Greater Manchester’s sixth Green Summit took place at the Lowry, Salford, on Monday 3 October, with Andy Burnham talking about the city-region's progress against its ambitious net zero target and Green Economy members arriving at the event to discuss their products and services.
The Green Summit is an opportunity for like-minded green professionals, policymakers and business leaders to set out their plans to drive change across the region and ensure its progressive climate targets are met.
At this year’s Green Summit, we hosted the Local Green Tech Zone (LGTZ), spotlighting our members and the services they offer to help businesses and households decarbonise. The LGTZ is primarily an opportunity to introduce our members, including Green Roof Company, Solarus Energy, Pilot Group, H2 Origin, Freeflush, and Halo Smart IoT, to new audiences and partnerships.
We were also joined by a host of Green Economy members and board members, including ENWL, City of Trees, Octopus Energy, People Powered Retrofit, The Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre, Tyrrell Building Technologies, Energy Innovation Agency, and NPS Solar.
A panel including Greater Manchester’s Mayor, Andy Burnham, who arrived after a morning at the Conservative Party Conference, also taking place in Manchester this week, took to the stage in the morning to address a range of audience questions. Here’s what the panel discussed.
Andy Burnham focussed on GM’s latest action to bring busses back under public control and release a fleet of 50 electric busses covering routes across the region. Greater Manchester’s Bee Network has been a source of pride for the city, with a fleet of low-emission, affordable busses keeping the region connected.
Ian Smith, ENWL, also discussed the electrification of the Bee Network busses, an electrification scheme which he proudly stated “was delivered on time and within budget.” Ian also discussed ENWL’s Smart Street scheme, “a project which aims to deliver innovative voltage techniques across the region, such as voltage control technology.”
The purpose of the project is to combine new technology with existing assets to build an efficient network management system which ensures that new green technologies reliant on the grid, such as EV charge points, are managed effectively and sustainably.
Ian also discussed ENWL’s innovative Net Zero Terrace project targeting “social housing for green retrofit, including heat pumps, insulation, and solar panels.” This is a community engagement project aiming to create a scalable and accessible model to decarbonise heat and energy use across the social housing sector.
Andy Burnham answered first, highlighting skills and technical education as his primary focus for ensuring decarbonisation projects have the necessary workforce to be delivered.
“We’ve launched the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (GMB) which creates a pathway for school-leavers to access technical education if the academic, university route isn’t for them. This will involve a focus on T-Levels and Apprenticeships which get young people into hands-on roles within the green sector.”
He suggested that the GMB will tackle skills shortages within the green sector which may hinder innovation if not addressed, highlighting that education and upskilling presents key gateway for young people into low carbon sectors.
Ian Smith, ENWL, spoke on the necessity of decarbonising commercial and residential buildings. He discussed the current construction techniques which have long been “dependent on energy intensive and fossil-fuel reliant techniques, meaning a behavioural change as to how we heat our homes, generate hot water, and get electricity to our buildings is essential for uncovering and adopting newer low carbon techniques.”
In addition, Ian championed integrated technologies as a multi-faceted decarbonisation tool, such as pairing EVs with solar, or effective insulation with heat pumps. This type of progress seems dependent on greater information and a sizeable behavioural shift to educate businesses and households on the types of green technologies that are accessible to them and can be paired to cut carbon effectively,
Erin Baker, Auto Trader UK, discussed innovation within the automotive industry. She highlighted the progress regarding innovation and R&D within the transport industry. However, she stated “a behavioural change among businesses and consumers is essential for ensuring this innovation is used effectively and continues to progress.”
Some examples of this behavioural change surround EVs, such as addressing range anxiety with clear charge point mapping and filling battery-life knowledge gaps with accessible educational resources and public information.
We were at GM's #GreenSummit showcasing our Local Green Tech Zone, championing the green services our members offer to help businesses achieve #NetZero.
— Green Economy (@UKGreenEconomy) October 3, 2023
Read our write-up here: https://t.co/0sc5l7qZMP@AmerGaffar, @CreativeConcern, @PilotGroupLtd , @H2OriginRefills, @freeflush pic.twitter.com/aX6yD45DzZ
Andy Burnham addressed the “combined effort of the GMCA and Green Economy to tackle the commercial and domestic retrofit challenges”, particularly regarding retrofit costs among the cost-of-living crisis.
He once again highlighted the Bee Network and decarbonisation of public transport as a key priority above personal vehicles in terms of benefitting everybody and reducing costs for the majority of people who require access to public transport. He also referred to Greater Manchester’s bus fare cap: “Our £2 cap on bus fares covering routes across Greater Manchester will remain in place until 2024. This has proven very effective in encouraging people to use public transport.”
Gordon Rogers, United Utilities, pondered the differences between larger corporations and smaller businesses when it comes to greenwashing; a gap he believes is rapidly closing.
“Highly regulated businesses are under harsher scrutiny for greenwashing and greenhushing, but awareness of what greenwashing is means businesses at all levels now need to take the language they use surrounding environmental reporting seriously. Being focussed on transparent practices that genuinely reduce emissions, rather than somewhat dubious techniques which are contestable in their effectiveness, is the most effective means of avoiding greenwashing.”
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