Techbuyer Inspires Businesses Across North Yorkshire to Act on Net-Zero

 

Could North Yorkshire be England’s First Carbon-Negative Region?

 

We certainly hope so!

 

This was the focus of the recent North Yorkshire Business Summit, held at the Guildhall in York on Friday October 21st. Hosted by the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, this event was designed so that businesses could come together to discuss the devolution of York and North Yorkshire and how that could drive the region to be England’s first carbon-negative county. The York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership is a public-private partnership that brings together businesses and the public sector to drive economic growth and prosperity across the region.

 

Net-Zero Businesses in Action

Techbuyer’s Head of Sustainability and Chartered Environmentalist, Astrid Wynne spoke at The North Yorkshire Business Summit. In her session, titled “Net-Zero Businesses in Action,” Astrid discussed how companies can achieve business growth and innovation whilst also being environmentally minded and adopting sustainable practices. 


Titled “Profit with Purpose: A case study in how to build a business case around sustainability,” her presentation was well received by the crowd, which consisted of multiple influential companies from around North Yorkshire.


Quoting from the International Energy Agency Digitalisation Tracking Report, Astrid began her presentation with the statistic that “digital technologies are directly responsible for around 2% of energy-related GHG emissions today.” 

A Pathway to Net-Zero

Astrid then gave an overview of how Techbuyer has supported a circular IT economy worldwide through refurbished IT solutions. 


Astrid stated that “Techbuyer is a circular economy company that strives to recover as much working IT as possible, and as many materials as possible from recycling at end of life.”   


She also discussed the Interact tool, launched by Techbuyer’s sister company, Interact, to analyse the efficiency and performance of IT hardware.   


Astrid ended her presentation by providing a series of steps that other companies can take on their pathway to Net Zero. She advised individuals to start the process with an assessment of Scope 1 and Scope 2 and then build out from there, as it is effective to start with the easier items to build confidence as you go.  


She outlined Techbuyer’s success in this area, namely; our internal research on IT efficiency for end user compute and on server efficiency, and how Techbuyer delivered Scope 1, 2 and parts of Scope 3, a completed carbon footprint for all global offices, and an audited Net Zero Plan (coming this current FY).  


Astrid’s presentation did a fantastic job outlining realistic and achievable action plans that local businesses can put into place to achieve net-zero.  


The overall event did an effective job at addressing the role that companies can play in decarbonisation here in North Yorkshire and how we can all work together to promote sustainable best practice through business operations. 


We’re proud of our Yorkshire roots and the potential for our home County to lead the way in Net-Zero! Click here to read more about this event.