Our mission
Net Zero is our core business. A world-class energy consulting partner driven by the expertise and innovation of our people, we aim to leave our planet and its people in a better state than when we started. We will do this by helping organisations and their supply chains to plan, prioritise and achieve their carbon neutral goals, and in the process help them to procure and use less energy, reduce costs, better manage risk, and increase their energy security.
Delivering Net Zero
Consultus expertise, services and resources will help your organisation and its supply chain to work towards – and achieve – aggressive Net Zero targets. Our unique portfolio of services and Net Zero Pathway tool are the best route to reducing and eliminating the impacts on our climate caused by your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Helping clients to improve their energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and control costs since 1994, we can assist you at every stage of your Net Zero journey.
Every organisation and value chain is different, which means that no two Net Zero journeys are the same. Some people have already implemented sustainability measures and carbon-neutral plans. Others are just starting out. Our expertise and breadth of services means we can work with, complement and enhance whatever you have now, and provide whatever you need tomorrow. In particular, the Consultus Net Zero Pathway approach shows the clearest ways forward to achieve your goals, based on your set up, level of ambition, existing systems, and appetite for change: tailored support to suit every organisation.
The seven pillars that underpin the Consultus approach to Net Zero
Helping you to achieve your carbon reduction and sustainability goals:
The Net Zero Pathway tool
This unique asset is sector and technology agnostic and was awarded “Best Technology Business Solution’ at the Energy Live News Awards 2021. It is designed to deliver a clearly understandable bespoke pathway for your own organisation to achieve its New Zero goals within defined time lines. Self-service or guided support means you can explore your options and proceed at a pace that suits you, developing your strategy and agreeing roles and responsibilities in a planned and orderly way.
renewable supply options
Take control of your greener future:
Various options are open to you, and all should be considered depending on the needs of your organisation, its level of ambition. location and current state-of-play. We advise clients that a mix of solutions is typically required to achieve 100% Net Zero. The important first steps are to develop your strategy and a plan – a pathway – to achieve your Net Zero ambitions. You can then choose and using what makes most sense. As you would expect, the biggest and most sustained benefits are found in onsite generation, private wire and PPAs.
What is ‘Net Zero’?
According to the UK’s Institute for Government, “Net Zero refers to achieving a balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. There are two different routes to achieving net zero, which work in tandem: reducing existing emissions and actively removing greenhouse gases.
A gross-zero target would mean reducing all emissions to zero. This is not realistic, so instead the net-zero target recognises that there will be some emissions but that these need to be fully offset, predominantly through natural carbon sinks such as oceans and forests. (In the future, it may be possible to use artificial carbon sinks to increase carbon removal, research into these technologies is ongoing.) When the amount of carbon emissions produced are cancelled out by the amount removed, the UK will be a net-zero emitter. The lower the emissions, the easier this becomes.”
Source: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/net-zero-target
Additional information
Net zero by 2050: in June 2019, the UK parliament passed legislation that requires the government to reduce the UK’s net emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) by 100% relative to 1990 levels by 2050 – thereby making the UK a ‘net zero’ emitter. Prior to this, the UK was committed to reducing net GHG emissions by at least 80% of 1990 levels, also by 2050. More than 120 countries including the major powers of Europe, the Americas and Asia have now set mid-century net zero emissions or carbon neutrality goals.
Going further faster: in December 2020, the UK government announced ambitious new emissions targets to set the UK on the path to net zero by 2050. In line with ‘The ten point plan for a green industrial revolution’. These new targets aim for at least a 68% reduction in GHG emissions by the end of this decade compared to 1990 levels. The government has stated that “putting the world on a pathway to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050” is the main aim of the UN climate change COP26 talks that will be hosted in the UK in November 2021.
A January 2021 report by the World Economic Forum[1] titled ‘Net-Zero Challenge: The supply chain opportunity’ maintained that “Supply-chain decarbonization will be a ‘game changer’ for the impact of corporate climate action.” Major findings included:
- Many companies can multiply their climate impact by decarbonizing supply chains.
- Eight supply chains account for more than 50% of global emissions (food, construction, fashion, FMCG, electronics, automotive, professional services, freight).
- Net-zero supply chains would hardly increase end-consumer costs.
- Decarbonizing supply chains is hard – “even leading companies struggle to get the data they need and to set clear targets and standards.”
Consultus expertise and the Net Zero Pathway can be engaged and deployed to deliver blended solutions at any stage of the journey and for any supply chain.
[1] https://www.weforum.org/reports/net-zero-challenge-the-supply-chain-opportunity
We've come a long way. From Zero to Hero
Since becoming established in 1994, we’ve come a long way on our journey. From a traditional procurement business to Net Zero Specialists, we’ve gained valuable experience along the way, allowing us to deliver an outstanding service as a Net Zero Consultancy Partner to may of today’s leading businesses.