Getting Boardroom Buy-In – my report back from edieLive

Last week I attended the annual conference & exhibition edieLive at the NEC. It was a great mix of exhibitors, speakers, workshops & general networking. I met with clients & contacts – it’s always nice to have a catch up – plus I met plenty of new people – useful for collaborations, referrals, potential clients & simply learning from others.

I also had a busy day in the Energy Efficiency Theatre, chairing & presenting two sessions. Here’s a summary of the main points I covered.

Getting Boardroom Buy-In

Many environmental professionals have difficulties engaging with senior management, who may be too busy or simply not interested. So I gave some insights for getting boardroom buy-in.

I first asked the simplest of questions – who are you trying to reach? This is Marketing 101 – you have to understand your target audience. I floated some ideas of what the Board wants & what’s important to a typical director.

Then, with examples, I talked about how to get them involved.

It’s important to get involved at the highest level. It’s not just for the rest of the workforce to do all the environmental stuff – it’s equally (or even more) important for the top people to understand their role.
Communication is key – You need to speak with them & don’t scare them off – make it easy for them, speak in their language, appeal to what’s important to them.
Don’t lecture, Engage – fewer presentations, more immersive learning. Take them places, show them things, go through exercises (practical & theoretical), get them to solve a problem – that’s important & relevant to them.
Don’t be a doom monger – Be positive – it’s catching!

I then talked about ISO 14001 & the new requirements which are perfectly set up to engage the board. There are clauses on Context, Risks & Opportunities, Leadership & the wider Lifecycle. All of these give top management specific requirements within the EMS, but they also link to their typical duties in the business anyway – strategy, finance, leadership, forecasting, risk management etc.

We lastly ran through a very quick tool that I use with my ISO 14001 clients on Risks & Opportunities – a PESTLE Analysis. Standing for “Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental”, this is a great way to engage the people at the top of the business, because it covers the things they are interested in & accountable for.

Navigating a new energy management landscape

Earlier that day I had only 15 minutes to talk about the wider energy management landscape. A challenge, particularly as I’m not policy expert (or maybe because of this I was able to keep to time!). So I wanted to take people from the world stage, down through national & regional issues, to the personal level of energy management.

I shared some of the key findings & questions raised in the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook report. Global energy demand was up 2.1% in 2017 – more than twice the previous year’s rate, boosted by strong global economic growth. Fossil fuels met most of the increase in demand, though renewables have the highest growth rate & are getting cheaper. But worryingly, we will need 30% more energy by 2040 to meet projected demand.

It is important that countries recognise the UN Sustainable Development Goals – energy relates to the SDGs through climate change; sustainable consumption & production patterns; human health from emissions; inequalities to energy access (by wealth & gender, poverty & education). Significantly action is needed now to meet the Paris Agreement goals of a 2 or 1.5^oC reduction by 2050.

Here the UK government department BEIS is looking at Local Energy Hubs & has tasked LEPs (local enterprise partnerships) to develop Regional Energy Strategies.

I covered some interesting trends: Cooling is driving energy demand (more than electric vehicles). Storage is still early days (great potential) & micro-generation will be key. While Digitalisation helps business & services develop in new ways, placing demands on energy.

And what about our day-to-day compliance?

– ESOS is getting big again – we are now in Phase 2 & must act now to meet the deadline. Start your energy audits & collecting good quality data.
– MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard MEES) – will your new sites have EPC rating of E or better?
– ISO 50001 & ISO 14001 – management systems will be used much more to actively manage energy & environmental impacts, reduce costs & meet customer demand.

All of these issues are important for energy managers, directors & even operations staff.