given for the most accurate and up to date details. 

4. International EMS standards ​

ISO14001:2015 (Environmental Management Systems – Requirements and Guidance for Use) 

ISO 14001:2015 is an internationally recognised, holistic framework for an EMS, encompassing all aspects of an organisation’s environmental impact and offering tools for continuous improvement.  

What is involved? 

The basis of ISO 14001 (as with other EMS standards) is the management system process Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). The PDCA cycle is applied to the overall EMS, as well as individual processes, and enables organisations to achieve continual improvements to their environmental performance through improvements to the EMS. 

The Guidance describes the requirements for setting up and implementing an EMS including: 

An environmental policy: A statement that outlines an organisation’s commitment to environmental sustainability. 

Planning: This involves identifying environmental aspects and objectives of an organisation, setting targets and establishing programmes to achieve them. 

Implementation: This stage involves putting plans into action, allocating resources and assigning responsibilities. 

Checking: Regular monitoring of performance against objectives and targets is critical to ensure the timely implementation of corrective actions. 

Management review: A formal review of the EMS supports its continued effectiveness and suitability. 

EMS Plan-Do-Check-Act Model (Source: Westcon,2017, online) 

Costs, Certification and Training  

The standard can be purchased from the ISO website for approximately £130 and businesses can choose to implement the standard without the costs of certification. There are also various free and IEMA accredited training modules to assist with implementation. 

As mentioned above, certification is optional but can provide both organisations and their customers assurance that ISO 14001 has been implemented in a robust manner.  

Costs of certification from organisations accredited by The UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) vary but online quotes without commitment can be readily obtained. 

Certification is typically awarded for three years, subject to annual surveillance visits. The standard itself undergoes revisions periodically (typically every 5-10 years).  

ISO 14005:2019 (Environmental Management Systems – Guidance for a flexible approach to phased implementation) 

Whilst ISO 14001 is applicable to all types and sizes of organisation, the full implementation of an EMS at the same time might be prove challenging for some organisations and particularly SMEs where time, cost and human resources can be limited.  

At international level, a phased approach to implementing an EMS was therefore developed (previously the BSI standard BS8555:2016 which has been subsumed by ISO 14005) to encourage and guide SMEs to meet the requirements of ISO 14001. 

What is involved? 

The phased approach in ISO 14005 is designed to provide flexibility for an organisation to develop their EMS over a number of phases to ultimately meet the requirements of ISO 14001. 

The number of phases an organisation chooses to implement at any one time is flexible and can be determined depending on resources and priorities. Each phase is broken down into six consecutive stages to be completed over time. SMEs can monitor progress using the maturity matrix in Annex A of ISO 14005 and the free supporting documents provided by ISO 14005. 

The Assessment Sheet (on the supporting documents page) provided by ISO is a helpful tool that enables organizations to monitor and record progress through five levels of maturity corresponding to each EMS subclause. An EMS that satisfies the maturity Level 1 (Column 1) through to full maturity at Level 5 (Column 5) meets all the requirements for a particular clause of ISO 14001:2015. 

Costs, Certification and Training  

The Guidance can be downloaded from the ISO website for approximately £130. As the aim of ISO 14005 is to assist SMEs with reaching 14001, there is no separate certification for this standard. However, it is a good reference to turn to for ideas and practical examples on how to make your implementation of ISO 14001 more effective. 

Alternative EMS standards recognised in Wales

For SMEs based in Wales, there are alternatives to the above standards that are administered by national organisations and recognised by the public sector in the procurement process.

Groundwork Green Dragon Environmental Accreditation

The Green Dragon Environmental Accreditation is a comprehensive standard administered by Groundwork, a UKAS accredited inspection organisation. It is awarded to businesses that take action to understand, monitor and control their impacts on the environment. 

What is involved? 

Similar to ISO 14005, the standard operates on a staged based system (Levels 1-5), allowing organisations to join at any stage and progress their EMS in their own time. 

The five levels are: 

Level 1: Commitment to Environmental Management 

Level 2: Understanding environmental responsibilities 

Level 3: Managing environmental impacts 

Level 4: Environmental Management Programme 

Level 5: Continual environmental improvement 

Organisations can choose which level is appropriate to the nature and scale of their activities and upon completion of each level they will receive a certificate. At level 5, the Green Dragon standard is equivalent to ISO 14001. 

Groundwork provides several useful documents on its website to accompany the standard, including an Environmental Review Workbook. There is also a list of organisations across Wales who have achieved Green Dragon accreditation.   

Certification and costs 

To achieve and maintain the Green Dragon Environmental Standard, an annual audit with Groundwork is required. The cost of the audit varies depending on the level, with Level 3 being the most common entry point for organisations and costing.

Green Key – A sustainability standard for the tourism sector ​

Green Key is an international environmental certification programme for the tourism and hospitality industry. It has been awarded to more than 3,200 businesses from across the sector in 65 countries and is open to businesses from across the sector.  

Globally, Green Key is operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) who work with national partners on certification. In Wales, the Green Key certificate is managed by Keep Wales Tidy. 

Green Key promotes sustainable practices and recognises businesses that meet specific criteria related to environmental management and sustainability. Criteria are set out over 13 thematic areas including energy and water conservation, waste management, sustainable procurement, and environmental education. 

The FEE has developed criteria and explanatory notes for businesses in six different categories (hotels and resorts, small accommodation, campsites, restaurants, attractions and conference centres).  

