FREE WEBINAR: Turning Economic Uncertainty into Sustainability Opportunity

There are a number of ways to stay informed about grants and funding opportunities for energy efficiency and sustainability projects.

Government departments often publish current grant schemes, for example GOV.UK – Business Finance and Support. You could also subscribe to funding alerts from platforms like GrantFinder or Funding Central (for nonprofits).

In some cases, funding may be available through collaborative schemes or partner programs, particularly for decarbonisation projects in shared value chains.

Many consultants stay up to date with regional and sector-specific grants and can help identify relevant funding during audits or project planning.

Reach out to us if you want more information about the grants available for your type of organisation.

This can be an issue in a tenanted building, especially if utilities are rolled up in the service charge. Ideally, when negotiating a new lease, you should agree with the landlord the level and frequency of energy and water data they will provide and ensure this meets your needs for managing your reporting and target commitments.

However, this is not always possible and is often missed. Other ways of collecting data, if the landlord won’t or can’t supply it, can be by installing your own meters. Simple, low cost, clip on metering for electricity is available that could be installed in local distribution boards or energy monitors that plug into 3 pin sockets could be used. These both have the advantage that they can be moved easily if there are changes but only cover electricity.

Water meters are relatively cheap and simple to install on small diameter pipe (15mm & 22mm) if you have a common feed to the services in your area of the building. Metering heat is more expensive and difficult, so is unlikely to be practical in most tenanted situations. Usually this would be estimated via % floor area of the building occupied multiplied by the kWh of heating fuel used for the whole building , which the landlord should be able to provide. There is a legal requirement for landlords of shared buildings to provide heat metering under the heat network regulations Regulations: heat networks (metering and billing) – GOV.UK but there is a cost effectiveness clause that means most can bypass this requirement.

Hi, it will depend on the activity in the building. Typically, we would recommend heating to 20C and cooling to 24C for an office. The critical thing is to ensure there is a gap between the heating and cooling set points to make sure the heating and cooling systems are not fighting each other. For a warehouse or workshop, heating to 15C could be appropriate if the occupants are undertaking manual work.

In practice, it varies by organisation, but there’s a shift happening.

Historically, making the business case for energy savings, through ROI, cost reduction, and operational efficiency, was essential to gain leadership buy-in. Many organisations needed a strong financial rationale to justify investment in energy-saving initiatives.

However, in recent years, there’s been a notable rise in mission-driven decision-making, especially among larger companies or those with high public visibility. These organisations often already have science-based targets (SBTs), Net Zero goals, or ESG commitments in place. For them, energy savings are not just about cost, they’re a strategic imperative for long-term resilience, stakeholder trust, and regulatory alignment.

Today, the picture often looks like this:

• 50/50 in many sectors: Half still require a strong financial case, especially in cost-sensitive industries or smaller companies.

• In leading or regulated sectors (e.g. chemicals, finance, tech): The conversation is more about how to meet ambitious climate goals rather than why.

• In supply chains and SMEs: There’s often more emphasis on financial benefit first, but climate-awareness is growing rapidly.

So while the business case still matters, especially in uncertain economic times, there’s increasing recognition that climate inaction is a business risk in itself.

It sounds like you’ve already made significant strides, especially in areas that deliver both environmental and financial impact such as choosing sea freight over air and promoting public transport. That’s commendable and places you ahead of many.

At this stage, further improvements may not come from major capital investments, but rather from refining systems, engaging your suppliers more deeply, and capturing the value of what you’ve already done. Here are a few additional areas to consider:

1. Supplier engagement:
Encourage your suppliers to adopt or share their sustainability practices. Small improvements upstream can have a big cumulative impact and might also open up collaboration opportunities or new efficiencies.

2. Data and impact measurement:
Start measuring and communicating the impact of your efforts (e.g., emissions saved from using sea over air freight). This adds brand value and helps build trust with customers and partners, even if there are no major cost savings left.

3. Building climate resilience:
Sustainability is not only about reducing impact, it’s also about preparing for change. Consider how your operations and supply chain might be exposed to climate risks like extreme weather, resource scarcity, or disruptions in transport. Taking steps now to assess and strengthen your resilience can reduce long-term costs and protect business continuity.

4. Behavioural and cultural shifts:
Sometimes significant savings and impact can come from operational or behavioural changes: reducing over-ordering, tweaking logistics routes, or empowering staff to suggest efficiency ideas.

5. Circular economy thinking:
Explore opportunities to reuse materials, partner with others to share resources, or design products and services with end-of-life in mind. These can open new revenue streams or reduce dependency on virgin inputs.

6. Certifications and communication:
If you’ve already done the work, consider ways to formalise or communicate it, through low-burden sustainability credentials, reporting, or storytelling. This can enhance your brand and demonstrate leadership to customers and stakeholders.

Even if the immediate cost-saving potential has been largely realised, the strategic value now lies in increasing visibility, building resilience, and staying ahead of evolving expectations. Feel free to reach out if you want support with any of the above.

We aim to continue working with our clients beyond reporting by helping train staff, design and implement ISO50001 EnMS or help implement technical projects including renewables. We also encourage our clients to self-deliver as much as they can but will provide support in whatever capacity required and have worked with some of our clients for many years including Circle Health and Vodafone both of whom have realised significant cost and GHG reductions.

The Behaviour Change initiatives included significant changes to internal communications, written processes and control optimisation, establishing an Energy Team, increasing energy awareness throughout the site and making energy management everyone’s responsibility. The project resulted in potential savings directly attributable after 12-15 months very conservatively > £400k pa with a payback <9 moths and potentially up to £900k pa.

That’s a really valuable point, and we absolutely agree that sustainability is about much more than just hypothetical cost savings. Reducing consumption and environmental impact must remain central to the conversation.

During the webinar, Owen shared a number of real-world examples, including Ark Academy, where measurable cost savings were achieved, and Leeds University, which saw a reduction in energy use of over 30%. The Amtico case involved an energy audit, illustrating the first step in a broader process. At JRP, we work closely with many organisations not only to develop energy-saving strategies but also to support implementation, ensuring outcomes are measurable and verified as part of our comprehensive service offering.