Wednesday 10 February 2021

Michael Dugdale – ‘FNZ Standard gave us insight and that’s what it’s all about’

Trident Utilities MD, Michael Dugdale says the future Net Zero Standard can open up the transition to low carbon for many more companies, particularly in the SME and mid-sized markets.

Asked why he was backing our Standard he said: "We felt the FNZ Standard provides that platform, to allow a much broader range of customers to be benefitting from the expertise we have and they can then get visibility and start reducing emissions."

Joining us as a Solution Partner means signing up to our pledge to get 10,000 businesses and organisations, using the Standard, powered by Carbon Expert, within three years. Michael said he believed it was an ambition worth committing to.

"It's a big number and if we at Trident can contribute towards getting 10,000 companies on that journey, then the Standard really starts to drive value.

"Ten thousand customers, you're on this journey, you've got a peer group you can benchmark against. I think it's really valuable."

Finally, like all our partners, Trident have used the Standard themselves. Filled in all the data to record their own carbon footprint and use that to springboard their own cultural change.

"What this has allowed us to do is benchmark our previous years. We've set a specific benchmark of 2019. But we've then looked at what would our future ambitions be? We've started to look at creating some pledges internally.

"We have a 100% renewable energy contract. We've done that and it has an immediate benefit. We'll do our first customer appointments by zoom or teams, so that will drive down our mileage and train use. The next company cars at renewal, they'll be plug-in hybrids.

"Because we've been able to measure ourselves, look at the energy intensity metrics and make that visible to our staff, we've got that insight and that's what it's all about."