In each category, there are ‘imperative’ and ‘guideline’ criteria. For example, creation of a sustainability policy and interaction with stakeholders are imperative criteria, whilst a target to reduce carbon footprint is a guideline criteria.  Each organisation applying for a Green Key certificate must achieve all imperative criteria and then for each subsequent year that they apply they must meet an additional 5% of the guideline criteria.  

In addition to the general benefits of EMS implementation, Keep Wales Tidy highlights that travellers and tourists are increasingly keen to support sustainable businesses and that investment in a Green Key certification is a key market differentiator. Keep Wales Tidy has collated case studies of organisations across Wales who have invested in Green Key. 

Certification and costs  

The application process for certification consists of three parts: 

Sending the application documents 

Receiving on-site audits 

Decision by an independent entity (third-party verification) 

More information about the application process in Wales can be found on the Keep Wales Tidy website. 

Keep Wales Tidy aims to keep certification costs affordable and to ensure Green Key is accessible to all tourism providers. Investment levels therefore vary depending on the size of the business: 

Costs are paid as part of the application prcess and then annually following updated verification (for more information see https://keepwalestidy.cymru/our-work/awards/green-key/).

Seren Scheme

The Seren Scheme is based on BS8555 and follows the same phased approach. Organizations can choose to use the Seren Scheme to achieve other EMS standards such as ISO 14001 or EMAS, or register at a phase that aligns with the nature and scale of their business and remain at that phase. 

The Seren Scheme is applicable to both large and small organizations and places a strong focus on continuous improvement. 

BS8555 is divided into 5 phases: 

  • Stage 1: Leadership, context, and commitment 
  • Stage 2: Ensure compliance 
  • Stage 3: Plan and develop the EMS 
  • Stage 4: Implement the EMS 
  • Stage 5: Check and update the EMS 

As long as organizations pass an annual inspection, they can stay at that particular phase indefinitely and use their EMS to demonstrate their commitment to environmental management to stakeholders and customers. 

The Seren Scheme is administered by a private company called Tarian Inspection Services, which conducts inspections in a friendly, down-to-earth, and highly practical manner. They ensure that companies have a robust Environmental Management System that enhances their credibility, good management, and cost savings. 

Further information can be found at http://www.serenscheme.com/. 

EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)

EMAS is a voluntary environmental management scheme designed by the European Commission. Its overall aim is to enable continuous improvement in the environmental performance of companies, language similar to that in ISO 14001. However, ISO 14001 aims for continual improvement of the system itself hopefully leading to improved environmental performance of the organisation. EMAS requires improved environmental performance of the organisation to be assessed through indicators relating to six core areas – energy efficiency, material efficiency, emissions, water, waste and land use with regards to biodiversity.  

EMAS is more rigorous than ISO 14001, however, ISO 14001 satisfies the EMS component of EMAS requirements.  

Registration with the scheme requires the following steps: 

Conduct a preliminary environmental review – this will be the baseline for improvement 

Adopt an environmental policy and programme in which you involve employees and external stakeholders  

Establish and implement an EMS 

Prepare an environmental statement  

The EMS and environmental statement to be verified and validated by an environmental verifier. 

Recognising the challenges faced by SMEs, EMAS has amended rules for SMEs to encourage participation in the scheme. These include verification every four years (rather than three) and publication of the environmental statement every two years, rather than annually. There is also financial support available in some Member States and a number of tools and guidance to assist SMEs. 

For more information, please see: 

EMAS presentation for organisations  

EMAS Easy Guidance – for SMEs 

EMAS Tools 

Indicative costs for EMAS registration 

In summary…

SMEs increasingly need to demonstrate an understanding of environmental impacts and a strategic approach to minimising climate and environmental impacts to satisfy potential customers and to future proof their business. 

In light of the prevalent tick-box culture in environmental matters, many organisations are seeking broader and more engaging systems, examining the impacts on their staff, communities, and supply chains.  

Regardless of the framework used for environmental, biodiversity, sustainability, or ESG reporting, businesses still need to adhere to similar concepts: focus on leadership and staff ownership, understand impacts, prioritise, plan, communicate, implement, and review. 

If you need further support or advice with any of these activities please reach out to our sustainability advisors.  

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Sketching Out a New Future: A Policy Focus

Every month in Cynnal Cymru’s excellent newsletter (subscribe here), we explore a different question or topic through the lens of our core organisational aims of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems. 

Last month, we thought about how to handle complexity within times of change in our job roles or the wider sustainability conversation. This month, we’re thinking about what it means to craft and build a new future together. We’re a few weeks out from an election that saw the Conservatives leave office for the first time in 14 years, with Labour winning a majority of 172 seats. Labour’s campaign slogan was simple: Change. 

The public policy landscape has started to shift already, with 40 pieces of legislation introduced by the new government (and an additional two carried over from the previous parliamentary session). 

Unsurprisingly for an organisation called Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales, we have a core focus on sustainability. We also want to ensure that action on climate change leads to a better society, and doesn’t leave workers behind – that’s where our Fair Economy team comes in. For an organisation that has this focus on sustainability and a fair economy (such as fair working practices), there is plenty for us to sink our teeth into. 

Sustainability

One of the new government’s flagship policies has been the creation of a new organisation called GB Energy – a new, publicly-owned green power company. The UK Government intends to invest over £8bn in this organisation over the next five years – a major spending commitment. 

It’s still early days for GB Energy, and there’s more to learn about how it will operate as it comes into life. However, it seems that a core remit will be co-investing in emerging renewable energy technology and scaling up investment in more established technologies. Essentially, it will aim to unlock private sector investment in renewables by de-risking and clearing the way for this investment. 

