AI Magazine Issue 12 2018

62 Acquisition International - Issue 12 2018 Public Sector has opportunity to lead by example in the global task of combatting rising temperatures 1806AI06 nternational evidence* has unequivocally proven that the earth is destined for significant catastrophe if issues surrounding climate change are not controlled. Climate change, if left unchecked, will result in a rise in global temperatures with potentially disastrous consequences. Currently, the UK generates a significant amount of carbon emissions per capita which are created through large-scale energy production and consumption. By utilising energy efficiency upgrades, everyone can play a role in reducing carbon emissions. Energy efficiency upgrades provide additional benefits to cost- reduction for public sector organisations. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Education and the Welsh and Scottish Governments are funding public sector investment in efficiency technologies through Salix Finance. Their mission is to reduce carbon emissions across the UK and enable public sector organisations to take action on rising temperatures by providing financing opportunities. Salix Finance is a company demonstrating excellence in energy efficiency and sustainability in the public sector. Working with organisations such as schools, universities, hospitals, local authorities and NHS Trusts, Salix provides the funding to invest in energy efficiency upgrades, achieving a reduction in their energy consumption and carbon emissions, while decreasing their energy bills. Salix supports a wide variety of projects ranging from small- scale improvements to multi-million-pound schemes, offering finance for over 100 different energy efficient technologies. To date, Salix has enabled over 17,000 projects worth around £742 million across the UK to cumulatively save over 788,272 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Qasim Akhtar, programme manager at Salix explains: ‘There’s a wide variety of scale and size in the projects that Salix can fund. Projects can range from the insulation of a classroom, an estate-wide upgrade of lighting to LED at a university campus to the replacement of thousands of street lights for a local authority, utilising the latest energy-saving lighting technologies.’ Salix is proud of the work the public sector has achieved so far and encourages organisations to visit the free knowledge share area on the website to find inspiring case study examples which showcase the excellent work being carried out which public sector organisations can become involved in. I *Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report Global Warming of 1.50C **Calculated using emissions factors published by the Government for carbon foot printing purposes. ***Calculated using emissions factors published by Government in 2014 for carbon foot printing purposes. Salix is also proud to have been recognised in the Telegraph’s Best of British series as a flagship example of a small company driving forward and demonstrating excellence in energy efficiency and sustainability in the public sector, with funds driving economic growth in the private sector. The series can be viewed on the Salix website https://www.salixfinance.co.uk/news/press-release-best-british-salix-finance