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Verco's Chorley office donates time to the Wildlife Trust

Based on the site of an old quarry, Brockholes Nature Reserve is owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester & North Merseyside. The Trust has used their expertise to create habitats for lots of different wildlife in 250 acres of reserve and Verco Chorley visited for the third year running on Wednesday to carry out their annual team volunteering afternoon.In past years they have helped with the removal of Himalayan Balsam and created some dead hedges along one of the many trails the site has. This year however they assisted in removing dock and ragwort plants from one of the meadows. Read more

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UK Government expects listed companies to disclose climate risk in line with TCFD by 2022, how will they respond?

The call for companies to be more transparent about their climate-related risks and opportunities has received a big push in the UK, thanks to the Government’s newly published Green Finance Strategy. This sets an expectation for all listed companies and large asset owners to disclose in line with the Task-force for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations by 2022. A task-force of UK regulators chaired by Government is being set up to look into the most effective way of achieving this, including how to make the TCFD recommendations mandatory. In this article, Tim Crozier-Cole - Head of Strategy and Research at Verco - comments on the status of TCFD presently and how companies are likely to respond. Read more

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Outstanding environmental reporting - fully automated

The transition to zero carbon requires an evolution in environmental reporting. Report for Zero is a service designed for sustainability executives who want to use their environmental data to drive insight into performance.Download the report for zero brochure Read more

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Zero Carbon Futures: What now, what next? – Reflections from the Crowd event

Verco was proud to sponsor the Crowd’s well timed event on Zero Carbon Futures last month. A lot has happened since then- The House of Commons has approved legislation for net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and Teresa May has used this as a platform to encourage others to follow our lead at the G20 Summit, highlighting the need for a five-fold increase on existing 2030 commitments if we are to remain below 1.5 degrees of warming. Read more

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Why we should be aiming for zero

Climate change is contributing to political instability and poses a threat to the economic development across the globe. Combined with resource depletion and population growth, climate change is a major threat to the peace and prosperity of all societies. Read more

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Verco goes plastic free for a week

As a result of our successful plastic free week in 2018, we decided to kick-off plastic free July with another plastic free week in our three offices. This has been a great opportunity to reflect on where we use plastic and look at ways to make improvements. Read more

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Pathways to zero: Webinar co-hosted with The Crowd

The drive towards ‘Net Zero’ is now an urgent call to action for business, national governments and international institutions. Since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) sobering conclusion that we must reach net-zero emissions by 2050 to prevent further climate breakdown and deliver genuinely sustainable development, the transition to a net-zero economy has become a major public cause and a practical business goal. Read more

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Shell Springboard: Meet the six national finalists

Verco are proud to support the delivery of Springboard – one of the UK’s leading funding competitions for low carbon innovation. For the last 14 years Verco have been Shell’s technical assessment delivery partner - our role is to review and evaluate the low carbon business ideas submitted to the programme, of which there are routinely over 100 each year. We select the 16 who will proceed to the semi-finals. This is based on the credibility of the commercial strategy, the level of innovation demonstrated and the potential of the idea having a material impact on the transition to zero carbon. Read more

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The business case for commercial PV projects stacks up, despite government policy barriers

Climate change is more prominent than ever in UK and world news. The UK has had its first coal-free week in power generation since the 1880s, and the UK Parliament has recently declared a climate emergency. The Committee on Climate Change’s recently released report recommended a reduction in carbon emissions to nearly zero by 2050. Solar photovoltaics (PV) have an important role to play in meeting this ambition. Read more

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Deep renovations with ALDREN move into pilot phase

Verco is a partner in the ALliance for Deep RENovation (ALDREN) a 30 month Horizon 2020 project which started in November 2017. The purpose of ALDREN is to develop protocols which support deep renovations of office and hotel buildings and to demonstrate their effectiveness by real-life pilot studies. It is thereby intended to encourage investment and accelerate the movement towards a nearly zero energy non-residential building stock across the EU, as targeted by 2050 to meet Paris Agreement commitments. The project is co-ordinated by the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Batiment (CSTB) in France, with seven expert partners from around Europe. Read more

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Join our webinar series: Smart buildings and the path to net zero

Do you have an interest in enhancing your assets and creating value in your property through sustainability?Over the next three months, we will be hosting a series of webinars for sustainability and property managers and those responsible for property portfolios.The webinars are free to attend. Tom Randall, Head of Building Optimisation Services, will address some of the 'hot topics' of the moment and provide practical advice which you can use in your role. Read more

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UKGBC announce new framework to define net zero carbon buildings: a solid foundation, but stronger guidance still required

After more than six months in development, yesterday the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) launched their new framework definition for net zero carbon buildings at a packed event in Parliament’s energy exemplar Portcullis House. Verco’s Technical Director Dr Robert Cohen has been one of the contributors to the framework. In this article, the Verco team provide their reflections on the new framework and how it might be strengthened to respond to the climate emergency.Advancing net zeroEmissions arising from energy use in the construction and operation of buildings are a key contributor to man-made climate change. In 2016 the World Green Building Council called on the construction and property sectors to take the lead in pushing for a net zero built environment by 2050 (1). This was driven by the ambition of the Paris Agreement and then reinforced by the IPCC’s special report on 1.5°C of warming published in October 2018, which urged policy makers to target a net zero carbon global economy within the next thirty years (2). To support this transition, the World GBC established an Advancing Net Zero Campaign and developed a set of high-level principles for net zero carbon buildings in operation, with the aim to achieve the target by 2030 for new-build and 2050 for all buildings. Read more

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Stranding Risk and Carbon CRREM report: More grist to the zero carbon mill, but is it sorting the wheat from the chaff?

Through our ‘Aim for Zero’ (A4Z) work, Verco has been working with clients in the commercial real estate sector to define pathways to zero carbon. We have developed a modelling tool to outline the steps and costs in taking a diverse range of assets to, or close to, net zero carbon by 2050. This allows asset managers to protect long-term value, assess climate-related risks and inform Paris-proof acquisition, disposal and investment strategies. Read more