Chris Stark – former Chief Executive of the Climate Change Committee – has also been appointed to lead a new ‘Mission Control’ that will aim to break down barriers and accelerate progress on clean energy projects.  

UK Labour appears to lean on some of the work of economist Professor Mariana Mazzucato. Labour’s ‘five missions to rebuild Britain’, chime with Mazzucato’s 2021 book ‘Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism’. This book was inspired by the space race, which, in the US, took a ‘missions-based’ systems-engineering approach to coordination of the public and private sectors to put human beings on the moon. 

Sound familiar? This appears to very much be the approach of the new UK Labour government with regards to its ‘National Missions’, ‘Mission Control’, and the public-private approach of GB Energy. 

This plan is not without controversy. Many will question the need for private sector involvement, with the inevitable siphoning off of proceeds into private profit, particularly where the public purse is de-risking projects – although the government would counter that private expertise and buy-in is necessary. 

There is a particular sensitivity in Wales, too. GB Energy has already announced a partnership with the Crown Estate in England and Wales. The Crown Estate owns a substantial amount of Britain’s land, including the majority of the seabed, and public money will be used to lease this land to develop windfarms. 

There have been calls for the Crown Estate to be devolved to Wales, a position long supported by the Welsh Government. However, the UK Government does not have this as a proposal in its legislative agenda.    

Fair Work: Policy Highlight

There is news on the fair work front, too. The King’s Speech included a new Employment Rights Bill. The UK Government has said this Bill will enhance a long list of working rights: 

  • Banning ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts 
  • Ending ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’ 
  • Making parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal available from the first day of employment (whilst retaining the option of probationary periods) 
  • Removing the lower earnings limit for Statutory Sick Pay 
  • Flexible working the default from day-one for all workers 
  • Making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work (except in specific circumstances) 
  • A new Fair Work Agency to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights 
  • A new Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector, with potential expansion to other sectors 
  • Removal of some restrictions on trade union activity 
  • Simplifying the process of statutory recognition for trade unions 
  • Introducing a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces 

This appears to be a strong set of proposals to strengthen workers’ rights in the UK. However, the detail will be crucial – for example, the ‘teeth’ that the new Fair Work Agency is given, the exemptions for employers around new rights such as protecting new mothers, and how broad the definition of ‘exploitative’ zero hours contracts is. 

The Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector will be particularly interesting, and is under-remarked on. ‘Fair Pay Agreements’ are essentially an industry-wide employment agreement, where government brings together trade unions and employers to agree minimum pay rates and conditions across the sector. 

The UK model of collective bargaining currently focuses largely on the firm level. Research has found that this model poses a significant challenge to trade unions, which have to secure agreements workplace-by-workplace. It also found that no country which operates on this model has collective bargaining coverage of over 35%, with collective bargaining coverage only remaining high and stable in countries where multi-employer or sectoral agreements – such as these Fair Pay Agreements – are negotiated.  

That the UK Government is now proposing to bring sectoral agreements into the social care sector, potentially as a ‘proof of concept’ for other low-paid sectors, is significant. If rolled out successfully and more extensively, this could be the start of a quiet revolution in the UK’s industrial relations settlement.  

Given Cynnal Cymru’s longstanding work on the real Living Wage (we’re the Living Wage Foundation’s Accreditation Partner for Wales and host Living Wage Wales in-house), there’s a particularly interesting commitment to deliver a ‘genuine living wage’. The Low Pay Commission, which suggests the minimum wage rate (or National Living Wage as it’s now called) will now have to consider the cost of living when making its recommendation. 

For our part, the real Living Wage is set directly according to the cost of living, based on a basket of household goods and services. That’s a different remit to the one of the new Low Pay Commission, so we’ll be keeping an eye on any differences in the two rates. 

What does this mean for our future? 

There is so much we could say around policy that relates to fair work and sustainability, and the impacts these changes could mean for our foundational economy too.  

There is clearly a huge amount of change being undertaken that speaks to the things we care about at Cynnal Cymru, encompassed by our vision of a fair and just society, an inclusive low-carbon economy, and healthy, restored ecosystems. . 

We know that legislation can’t deliver everything and it doesn’t work on its own. We also believe in the power of partners, citizens and action-focused advocacy to bring about the transformative change that we need.

If you want to stay up to date on policy news related to fair work and sustainability, subscribe to our newsletter or become a member and receive regular advice and support. You can also learn about how to become a Living Wage employer here.  

Harry Thompson is Senior Programme and Policy Lead: Fair Work and Economy and manages the Fair Work and Living Wage team, which work towards Cynnal Cymru’s strategic goal of a fair and just society.

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Holding complexity in sustainability

Living daily on this planet, particularly in Western countries, we are all faced with the reality of our disproportionate contribution to the climate crisis. We know that we have a responsibility to do something – but what? With so many conflicting and changing sustainability narratives, it can be difficult to know the right thing to do when faced with complex and complicated advice. How can you know that the information you’re receiving is accurate, timely, and the best option for you and  the wider world around us?  

We are in a time of climate anxiety, with so many apparent ‘quick fixes’ that make us feel good but turn out to do more harm than good. The fear of accidentally causing more harm can lead us to become frozen by indecision, stuck with old sustainability policies and practices and no real shift in our mindsets. It’s scary to look carefully at our climate impact, particularly when we know that everything we do necessarily impacts our environment and other people. Will we be judged by others for not knowing the newest advice? What if we can’t make the changes suggested to us because of issues like finances, staffing shortages, or accessibility? 

