Climate change Charter -http://www.snw.org.uk/charter/home.htm
The Northwest Climate Change Charter is a unique regional
initiative designed to drive cuts in carbon emissions and challenge
public and private sector organisations to tackle climate
change
Environment Connect - http://www.environmentconnect.co.uk/
Environment Connect is free to Northwest companies. No hassle, no fee, just a swift service designed to connect your business with the environmental support you need.
Whether you are looking to make savings through energy efficiency, need to reduce your waste or water bills or are looking for new business opportunities in the environmental technologies sector, Environment Connect can get you to the support you need through delivering bottom-line business benefits to improve the environmental performance of Northwest companies. Visit the website or call 0800 032 0222
Envirolink Northwest - http://www.envirolinknorthwest.co.uk/ |
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Envirolink Northwest is the energy and environmental technologies and services sector development organisation in England's Northwest. Envirolink Northwest works to help organisations commercialise new technologies and services and to successfully market these solutions in the marketplace.
Envirolink Northwest helps the energy & environmental technologies and services sector to develop by promoting specific supply chains in the marketplace, identifying finance for business growth and new product development, and by stimulating partnership formation to address market opportunities.
Carbon Connection - http://www.carbonconnection-nw.info/
- Where can I get a product or service?
- Where can I learn more?
- What are the Government, Regional bodies and Councils doing?
- Who should I talk to for funding, information or help?
- What are other people doing?
Carbon Connection is a free Northwest-focused database connecting sustainable energy people and showcasing climate change solutions in the region. The searchable database provides an extensive and comprehensive resource for anyone interested in knowing about the wide range of sustainable energy activities, climate change programmes and organisations that exist in the Northwest of England.
| ENWORKS - http://www.enworks.com/ |  |
The environment is a business issue and ENWORKS highlights the benefits and opportunities available to your business.Increased profits, reduced running costs, greater efficiency, compliance with legislation…it's surprising how much your business could be benefiting from the environment.
ENWORKS offers a range of both subsidised and free services to help Northwest companies. ENWORKS is a unique business support programme charged with improving business competitiveness and environmental performance throughout the Northwest.
The Carbon Trust - http://www.enworks.com/ 
Carbon Trust delivers practical solutions, working with business and the public sector to identify carbon emissions and find ways of cutting them; and providing the know-how and resources (including funding) to help them do so. Visit the website or call 0800 085 2005
Homeworking
The evidence supporting homeworking as a route to improving the environment is overwhelming. The case is particularly well made by BT who claim that, over a 12 month period, the company's flexible working scheme, that includes homeworking as a key component, has saved employees the equivalent of 1,800 years of commuting time.
This not only makes for a happier workforce - BT home-based employees are 7% more content than office based peers - it also makes for a significant contribution to the environment. The same BT employees that are saving thousands of hours in commuting time are also eliminating 47,400 tonnes of CO2 travel-related emissions.
BT is not the only company to have seen the economic and environmental benefits of homeworking. Sustainable development expert, Jame Goodman of Forum for the Future, authored a report in 2004 that showed Siemans saving up to 12 miles per day, per employee, through introducing homeworking. This was alongside case studies from a few other household name multinationals.
In the same report, it was suggested that homeworking reduces private car traffic by three per cent, with a potential for this to rise to a saving of 10% by 2010.
The RAC Foundation is also in agreement. In a report they authored called "Motors or Modems", it was claimed that flexible working could potentially cut the worst peak traffic by up to ten per cent within five years. Achieving a reduction of this size in commuting, business travel, shopping and personal business trips would save 14.5 billion miles a year. This equates to 17 million cars foregoing a trip from Land's End to John O'Groats or about three years' growth in car and taxi traffic at today's rates.
As well as reducing peak traffic congestion, homeworkers make efficient use of buildings, proven by a study of home based civil servants in Sheffield which found that homeworkers use half the energy of office-based colleagues during working hours.
These are just the kind of savings that the NWDA is looking to achieve in its Climate Change Action Plan and the Agency has made a commitment to increase homeworking levels across the region through its support of the 'Homeworking in England's Northwest' project. This is an 18 month project (up to March 2008) that is encouraging and supporting people to start their own business at home or request flexible working from their employer. The project has notched up some notable achievements including hosting successful events, creating the Northwest Flexible Working Group and launching a dedicated homeworking website at www.homeworkingnw.co.uk
