On 29 April, the TIC Council hosted a webinar in partnership with the EU Industry Days initiative to discuss the critical role of energy management systems in realising the twin transitions laid out in the new industrial strategy for Europe (adopted today, 5th May 2021), towards climate neutrality and digital leadership for European industry.
The European Green Deal continues to rightfully influence both European and global discourse, with policymakers and consumers critically demanding for industry to proactively adopt a more sustainable approach. This presents potential challenges for industries in funding capital, minimising costs, and avoiding disruptions. The New Industrial Strategy for Europe adopted today, seeks to mitigate these challenges, and ensure business resilience. With the Industrial Strategy Update, the European Commission proposes new measures to support the business case for the green and digital transitions by ensuring that all our policies and investments are geared towards achieving this objective. Achieving this will require a collaborative approach across all sectors to seek sustainable solutions, underpinned by a collective willingness to share knowledge, learn lessons and identify new opportunities to strive for continual improvement.
This dedicated virtual panel brought together speakers from the European Commission and industry leaders representing both the TIC and logistics sectors to provide our audience with a cross-sectoral discussion on the deployment of the revised Industrial Strategy and how energy management systems, specifically the ISO 50001 Standard will contribute to its successful and sustainable implementation. Our expert panel moderated by Mr Martin Michelot, TIC Council, Policy and International Affairs Manager, began with an insightful presentation by Mr Thomas Heinemeier, Policy Officer for Strategy and Regulation regarding the Single Market and industrial policy at DG GROW (Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME’s), on how the EU Industrial Strategy will address industrial recovery in the short term and accelerate progress towards climate neutrality and a circular economy in the longer term. Mr Heinemeier highlighted the need to forge a more digital EU single market and for greater adoption of integrated certification schemes for renewable and low carbon fuels to achieve sustainable resilience and ultimately the Strategy’s overarching goals.
Mr Heinemeier also stressed that cooperation across all sectors will be vital to neutralising industrial ecosystems. Both the role of standards and dedicating efforts to improving technological innovation through continuous training will prove crucial to facilitating sustainable investment, boosting competitiveness and upholding a global level playing field where European industries can thrive whilst leading in environmental standards.
Our second speaker Mr Javier López Gómez, Manager for Internal Energy Efficiency in Buildings at SGS built on this valuable context to explore how the TIC sector supports businesses to successfully implement energy management systems and in turn, achieve the goals of the Industrial Strategy, the European Green Deal and UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr López Gómez presented the ISO 50001 Standard which acts as the international framework of energy management systems. He argued that limiting energy and resource consumption not only mitigates negative environmental impacts but saves energy costs, boosts productivity, performance, competitiveness and improves Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), thereby attracting talent and generating greater employee engagement. However, to successfully implement ISO 50001 and ultimately optimise energy efficiency, a strategic approach to energy management is required. This is centred on two pivotal factors namely, strong leadership that allocates sufficient resources and investment in technical expertise and in parallel ‘tactical’ planning, whereby organisational risks and opportunities are identified to improve energy performance.
Our final panellist Mr Kirit Patel, Environmental Manager for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) at DHL representing the supply chain and logistics industry shared challenges encountered by DHL, lessons learnt and best practices in implementing a green industrial strategy and the added value of third-party certification in achieving greater energy efficiency in DHL’s operations and systematic approaches. Mr Patel reiterated several direct and indirect potential benefits of implementing ISO 50001 and more broadly embracing an energy management system underpinned by the notion of continual improvement to drive energy and environmental performance.
Mr Patel presented DHL’s Mission 2050 which aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and their new Sustainability Roadmap announced in March 2021. The speaker illustrated how interim targets are being systematically hit because of continuous managing, controlling, measuring, global reporting and recording. He provided concrete examples of how the organisation is actively driving efficiency through investment and greater engagement with stakeholders, customers and employees. Mr Patel advocated sustainability training for both a company’s workforce and senior management as part of a so-called ‘continual improvement loop’ and as a tool to empower and educate, to boost strong leadership, enhance an organisation’s sustainability credentials and in turn reduce employee turnover. He recommended adopting an integrated management system for energy management performance and focusing efforts on key areas of significant energy use to better realise opportunities.
Speakers
· Thomas Heinemeier, Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, Innovation Policy Development (DG GROW), European Commission
· Javier López Gómez, Internal Energy Efficiency in Buildings Manager, SGS
· Kirit Patel, Environmental Manager for EMEA, DHL
To learn more, please click to access the webinar recording here.
The presentation of the webinar can also be found here.
As TIC Council continues to provide thought-provoking presentations on the current market trends and legislative developments around conformity assessment, check our list of webinars to learn more.
About TIC Council
TIC Council is a global association representing over 90 international independent third-party testing, inspection, certification, and verification organizations. The industry represents an estimated one million employees across the world with annual sales of approximately USD 200 billion.