As an organisation working to help people change their behaviours around climate and nature, we’ve thought carefully about the nuance and complexity of sustainability conversations. We know that shame is not a good motivator and that the weight of eco-anxiety can take a heavy toll. In order to make collective change, we must be each other’s allies and cheerleaders. Our model of training, membership, and advice services all seek to meet every organisation where they’re at, without judgement, and work together to get you to the next step of your journey. We also don’t shy away from recognising the emotional impact that dealing with these issues can bring. We aim to create space for understanding and managing that emotional impact. 

Our staff have reflected on how they manage the complexity of sustainability conversations, as experts who have spent years working to help change mindsets and behaviours across small and large organisations. If we can carry the complexity of knowing our lives necessarily contribute to climate change, while still reducing our impact and protecting our land, we can find the hope that leads to action.  

Making Climate Science Accessible

Our climate is one of the few things that impacts all of us all of the time. Yet climate science is often siloed and separated from the general public, who receive advice and instructions without always knowing why and the costs and benefits of both action and inaction. As sustainability experts, we must be open to these questions and concerns from the general public and translate what we know into language that resonates with them.  

Phoebe Nicklin, our Policy and Engagement Officer, uses her background in community engagement to connect dense policy research with the people whose lives will be affected by it.

“It always comes back to the people for me. Who am I trying to make the world a better place for? I think about the people in my community, my friends and family, and future generations, and I’d like to make the world a better place for them. For me, when I get bogged down in details or disheartened at things not moving fast enough, I bring things back to that personal level. We like to say that by grounding it in the earth and bringing things back to basics the complexities become less scary.”

Connecting to people and their stories is crucial to maintaining hope for our future, and remembering that sustainability is interconnected with all our other social concerns. We believe that most people and organisations want to care about sustainability and the world around us. We are all living in the world, so why wouldn’t we? It is unfair to suggest that people don’t care about sustainability issues, when maybe they just don’t yet understand them. We’ve all experienced that feeling of embarrassment when we don’t know something we think we should. We aim to not make anyone feel that way, and we do that by creating ways for groups to engage in and understand climate science in the format that suits them. 

Our Sustainability Adviser, Camille Lovgreen, co-wrote a series of stories envisioning a Wales in 2051 where interconnecting societal problems had been considered in future planning.  

“Most people don’t know the language of sustainability, and I don’t blame them – it’s really jargony. I want instead to connect them to the day-to-day of what does this look like in practice, making it more tangible so it isn’t this theoretically abstract thing. Our Wales in 2051 stories were an example of connecting people to those tangible things, bringing in practices towards a better quality of life with more inclusion, more collaboration, and seeing how that can look in real life.”  

When we envision a better future for our communities, we may imagine access to nutritious food, great healthcare, and a thriving natural world. How do we get there from where we are now? The practical work to get us there can take different forms, and we must think about the ways people in all positions of society can come together to create change. If we think of sustainability as simply farming or cleaning rivers (although these are certainly crucial parts!), we neglect many of the human elements of this work that are blocking us from making progress.  

What is blocking us from making change? 

In a country suffering a cost-of-living crisis and still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not surprising that people are still focused on rebuilding and trying to regain lost ground, with less time to focus on sustainability. If people are struggling to meet their basic needs, how can they find the time and energy to take care of our world? In our roles as agents of change towards a better climate, we must recognise those who have been excluded from and forgotten in climate conversations. How can we claim to be looking after our planet without looking after those who are most marginalised within it?   

As businesses, on top of thinking about our carbon emissions and waste, our sustainability work requires reflection on the treatment of the people who work for us. As the Living Wage and Living Hours Wales accreditor, we have a team dedicated to improving fair work practices in Wales. Our Living Wage Programme Officer, Grace Robinson, meets with organisations at all different stages of their journey to support them in becoming a Living Wage or Living Hours employer.   

“I’ve always been someone who wants to do a job that helps people. When an organisation becomes Living Wage accredited, they obviously have to pay the real Living Wage as a minimum. So in order to accredit, lots of organisations will give their staff a pay rise to meet that minimum. I think that’s the biggest part where I see that we’re making an impact, changing people’s lives for the better.” 

Have you ever rushed into sustainability action, only to find that people don’t seem to want to engage with it? Especially within organisations, leaders can sometimes be out of touch with their staff, not knowing how to engage them with new sustainability practices. Instead of simply introducing new mandatory policies, we can dig a little deeper into understanding what our staff need. When our staff are paid well, feel respected, and trust us to support and nurture them, they are more likely to engage with new policies and practices.  

How do we effectively change hearts, minds, and actions? 

While most of us are aware of the climate crisis, we are all on different steps on our journey to understanding our sustainability responsibilities. Every individual and organisation has a different idea of the best steps for them. With different values, priorities and concerns, one path of action may be perfect for one organisation and impossible for another.  

If we meet these conversations with rigidity, assuming that we know what is best for an organisation or individual, we are bound to experience resistance and may even end up pushing them further away. 

Our new Sustainability Trainer, Chris Woodfield, is used to encouraging conversations with people on all steps of their journey, having started his career working within community activism.  

 “For me, it’s about framing what we’re doing. One tool I often use is called The Business Transformation Compass from Forum for the Future. It looks at what mindset we’re coming from, and looking to shift our thinking from a risk mitigation and zero harm mindset towards a do good and just and regenerative mindset focused on building capacity for justice and regeneration. This helps us look at the system as a whole to move beyond sustaining and maintaining to enabling life to flourish and thrive.”   

