Why World Environment Day is so important
By Jim Rushen
Head of Environment
Jim Rushen talks about the importance of this international day.
Environmental concerns are increasingly in the news, whether its severe weather events on the rise, reports of plastic waste in our oceans or the health impacts of poor air quality. When we look at this picture, there’s no doubt the planet is under increasing pressure. That’s why events like World Environment Day (WED) are so important. It reminds us of the role we all can play in reducing our impacts on the planet today, so that we can have a brighter future tomorrow.
To mark the occasion, Green Teams and environmental champions across Centrica sprang into action by running a series of activities that raises awareness and inspires positive environmental action. It was great to see so many of our people showing their care and commitment to the environment. Examples included, green travel initiatives that help employees reduce their daily impact alongside our products and services that showcase how we help customers reduce their carbon footprint. Waste games and local nature organisations also helped illustrate how to further enhance recycling rates and boost biodiversity across our estates.
While WED is a great annual focus for protecting and enhancing the environment, it is front of mind for Centrica as a responsible business every day – whether we’re enabling the low carbon energy transition through our products and services for customers, or helping hit waste and water reduction targets in our offices and operations.
To demonstrate this, I wanted to share a few highlights of what we’ve achieved so far.
International NGO, CDP, ranked us as a world leader for action and disclosure on climate change and water management
Our Connected Home products and distributed energy solutions have helped customers save carbon emissions equivalent to around 9m homes each year since 2008
We emit 70% less carbon for every pound of revenue raised than we did in 2010
Around 13,000 electric vehicle charge points have been installed since 2013
While we’re proud of these efforts to reduce our environmental impact, we’ll continue to work hard to ensure that we stretch ourselves and make a meaningful difference.
Learn more about our environmental strategy and commitments.