The Unipart Group employs more than 8,000 personnel worldwide and has an annual turnover of more than £1billion. It is one of Europe's leading logistics companies and a widely-recognised pioneer in the field of Lean implementation.

Operating across a range of market sectors, including automotive, leisure, marine, manufacturing, mobile telecoms, rail, retail and technology, Unipart offers a breadth of services from third party logistics to expert consultancy.

All Unipart sites operate according to the Group's proprietary version of Lean known as The Unipart Way. This is a philosophy of working underpinned by tools and techniques that "inspires efficiency, flexibility and outstanding customer service in any process," the company says.

Unipart also offers expert consultancy in implementing Lean principles and in supply chain management across a variety of industry sectors.

The Group's clients include Halfords, ASOS.com, Homebase, Vodafone, 3, BSkyB, Jaguar Land Rover, Severn Trent Water and HMRC.

Paul Sawko joined Unipart Group in February 2006 after occupying a number of roles in the waste and environmental industry. "My first degree was in Geography," says. "I returned to study after a break of several years to complete an MSc in Waste Management, followed by a professional qualification in operational waste management. I then began working in the waste management field and over the years adopted a wider environmental brief."

Has Unipart managed to curb the Group's carbon emissions?

"Unipart's carbon emissions have remained at a similar level for the past three years, against a background of increased business."

What have been the main means to achieve these pro-rata reductions?

"Two major areas of focus have been on reducing the impact of the Unipart Automotive transport fleet, and reducing energy consumption in our major sites.

"Our Unipart Automotive arm operates a vehicle fleet servicing the largest automotive network in the UK. Three years ago, it entered into a contract with a provider of telematics to introduce this technology to its fleet. Each vehicle is now tracked, and the data provided details routes, speeds, fuel consumption and idling time.

"Benefits have included a 5 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, better route planning reducing vehicles' idle time. Better vehicle utilisation has resulted being able to reduce the vehicle fleet by 100 vehicles, from a previous total of 1500.

"In reducing energy consumption, we employ a number of consultancies working on heating/cooling, and lighting. There are Building Energy Management Systems on major sites, and in a number we have installed 'Virtual Energy Managers.' These are computer linked heating systems, allowing an operator to see real time displays of actual temperatures in zoned areas, and set target temperatures which when reached turn off heaters, saving energy. Sensors are linked to bay doors, automatically turnoff heating when bay doors are open, and on again when doors are shut.

"We have also undertaken a number of energy saving initiatives. There has been a major programme of replacing old inefficient switch start lighting, with high frequency lighting, both lux and occupancy sensored, to ensure that lighting illuminates areas only when required. We have also installed solar panels at one of our sites, and LED lighting at another."

Are water and waste management also a priority?

"Waste is an area Unipart has actively managed for a number of years. As a Group of Companies, we hold quarterly waste reduction Group meetings, to spread best practice and exchange ideas. Our best performing site now recycles 98% of its waste.

"We are also addressing the production of packaging which subsequently becomes waste, and have worked closely with one of our clients to reduce unnecessary packaging around products shipped from Asia. In addition to reducing packaging waste, this has also realised benefits in reducing other wastes, such as time in loading an unloading of product, and resulted in better space utilisation in shipping containers.

"We recognised the importance of managing water some time ago, and track water consumption at each site. Regular recording highlights abnormalities for further investigation. We are working in partnership with a water management consultancy to pinpoint and repair leaks, and installing submeters to identify areas of high consumption.

"We have also taken some simple measures to reduce water consumption, by installing waterless urinals and Save-a-Flush devices in toilet cisterns."

How do you engage employees and colleagues on the low carbon journey?

"Environmental targets are set at Board level, and implemented at each site through monthly employee meetings, with performance tracked against targets.

"Regular in-house environmental magazines and targeted environmental information is produced, and there are Group wide quarterly Forums on the subjects of energy, water saving, and waste management. Throughout the Group we have "Communication Cells" - visual displays which track performance, and include environmental information.

"We also stage an annual Environment Week supported by a dedicated intranet site, to raise awareness of the Group's progress, and to inform employees as how they can help reduce their emissions at work and at home."

How is the firm preparing for next year's Carbon Reduction Commitment?

"We are working to ensure that we have one of the two early action metrics in place, namely automatic monitoring and targeting. We have also been in discussion with the Carbon Trust to understand the requirements for obtaining the second early action metric, the Carbon Trust Standard."

Is the current economic climate making clients more or less carbon conscious?

"Clients are more price sensitive! Spending is being squeezed in all areas, but environmentally preferable solutions invariably result in cost saving, and increased credibility amongst potential clients in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility. Achieving savings with demonstrating green credentials has benefited Unipart in securing new business."

What's top of your in-tray?

"There are two current priorities - further reducing the amount of packaging around our products and reducing emissions from transport. As I mentioned earlier we have already had some success in reducing packaging. We are in the process of establishing a working group to ensure that we can spread best practice to all sites.

"Transport is an area which will change out of all recognition in the coming years, and we've started to consider how to practically integrate emerging technologies in our day to day operations."

What is your proudest low carbon achievement?

"One of our Logistics' sites in Rugby has been developed as a low energy showcase. It features the latest lighting technology, and is soon to have an air source heat pump installed - a first for Unipart. It's great to be able to employ a low carbon solution to meet a practical business need."

Any advice for fellow carbon-reduction professionals?

"Always start with measuring what you are seeking to control. As the old adage says- if you can't measure it, you can't reduce it!"