Conversations around changing attitudes and habits can be tricky and need to be handled with care. If we want to turn sustainability aims into actions, we need to recognise that a sense of control and agency to act for the things that we care about are far more powerful motivators than fear or shame.   

In our sustainability advice services and training courses, we think about the values and needs of each organisation and develop sustainability goals to match them. That’s where our membership programme becomes so useful. Learning from similar organisations across different sectors has helped our members discover appropriate sustainability goals for them, feel less alone on their sustainability journey, and practice peer accountability. 

Can the sustainability journey be made easier? 

In the past few years, our lives have all changed hugely, meaning our habits have changed, too. It can be difficult to focus our attention in a specific direction, which can result in our sustainability aims getting left behind. Even with the pressure on organisations to meet sustainability goals and a widespread awareness of climate issues, time-poor organisations may struggle to find the time to dedicate to meaningful sustainability work.  

Noticing this, we’ve adapted things like our membership offer to fit with the needs of our members, particularly when it comes to their time. Our large quarterly member events always bring in a great crowd, alongside our digital events that are held each month, but developing this programme has required a lot of listening and adaptation from our Membership Officer, Abi Hoare: 

“Members ask us for networking opportunities, and they are always so engaged at our in-person events. But there are always practical issues, from people’s availability to wider issues of transport infrastructure and budgets. With the shift to remote working, people are more spread out and structuring their lives around being online, so in-person events can be tricky. We balance our in-person sessions with online sessions, having taken accessibility concerns into consideration, but we’re always listening to ways we can expand and evolve our programme.” 

If your events are under-attended, it’s worth thinking beyond the idea that people don’t ‘want’ to engage, and questioning how these events might be inaccessible. This could be down to practical issues, such as the space used and the time chosen, as well as interconnected issues such as clear event marketing, pricing, and the return on investment for your attendees.  

Many organisations are struggling financially, particularly in the third sector. One question that comes up sometimes is why should we budget for sustainability? When budgets must be cut, it makes sense to ensure that this sustainability work is, in itself, sustainable for us. This is why we think carefully about our pricing structure, offering different tiers and kinds of support to meet each organisation’s needs and budget.  

Fiona Humphreys, our Finance Officer, has seen the organisation grow and evolve over three years. She has reflected a lot on the value sustainability training provides. 

“As climate science changes so rapidly, we need to ensure that we continue to develop alongside it. The paid services we offer factor in our team’s research into evolving climate science, and purchasing our training helps an organisation to remember the value and importance of climate consciousness. We put a value on our work because we believe it has worth – and doing so allows us to offer pro bono work where it’s most needed, while also ensuring that we can continue to provide a service that is both up to date and effective in helping our clients become more sustainable.” 

When we have conversations around the need for sustainability action, it’s important to remember the nuanced factors that affect people’s behaviour. Through our training, advice, fair work, and membership services, we work with organisations of all sizes to take the next step towards more sustainable ways of working. When we’re honest with ourselves about our progress and our pitfalls, we can begin the journey of deepening our positive impact on the planet. Even as experts, we all have a way to go, and we hope you’ll join us in navigating this complex journey.  

Ready to start your sustainability journey? Get in touch to hear about our membership, training programmes, and sustainability advice.

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Heat policy and advice – The future we need now

As noted in the first and the second post, and seen from recent news, heating our homes is a financial and social challenge for many. It is wrapped up in notions of fairness or lack of it, comfort and family, as well as the impact on the environment. Having moved from wood and coal to natural gas, heating our homes using gas boilers is still a major source of direct carbon dioxide emissions which in 2019 stood at 85 million tonnes, that’s 17% of total UK greenhouse gasses emissions. At 3.7 MtCO2e, the Residential Buildings sector accounted for 10% of Welsh emissions in 2019. Given how leaky and old houses are in Wales and the rest of the UK, it is no surprise we continuously feel cold while energy bills keep going up.

Decarbonisation of heat, that is removal of gas as its main fuel, is, therefore, one of the most important climate actions we can take. The UK Committee for Climate Changes noted that between now and 2050, emissions from residential buildings need to fall to zero at a rate of 3.4% per year based on current emission levels. But, as authors of The pathway to net-zero heating in the UK 2021 brief (UK Energy Research Centre) observed, the current pace of decarbonisation (largely due to efficiency programmes and regulation in the period 2002-2012), would get us to zero emissions from buildings in 235 years and fall far short of meeting the 2050 target.

Source: The pathway to net zero heating in the UK 2021 brief

Since the publication of the brief, there has been little progress in the UK with regards to decabonisation of heat. This month, the House of Commons Committee has issued a report setting out the considerable challenges that lie ahead in the transition to decarbonised domestic heating and makes recommendations about the steps which need to be taken for the Government to meet its own targets for the decarbonisation of domestic heating. It is one of those punchy reports full of data and evidence highlighting the slow and inadequate response of the UK central government in enabling decarbonisation. At the same time, the report offers hope and a fresh perspective on the matter of heat because it focuses on all aspects of heat discussed in this series.

On the eve of the report, Darren Jones, Chair of BEIS aptly noted that

“As the Government decides on financial help for customers with the cost of their energy bills, they must also come forward with a replacement for the Green Homes Grant. Action is needed to improve insulation and energy efficiency in our homes and to step up the pace in delivering low carbon heating systems, at a lower cost to households than today. Ministers can’t simply leave this to the market – Government should tackle the cost of heating our homes in the round and bring forward joined-up policies that address these issues together. Decarbonising heat in our homes will require engineers who know how to install low carbon heating systems in every community across the country. The Government should work with industry and trade unions to support a low carbon heating apprenticeship programme and ensure existing workers get access to re-skilling courses that will support their transition to the new green jobs of the future.”

