By Tracy Lewis, Managing Director
Whilst normally I would agree with Dorothy’s statement, right now I would rather be working anywhere but in my home! And yet, having been able to work from the office for several months, I find myself once again writing from the relative comfort of my house. The reality for so many people, however, is that working from your bedroom or dining room table is not tenable for another 6 months.
Returning any staff that are struggling to work from their home back to our workplace has been a priority for the Directors at Carbonxgen. Of course, this has to be a choice, but it is clear that our staff want to return to the office and with an office refurbishment underway, we are committed to giving them that opportunity. The mental wellbeing of our staff has been a major driver in our thought process and giving them the environment, tools and support they need is paramount.
There has to be balance – living with the virus whilst working safely to support our economy. Over the past 6 months our team has written several guides from building hibernation to returning to the workplace. Most recently we published a COVID guide for contract and commercial catering to ensure that utilities are managed efficiently during the process of closure and re-opening. Of course, safety comes first but, and as Prince Charles warns, the climate crisis will ‘dwarf the impact’ of coronavirus. We must act now. The climate crisis has not abated during the pandemic.
This message has clearly been acknowledged by Climate Action 100+, a campaign group representing 500+ investors, that has issued a call to arms to carbon-intensive corporates urging them to adjust their business practices in order to support the transition to net-zero by 2050. My fear is that for too many 2050 seems so far away and the implications of not taking action are now almost lost. The argument we hear is that there are no funds – my answer to this is that if you have a utility spend budget then you have funds to commence good energy management practices. To coin a well known phrase “one small step”… We recently discussed this very subject with Morgan Capital, Lambert Smith Hampton and PwC during a webinar we hosted titled ‘The Road to Recovery and Sustainable Resilience for Real Estate Businesses’. This is now available to view on demand if you didn’t get a chance to join us on the day.
On a lighter note, I would like to thank all of our partners for their continued support of our business and that of our clients. We remain committed to you through these difficult times and the way we have worked together to ensure that we all stand tall whilst we wait for better times to come is a testament to us all and something to be incredibly proud of.
All that is left for me to say is, stay safe and let’s hope that October “treats” us well.
