Why the environment matters to me…

To celebrate all things sustainability, help share tips for smarter environmental thinking and remind each other just how much our carbon impact matters, we’re inviting colleagues, friends of the business and our peers in the wider industry to take part in our quickfire environmental Q&A.

Next up, it’s Katie McShera, sustainability co-ordinator at family-owned communications specialist, The Bailie Group.

1. Where do you fit into the environmental sector? Tell us a little bit about your role at The Bailie Group.

My role primarily sits in compliance — measuring our carbon footprint and supporting plans to reduce emissions. I have a unique, company-wide perspective as I can gain insight of each section of the organisation through the internal audit process.

My most recent project has been implementing the ISO 50001 energy management standard, which provides an effective system to ensure we are improving our energy performance and becoming more efficient with overall consumption.

2. Complete the sentence – the UK is great at recycling…

…paper. This could be down to the transparency of what can and can’t be recycled which means there is very little confusion around the ‘rules’.

3. Which sector do you think could achieve significant environmental progress next year?

The energy sector. With the industry accounting for 65% of global GHG emissions, there is huge potential to reduce its carbon footprint.
The technology is there, it now needs to be scaled up with training and funding for retrofits. Renewable energy is now a more attractive prospect in terms of the savings that can be made, and investments would create three times more jobs than continuing to inject funds into the fossil fuel industry.

4. What do you wish you’d known about the environment, as a child?

How much of a delicate balance life on earth depends on. Biodiversity is the variety of all life on the planet —it includes all species of animals and plants, as well as the natural systems that support them — and contributes to our economy, health, and wellbeing. Everything we take for granted about our world, including water and food, is reliant on a very intricate balance of nature.

5. What’s the single biggest threat to the environment, in your opinion?

Humankind — though we are also its biggest hope.

6. Share one tip to help people be ‘greener’, at work or at home:

Consume less in every area of your life — from clothes and food to electronics and plastics. Everything we use has a carbon footprint, from where it was manufactured, to how it was transported and subsequently disposed of. The more we consume, the more emissions we’re generating as a result.

7. Tell us an environmental statistic that you think people need to know:

An estimated £140m worth of clothing is sent to UK landfill each year.

8. What’s the best thing you’ve ever reused/upcycled?

My twins’ cots were second hand. I upcycled them and then even managed to pass them on to charity once I no longer had a use for them. Most of our children’s toys are pre-loved and we donate a lot via Olio, the free sharing app, to ensure we’re wasting as little as possible — it also benefits people who can’t afford to buy the items they need.

9. If you were prime minister for the day, what’s the one thing you’d do to improve the UK’s sustainability agenda?

I would launch a campaign to communicate the extent of the climate crisis and how everyone can play their part.

10. Complete the sentence – in 100 years’ time, I hope…

…the world’s leaders have joined forces to limit the impact of climate change and restored much of the planet’s biodiversity and rainforests. I also hope there is more equality all over the world, and that we have a fairer system of capitalism that allows people to prosper without putting others in poverty.