Although decarbonisation of heat is undoubtedly a complex process, the past developments (see the second post about the move from town to natural gas) tell us that socio-technological transitions can be made possible when multiple actors are fully mobilised. However, unlike earlier, the current transition is said to cost too much for taxpayers, the industry, and the government to muster. Does that mean that heat policy has hit the dead end? We do not think so. There is still hope to avoid multiple catastrophes if attention is paid to the physical, human, and environmental aspects of heat, as ignoring them will only derail any progress.

One important caveat though is that no geographical area is the same and so policies and national scenarios need to reflect that. For example, as part of the Zero2050 South Wales project, UKERC researchers worked with National Grid to investigate possible pathways for decarbonising heat in cities in South Wales, and noted that the share of different low carbon technologies under the same decarbonisation scenario is different for each city due to variations in housing stock and their characteristics in terms of the number of houses located in heat dense areas of the cities, and space availability of buildings.

What we have learned

Is it just about the technology? Is It about our habits? Feelings?  What can be done?

Here at Cynnal Cymru we recognise that technology alone really cannot solve all of the problems. It will solves some, but not all. We advocate that to reduce emissions and respond to climate change, policymakers need to engage businesses and communities to do their bit because knowledge and technology alone, however well delivered, does not shift behaviour. Knowledge and information campaigns work only if they are in tandem with initiatives that really engage the people most affected and allow them to see the changes that need to happen (for example in retrofitted ‘show homes’). In order to succeed, target audiences also need to trust those who are giving these messages and be able to see the benefits in making changes to their lives or their businesses. We also agree with the key message from commentators on this topic: first, insulation, then roll out of low carbon alternatives, while enabling (not just informing) the change in behaviour. Perhaps later other technologies can come in to support the decarbonisation. It is not one or the other, but rather more of many. 

This is why in our training, consultancy, and facilitation work we focus on actions, in particular, the steps organisations can take to enable others to do their bit. We also connect people with experts in their field, like the Active Building Centre, and point to information that can help.

Coming back to the question of what we can do about it

If you can afford insulation, do it immediately. The longer you leave it, the more heat you waste.  his might be easiest when thinking of renovating a house that you just bought or as part of a bigger home improvement project – but even if you find yourself in different circumstances, the benefits of action will outweigh the inconvenience.

If you cannot afford insulation you might be eligible for an ECO grant or localised grants. More information is available through Warm Wales.

If you are renting and you have no agency over insulation, check EPC standard for your home first because if it is low, you may ask your landlord to take new measures, or talk to council. Given that the report by the House of Commons Committee on decarbonisation of heat calls on Ministers to set out what measures are being considered to assist tenants who rent their homes in managing the transition to low carbon heating with their landlords, you may hopefully see changes in policy.

If you are working in the social housing sector, do not rely only on the provision of information to tenants to reduce energy consumption. Tenants need to be listened to, their concerns answered, and live examples of what’s possible through retrofit are needed in the community. If engaging your tenants in these conversations is challenging, consider reading the latest account by a journalist whose childhood was dominated by poverty, damp clothes, and stigma.

If you are a business and you are struggling paying bills, check the guidance by OFGEM as to what can be done immediately, but also use this challenge as an opportunity to plan your decarbonisation strategy.

If you are renting out business offices and spaces, you can still support decarbonisation by ensuring there are no leaks in buildings you own, the EPC rating is up to scratch, and by working with your business tenants.

If you would like to have a say about the Welsh Government’s proposals for the next iteration of the Warm Homes Programme, go to the cosultation page or attend workshops by National Energy Action (NEA) Cymru.

In closing we want to state our view: Nobody should feel cold and stigmatised for living in a leaky home and future generations should not be the ones fixing up the problem of heat. It is up to the current generation to fix this issue by calling on governments to deliver on their policies while doing all that’s in their power to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

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To switch on the heating, or not? – a surprisingly complex question

On cold, wet and windy days a bike ride to work seems impossible. Damp shoes and clothes seem too much to contend with and wrapping up in a blanket on a Zoom call seems too unprofessional. Whether in the office or at home, the temptation to reach for the electric heater grows as the gas prices are rising and central heating under-performs. “To switch on the heating, or not” is the question that many people across the Northern hemisphere are asking themselves.

Here at Cynnal Cymru we recognise these challenges as we too battle between the need for comfort and the feeling of warmth versus our knowledge about climate change. We know from the 6th Carbon budget by the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC), that direct building CO₂ emissions were 85 MtCO₂ in 2019, which account for 17% of total UK GHG emission. This was mostly from our homes (77%), followed by commercial buildings (14%) and public buildings (9%). The reason behind these figures is simple – it is our demand for hot water and heating. 74% of this demand in buildings is met by natural gas, and 10% by petroleum, with smaller amounts of other fuels such as coal and biomass.

To reduce total emissions, the ways in which we heat and use our buildings must be addressed. Recommendations from the CCC include changing behaviour (use less, lower the temperature), increasing building efficiency (insulation), and introducing low carbon heat (air source or ground heat pumps, hydrogen, low carbon district heating etc). The topic of heat then sits at the core of what we at Cynnal Cymru care about, not just professionally but personally too.

Over the last few months, we took part in an unintentional social experiment, because the building we are located in was undergoing a renovation of its central heating. We wore our thickest jumpers, we made many hot drinks, and despite all efforts, eventually, we turned to the electric heaters knowing perfectly well their economic and environmental cost.