Do We Have The Skills Needed For A Low Carbon Economy?

Thinking about what kind of British economy will emerge from the downturn has been a key priority in his recent work, Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform told a recent Jobs Summit in London.

The global shift to low carbon economies has been at the forefront of his thinking, and is a key opportunity for the UK to stage “a renaissance in UK manufacturing and the expansion of the UK’s knowledge-based industries”, he suggested.

The global market for low carbon and environmental goods and services is currently worth about £3 trillion, and is projected to grow strongly. Some 800,000 people in the UK are employed in renewable energy industries, alternative fuels and low carbon design and development; and tens of thousands more are employed in services industries like environmental consultancy and carbon finance, he said.

If the UK takes advantage of the opportunities available and realises this growth, we could see more than one million jobs in this sector by the middle of the next decade. Government policy will aim to ensure that we are developing the right skills base to help this become a reality, he concluded.

Assuming Mandelson is right about the opportunities, what are the skills needed, and does the UK have them? Suitably qualified people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – so-called STEM skills – will be essential for the renaissance in UK manufacturing he hopes for.

A “chicken and egg” situation

Meeting this challenge will require investment in education, training in the private sector, and attractive career opportunities for individuals. All these assume a significant demand for the skills, and here we may find ourselves confronted with a “chicken and egg” situation, suggests Bob Windmill, Head of Research at EU Skills (http://www.euskills.co.uk/) the Sector Skills Council for the electricity, gas, waste management and water industries.

“Young people are attracted by green issues, and now we’re seeing universities offering MSc courses in renewable energy, some of which are good while others are a bit cobbled together. But what we don’t know is the demand – if a student does an engineering first degree and a Masters in renewables it might turn out that the first degree is what is most attractive to most employers. What would be the motivation for doing the Masters?” he says.

Uncertainty about demand is sure to influence decisions about the training provided in the private sector, says Windmill. “Expecting UK businesses to just speculate is unreasonable. There needs to be a clear direction from government in terms of policies and investment,” he says.

To help stimulate the supply of people with the STEM skills needed, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council – the UK funding body for science and engineering – has earmarked £250 million funding to create 44 training centres across the UK and produce more than 2,000 PhD students. This funding includes support for research on sustainable built environments at the University of Reading, carbon capture and clean coal technologies at the University of Nottingham, and wind energy systems at the University of Strathclyde.

On the demand side the Government is using instruments such as national policies for carbon budgets and renewable energy targets, emissions trading schemes that target specific industry sectors and high emitters, and by mandating changes in public sector procurement and operations.

Towards a balance of supply and demand

Other government moves could help to stimulate both the supply of new skills and the demand for them. For example, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is a partnership between Central Government and private sector partners that aims to bridge “the gulf between laboratory proven technologies and full scale commercially tested systems”. Partners include BP, Caterpillar, E.ON, EDF Energy and Rolls-Royce, each contributing up to £5 million per year for 10 years, matched by the Government. It is hoped that more partners will come on board, creating a potential £1.1 billion investment fund for new energy technologies.

The first projects aim to help pave the way towards the UK target of 15% of energy from renewable sources by 2020. An initial investment, totaling around £20 million, will fund three projects to develop offshore wind turbine technology, while the fourth will demonstrate a new commercial scale tidal turbine.

Interestingly, a recent report from EU Skills identifies “no major skill shortages in the renewable energy sectors.” According to Bob Windmill, this reflects a number of factors. Chief among these is the fact that the sector is still comparatively young. In addition, many of the STEM skills needed to develop the technologies are already present in the working population, albeit in use for different purposes. “For example to build a wind turbine you need people with knowledge of steel fabrication and knowledge of generators. We already have skills in these areas – they are conventional technologies repackaged,” he says.

A shortfall is more likely to arise from attempts to move the UK to a distributed power generation infrastructure, he suggests. In this scenario we may see a spike in demand for small-scale installations in large numbers of buildings, and “turnkey” systems to manage their connections to the grid.

“Grid owners aren’t going to want every Tom, Dick and Harry connecting to the grid in any old way. What’s genuinely new about local power generation is the idea of feeding back into the grid. It could be hell on wheels controlling hundreds of thousands of installations,” he says. Such a scenario would need a new approach to network management, but also large numbers of technicians and engineers with updated knowledge and skills to install comparatively new and sophisticated technology.

Connect and catalyse

Ensuring that we draw on knowledge and expertise that is often scattered across different industries is a key aim of the Technology Strategy Board (http://www.innovateuk.org/home.ashx). With a budget of around £1 billion at its disposal between 2008 and 2011, the work of the Board is focused on ‘Innovation Platforms’, which aim to bring innovative solutions to a range of major policy, societal or market challenges, including intelligent transport systems and services, low impact buildings and low carbon vehicles.

“I’ve spent the morning talking about the automotive industry’s need for new drive trains in low carbon vehicles – battery technology, power inverters, and so on,” says David Bott, Director of Innovation Programmes at the Technology Strategy Board.

“But I was talking to a Midlands company whose expertise is in high torque electric motors – the kind that are typically used in pumps. We would have to do some development before their technology would be suitable for an electric vehicle, but it is about putting people in touch. There are numerous examples. It’s important to get people to talk to each other,” he says.

Key questions:

• Do we have the skills needed to implement a low carbon strategy?
• How can our in-house training be adapted to serve our low carbon strategy?
• What knowledge networks – sector-specific and cross-sector – should we be part of?