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Sustainability Report 2023: Our Path to Net Zero
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Sustainability is a key business objective for us here at Lignacite. As such, we have set ourselves the ambitious target of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
With this deadline creeping closer, it is important that we continue to monitor our emissions and find ways to improve them. To help us in this mission, we publish an annual Sustainability Report that showcases how we have performed over the previous 12 months.
So, how did we get on in 2023? Here’s a summary of the highlights.
We’re an award winner!
We were certainly celebrating in 2023 as we took home a prestigious sustainability award.
After a fantastic year of sustainable initiatives in 2022, we reaped the benefits of our achievements by taking home the award for Leading Sustainable Building Material Manufacturer – Suffolk in the 2023 BUILD Magazine Design & Build Awards.
We also renewed our commitment to the Suffolk Carbon Charter, earning a ‘Gold Level’ as a result. Gold Level holders must exemplify best practice and show a clear reduction in carbon emissions, going above and beyond that achieved by Bronze and Silver Level holders.
If that wasn’t enough, we were also a finalist in the Energy and Sustainability (Midlands & East region) category at the Make UK Awards.
We successfully achieved PAS 99
One of our most significant achievements of 2023 was the successful integration of three international standards into one management system.
ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety) are now part of the PAS 99 integrated management system. This means that processes that are relevant to all included standards are aligned. Not only does this make maintaining the standards more efficient for us, but it highlights common sustainability objectives more clearly. This also makes it easier for us to identify opportunities for improvement across both of our sites.
Going forward, we are looking to integrate our ISO 50001 for energy management into this framework to further support our sustainable goals.
We opened our new factory
The production lines in our new highly-efficient factory also went live in 2023. Fitted with the very latest technology, the factory was designed to reduce energy consumption and waste.
For instance, it is fitted with a low-energy light system and power factor correction. Solar panels, highly efficient inverters and heavily insulated curing chambers have also been installed to help us meet our energy goals.
You can find out more about our new factory here.
Plant vehicle emissions reduced
Another huge step forward in our journey to net zero came in the form of HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil).
In 2023, we switched all of our plant vehicles over to this greener fuel source, which has 90% of the emissions of standard white diesel. Before the switch, our plant vehicles were producing 687 tonnes of carbon emissions each year. Once HVO became our fuel of choice, this dropped to just 72 tonnes in 2023. Overall diesel use also dropped: in 2021 this stood at 5,218,982 kWh. In 2023 this fell to 3,287,139 kWh.
The rollout of HVO fuel for our plant vehicles also means that 26% of our energy consumption came from renewable sources in 2023.
Thanks to the huge success of this transition, we are now investigating switching our HGV fleet over to HVO.
EPDs developed
The year 2023 was also significant because we developed EPDs (Environmental Performance Declarations) for our blocks. These were independently verified to ensure full transparency to our clients.
By making the move to create our own EPDs, we can continue to review our performance and find new ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our products.
As a part of this, we are currently working on the development of an ECO block, which will contain up to 90% recycled material. In addition, we are researching ways to reduce the amount of cement in our blocks and boost the amount of recycled or secondary aggregates across our product range.
More recycling
Another important component of sustainable action is reducing the amount of waste we produce and recycling what cannot be avoided.
In 2023, we successfully increased the amount of waste that we recycle off-site. In 2022, this total stood at 16,399 tonnes. In 2023, this was increased to 19,339 tonnes.
As a result, absolutely nothing was sent to landfill.
The next steps
There is still a long way to go until we reach our 2030 net zero goal. However, the last 12 months have demonstrated that we are continuing to move in the right direction. There are also several exciting research projects underway that can significantly help our sustainable action in the years to come.
Thanks to these changes, in 2023 we reduced our carbon footprint to 1,411,876 tonnes. This is a notable step down from the 1,782,062 tonnes logged in 2022.
If you’d like to find out more about our sustainable commitments, read the full report below.