This lack of heat got us talking about comfort, habits, energy, renewables, ways to keep warm, and insulation. We knew well that to reduce carbon emissions and to protect future generations, we need to do our bit around heat –which, in reality, may well mean getting used to feeling colder while waiting for a zero-carbon alternative to arrive. But how might this impact on those other fundamental human feelings and needs – for warmth, security and comfort? And what does this mean for the changes that we need to make as a society?

To delve deeper into these questions – and to explore the challenges and opportunities that Wales faces for warm homes and decarbonisation – Dr Karolina Rucinska, our Sustainability Advisor, set out on a research journey that will be shared over the coming weeks. We start with the basics – what is heat?

Heat is moving

If you are grumbling about how cold your house is despite having the radiators on, it is because heat, if it can escape, will always do so. However hard you try, the hot stuff will eventually become cold because the world we live in is governed by the uncompromising laws of thermodynamics. ‘Heat in motion’, Chris Woodford explains in Atoms under the floorboards (2016, Bloomsbury Publishing), ‘is another way to describe thermodynamics, which explains things like how cars waste energy, why power stations need such stupendous cooling towers, why cows have damp noses and dogs dangle out their tongues – and even why Arctic musk oxen spend so much time standing still in the snow.’

While the first law is concerned with energy loss, the second law of thermodynamics is concerned with the movement of heat, always from hot to cold and never the other way round. So, cold stuff is simply the lack of heat, while heat is stuff that always wants to go where there is less of it. Sounds weird, but effectively this is what is happening in our homes. Heat moves around and is, as it were, always on the go, so to make your home cosy, you are effectively trying to heat up every atom in everything that is inside. This takes huge effort and of course energy. If you are using different heaters that store heat and give it away at different rates, then you might wait hours if not days to feel cosy, while all that heat continues to slosh around and move.

This physical side of heat points to one thing: if you want to keep your house cosy, you must insulate it. Without insulation, heat will always escape regardless of how you warm it up. Before you look up low carbon alternatives to your boiler, invest in insulation.

If only it was that easy….

The UK has some of the oldest and most leaky housing stock in Europe. According to the Independent review on decarbonising Welsh homes, 32% of the Welsh housing stock was built before 1919, when there were no construction standards in terms of thermal performance. Research by the Cardiff University School of Architecture showed that the average energy performance (EPC) rating of the Welsh housing stock is a ‘D’ rating*, which raises the incidences of fuel poverty. 43% of people living in private rented accommodation are living in houses built before 1919.

The Guardian reports that, nine in 10 households rely on gas boilers, and lots of gas boilers need lots of gas: UK households consume more of it than almost all of their European peers, at around twice the EU average. With the price of gas going up and energy companies going down, heating leaky homes feels wasteful if they continue to be not insulated well enough to counter that physical side of heat. Between 2012 and 2019 the number of home insulation installations actually dropped by 95%. National Energy Action (NEA), the national fuel poverty charity, has noted that at that rate it would take nearly a century to properly insulate all of the current fuel-poor homes in the country. The statistics are eye-opening indeed. They are clearly telling policy makers and businesses that to significantly reduce carbon emissions from buildings by 2050, actions have to be taken now. But there is something about heat that speaks not to reason and data, but to feeling, an embodied feeling.

Heat is us

Like houses, our bodies too are governed by thermodynamics. Heat escapes our bodies and even after vigorous exercise, we eventually cool down. We give away heat, which we feel immediately, and we want to do something about it, immediately. But we cannot wait years and decades until housing stock is less leaky. We can put on the warmest jumpers to almost insulate our bodies as we would with our houses, but nothing will stop us from eventually feeling cold again. At some point we will need to, despite all that we know about the costs of gas and leaky houses, warm ourselves up. We are all taking temporary and readily available solutions simply because it is cold.

The problem though is that the embodied feeling is not experienced, which in turn perhaps influences our motivation and ability to act, for ourselves and others. Illness, age, cardiovascular system, place, and even norms, as research suggests, dictate how our bodies experience heat or lack thereof. If you have had a disagreement with your family or co-workers about the “right” temperature settings, then you will know what I am talking about.

Heat is suddenly a societal thing. It unites us as well as divides us. How one experiences heat or the lack of it, and what one does about it, also reveals something, unknowingly, about us. Which is why, heating our homes or not, it is about us too. It is a personal, deeply private and emotional thing. As researchers, Erin Roberts and Karen Henwood, from Cardiff University observed, heating is not just about thermal performance of a house, but about thermal comfort. It evokes the feeling of belonging, of feeling safe, of feeling looked after. It brings up the good memories of being with a family and sadly, bad memories of coming home after school with radiators off because parents, often despite being in work, cannot afford high energy bills. Heating can then become, unfairly, a social stigma and a social divide.

Heat is incredibly complex then, as it touches on our most intimate and most sacred parts of our lives, lives which, just like our housing stock, are governed by laws of thermodynamics. Our attention to these laws and insights, or lack of it, will influence future heating actions and policy.

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing a series of articles to explore the challenges and opportunities it poses for equality, decarbonisation and social transformation.

*Properties are given an energy-efficiency grade between A and G, with A being the best – i.e., most energy-efficient – and G being the worst.

