White Paper

VINCI Facilities surveyed over 200 decision makers in the FM and built environment sectors, in order to complete four white papers conducted in the autumn of 2020. The second – Climate Change – is available now and indicates that the UK facilities management sector does not possess a thorough, detailed strategic approach to combatting climate change.

For climate change – widely regarded as a critical theme – VINCI Facilities research indicates the majority of organisations have a policy or strategy in development, but only 40% have a fully implemented strategy and just 25% have a strategy embedded across the organisation. Crucially, the short-term focus often prevents organisations seeing the link between any, or all, of the four areas covered by the survey.

Paul Lynch, Head of Energy & Water Management for VINCI Facilities said, “Our research shows that most organisations in the built environment/facilities sector have some form of environmental or sustainability strategy in place, which usually include a target for carbon reduction, but they rarely go far enough and often are noticeably short term. Quick wins are OK, and provide a good first step, but they are not a strategy. We need to see a vision, measurement, targets and investment in longer-term solutions like renewable energy sources or conducting whole-life property assessments. There is a lot more that can be done and the way to achieve the challenging targets we face is through collaboration.”

VINCI Facilities recommends four steps towards establishing a well thought through strategic plan and building consensus across an organisation to help combat climate change –

1. Build the business case.
2. Set targets and get them approved.
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
4. Collaborate.