Thursday 1 January 1970

The Big Zero Report – SSE

Businesses play a key role in the journey towards net zero and curbing global emissions by 2050.

That is why we recently published our Big Zero Report – a compilation of thought leadership from our partners and an exploration into what top experts believe must be done to accelerate progress towards a more sustainable world.

The report is available to download for free here and you can read what Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng made of it here.

We spoke with experts from SSE to get an insight into what progress they believe has been made and what the next important steps are.

Stephen Stead, Director of Distributed Energy Strategy and Digital Services, believes hydrogen is being undervalued: “When you look at decarbonisation, it’s the elephant in the room that we’ve not tackled yet.”

“Hydrogen has got a key part to play in the future and the market, the incentives and the government backing have not done any justice for it at the moment.”

Sam Peacock, Director of Corporate Affairs and Strategy, was more cautious on the progress of heat: “The area I’d want to see a bit more on is heat policy. I’m still not quite sure how we’re going to get there.

“I don’t have all the ideas either by the way, it’s pretty difficult – but heat is the one where I’m probably less confident compared to power and transport about our ability to get there on net zero.”

Eunice Mabey, Energy Optimisation Director, spoke on the impact internal change within a business can have: “I think it comes down to really making sure that the staff are empowered to make that change. You know, everyone can switch off those lights in the corridor to make that difference.

“It’s important that people can see that they’re making progress, they’re learning something undoubtedly within that behavioural change and they’re achieving something – I think that is the key.”

Watch the video for the full interviews and insight.