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Person with a mug staring into a window

When switching the heating on is still not an option for many

In 2019, 13.4% of households in the UK, that’s 3.8 million households, were classed as fuel poor. In Wales, households that spend more than 10% of their income on energy, would be referred to as fuel poor. The three main drivers behind fuel poverty are low incomes, the low energy efficiency of homes, and high energy prices. However, the picture is far more complex and challenging to analyse because, as research by Groves et al. suggests, fuel poverty is to with households being caught in between numerous disabling conditions. For example, households, where older people or people with disabilities live, may need to spend significantly more on space heating or on powering assistive technologies. Constraints on adaptability can also be because of the material fabric of homes. A lack of adequate insulation or of double glazing can significantly reduce the efficiency of heating systems, for instance. But constraints on households’ choices can also come from external conditions. These are often social in nature, such as the relationships between tenants and private landlords, or the use by utility companies of prepayment meters and higher tariffs for consumers on low incomes.   

Fuel poverty is not just about the inability to keep warm, but rather being unable to make a difference, which is the real issue here. People feel not just cold physically but they feel stigmatised. Heating and energy bills bring on anxiety, rather than comfort and cosiness. Providing households with information to reduce energy consumption are least likely to make an impact, this is because there are too many disabling conditions and therefore too much anxiety associated with this topic. 

To change one’s behaviour, there must be plenty of enabling conditions for the desired change to happen along with progressive policies. More on this point, in the third part of the All about heat series.  

Heat is environment  

Fur, wool, houses, wood and coal burners, warm food, and eventually central or district heating – these are the artifacts or, if you like, evidence of humans trying to stay warm. It is our history really – an epic effort to feel warm enough, to see while it is dark, and to put machines and cars into motion.   

In a brilliantly titled, Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization (1999, MIT Press), Vaclav Smil takes the reader on a journey through natural resources showing how they were used, what impact they had on the growth of cities, and environment. For example, pre-industrial civilisation depended on wood, straw, charcoal as raw materials to build houses and as material for smelting.  Here is how Smil described the scale of that demand. 

 “A large Wooden Age city in a colder climate (in Northern Europe or in North China) would have consumed at least 20–30 W/m2 of its built-up area, mainly for heating and cooking, and also for manufactures ranging from blacksmithing to firing of tiles. Consequently, the power density of sustainable forest growth in temperate climates was commonly equal to less than one and rarely more than 2 percent of the power density of urban energy consumption—and the cities required nearby areas anywhere between fifty to two hundred times their size to satisfy their thermal energy needs”. 

Throughout the centuries, the demand for the smelting of iron created many deforested landscapes. England’s early adoption of coke, Smil argued, is easy to understand: A single early eighteenth-century furnace consumed annually a circle of forest with a radius of about four kilometers.  He went on to say that, “if American ironmakers had not switched to coke after 1870, by 1900 they would have consumed annually enough forest to fill a square whose side would be the distance between Boston and Philadelphia”. 

But earlier centuries pale in comparison to the impact of coal and oil. The impact is to do not only with the emissions and pollution coming directly from the processes of extraction and burning, but it is also to do with the emission coming from all of the new sectors of industry and economy powered by the energy generated by coal, oil, and gas.

Domestic life has been transformed by gas and electricity, and it is really difficult to undo that transformation. As noted earlier, wearing lots of layers for long periods of time is not comfortable for us humans.  And yet, the idea of switching the heating and gas cooker on is relatively recent. No household would be able to do so, if the infrastructure was not built, or appropriate appliances were designed. In fact, in the 1960s the UK underwent an incredible project to convert appliances from town gas (manufactured gas from coal and oil) to natural gas (gas extracted from seabed and ground) and to fully establish it as a go-to solution for heating. The project involved converting 13.5 million domestic and 650 thousand commercial and industrial consumers and took 10 years to complete. Special training schools were established to train staff (engineers, installers, sellers, admin) to make the transition happen. It required incredible coordination, planning, and establishment of numerous organisations. The Office of the Budget Responsibility reports that moving 13 million properties to natural gas involved the 12 regional gas boards, parts of the industry (to make new appliances or the parts necessary to convert existing ones), contractors (to enter people’s homes and carry out the conversions), public relations (to sell the idea) and the public (to embrace it). The Government took a central coordinating role, with time nationalised Gas Council giving the state direct control of the required investment. It was not an easy project and as Stathis Arapostathis, Peter J.G. Pearson, and Timothy J. Foxon noted,  the conditions to change to different types of heating and regulatory regimes were enabled. So, to switch to low carbon heating alternatives or lower energy consumption, the processes must also be done such they enable everyone to do their bit. But, as the Office goes on to say, the costs of transitioning to net zero heat (heat pumps and hydrogen) are far greater than before.

In the next and the last post in this series, Dr Karolina Rucinska will turn to the role of policy in dealing with fuel poverty and decarbonisation before summing it all.

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Nest Nyth – Branding and messaging for a new fuel poverty scheme

As part of the new scheme Cynnal Cymru, along with partners, was commissioned to create a new brand mark and communication messaging.

Through a series of interactive workshops, the bilingual branding, Nest – Nyth, was created, a reassuring brand which was designed to give the target audience confidence in the scheme.

Nest was a word chosen by people in focus groups to describe how they feel about their home. It was developed together with the bird box branding which is easily identifiable, bold in colour and has the comforting wording ‘Making Wales Cosy.’

Nest offers free advice about:

  • Saving energy
  • Money management
  • Making sure you’re on the best fuel tariff for you;
  • And whether you are entitled to any benefits to boost your income

The scheme can be accessed by visiting www.nest.gov.wales or calling freephone 0808 808 2244

This project was commissioned by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and was managed by Cynnal Cymru in collaboration with Climate Outreach and branding design agency Hoffi.

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