Energy management ‘moving into the CFOs remit’

“It’s been a steady move away from CSR towards CFOs and finance professionals for a number of years, primarily driven by increased financial and regulatory risk and rising energy costs. Finance professionals understand capital and are focused on driving business growth, improving bottom-line performance and managing risk,” explains Justin.

“There are multiple benefits of measuring carbon emissions, from reducing energy costs to providing new revenue streams for a company.  In addition, any ‘green’ improvements and carbon reductions is a positive PR story, a boost to employee’s perception and beneficial for stakeholder engagement.”

Measuring and reporting carbon footprints is now well established amongst the UK’s FTSE 100 companies, with 96 per cent submitting data to the Carbon Disclosure Project  in 2012, demonstrating the importance of carbon management.

Vroone continued: “For many CFOs the biggest hurdle is measuring what you can’t necessarily see.  Energy usage whether it’s oil, gas or electricity consumption has to be measured and evaluated. Once trends in usage have been analysed and predictions for future energy use assessed, CFOs can then predict expenditure based on usage rather than estimates. Aside from reflecting favourably on an organisation, reducing carbon emissions will reduce costs, boost efficiency and drive growth.”