In the past five years, we’ve seen a huge shift in attitude towards the climate emergency following the realisation that we need to act now for the sake of future generations, as well as our own.

A rise in public and political awareness of the real and present threat to our planet has led to a clammer for change. We are the generation who have acknowledged there is a problem and it’s down to us to find ways to fix it.

The ultimate ambition is to reach net zero where the amount of greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere is balanced to the amount we remove. In practice, this means reducing our carbon footprint and living sustainably instead of exhausting the planet of its resources. The UK has set a net zero target of 2050.

The Climate Change Committee, the UK’s independent adviser on tackling climate change, monitors progress in reducing emissions and achieving carbon budgets and targets. Its 2022 progress report to Parliament made worrying reading, stating that greater focus and emphasis must be placed on delivery of the UK’s net zero strategy. It said there were “warm words” from enablers but “little concrete progress”.

For Cumbrian businesses, 2023 is an opportunity to do business for good by making a positive impact on the planet – and future-proofing your own business. Demonstrating that you have a carbon reduction plan – and actioning it – is fast becoming an essential requirement for everything from bidding for contracts to recruiting staff.

At Eco Group, we support businesses and organisations across the UK on their net zero journey by utilising affordable, sustainable innovations through our EcoGoZero range of carbon mitigation solutions which includes EV charging stations, off-grid lighting and energy decentralisation.

We’re committed to being at the forefront of the net zero industrial revolution and recently announced a deal to deploy world-leading decarbonisation technology for the first time in the UK at our HQ in Annan.

Our collaboration with climate tech company Levidian will see the first remote implementation of the pioneering LOOP system, which decarbonises methane-rich gas to produce hydrogen and graphene on-site. This will create decentralised hydrogen hubs to support industrial decarbonisation, enabling the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and creating products essential to net zero ambitions.

This is game-changing technology which will put the Borderlands region in prime position to be a leader in industrial and agricultural decarbonisation.

This article was first published in the January 2023 edition of In-Cumbria magazine