Two years ago, in the run up to COP26 in Glasgow, we made a very visible commitment to playing our part in tackling the climate emergency and transitioning to net zero emissions.

Using the striking Global Warming Stripes created by Professor Ed Hawkins from the University of Reading, we transformed the outside of our HQ – based in the city – to showcase the change in global temperature over time.

Each of the coloured stripes wrapped around our building represents the global average temperature for a single year, starting at 1850 and ending in 2020. Shades of blue indicate cooler-than-average years, while reds show years that were hotter-than-average.

Fast forward 18 months and the warming stripes, and what they represent, are now more important than ever as we strive to deliver an affordable, secure and sustainable clean energy future.

That’s not just about leading the transition to cleaner and greener energy through green generation, smart solutions and an innovative electricity system that can connect all of this. It’s about how we help drive change across our operations, through our supply chain, across the industry and into our everyday lives.

For us, that means everything from rolling out our ambitious pipeline of renewables, championing smart solutions to remove the fossil fuels from homes and cars, transforming our own car fleet to being fully electric, rolling out energy efficiency measures across our estate and innovating new technologies to cut emissions across our value chain.

However, it’s also about supporting others to make the necessary changes and helping them accelerate their own transition to a net zero future.

One example of this is the Climate Action Hub, which we launched earlier this year alongside our partners in the Scottish Business Climate Collaboration and the Scottish Government/Zero Waste Scotland.

The Climate Action hub is a free-to-use platform that provides the tools needed for businesses to get to grips with tackling their carbon footprint, developing their own sustainability strategies and actively participating in the net zero value economy – allowing us all to enjoy a cleaner, greener and better future, quicker. 

These businesses are the lifeblood of the UK economy and we all have a responsibility to take them with us on our net zero journey and not leave them behind.

Quite simply, we can’t do it without them, otherwise we’re only going to find ourselves more and more in the red – with all the catastrophic consequences that will bring,

As the first integrated energy company to generate only 100% green electricity, serving millions of customers across the UK, employing thousands of staff and investing £8 million every working day, we’re proud to show our stripes and nail our colours to a clean energy future.

And as part of the lasting legacy of COP26, we’re pleased to be helping others do the same.

For more information on the Global Warming Stripes, visit #ShowYourStripes.

For more information on the Climate Action Hub, visit https://sbcc.group/.