Cutting carbon in the supply chain is still relatively new and we’re learning as we go.

One initiative that we’re keen to support is the Mayday Network promoted by Business in the Community. We want to encourage our suppliers to take the Mayday Journey to reduce their carbon emissions.

What and How:

By using a common language if a supplier joins the scheme they meet all their clients’ needs in one go. Pioneering suppliers realising the value now ask the same of their suppliers.
To complement this partnership, the utility collective provides free workshops, which consist of presentations from:

• Utility Buyers explaining why carbon reduction is important to their organisations
• CEMARS certified suppliers (carbon emissions measurement and reduction scheme), outlining the benefits for suppliers
• A CEMARS auditor, to explain carbon legislation and facilitate

These workshops are held throughout the UK and E.ON has supported 90% of these events.

For the first time the collective also presented an online webinar with our support, to supplement the face-to-face workshops. It now also runs several more to communicate its progress to audiences outside its sector interested in supply chain carbon reduction.

During 2010, four further workshops and two additional webinars have been held and as a result, a further 39 suppliers have gained CEMARS certification and are now focusing on specific carbon reduction activities. Eight buying organisations and 78 suppliers have also joined the scheme.

http://www.maydaynetwork.com/journey-stories/eon-supporting-their-supply-chain-carbon-reduction

A scheme to recycle old meters from Central Networks, our distribution business, has helped improve lives in a deprived area too.

Previously, old meters were shipped to the Far East, which was proving unsatisfactory as this presented an unknown environmental risk and gave no control over what happened to the meters or their components.

Following a rigorous tender process, we awarded a contract to Recycling Lives, a social enterprise based in Preston. Recycling Lives helps ex-service personnel and other vulnerable people by providing them with training, a job, and supported accommodation. This year, it won the Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development for innovative approach.

Now meters are shipped to Recycling Lives where they are sorted and either returned to us for reuse or stripped down, batteries removed for recycling, and the remaining recyclable materials such as metal and plastics shredded for resale and ultimately reused.

The new contract is a win-win: tackling our meter waste reduces the cost to our customers and the planet whilst creating new training and employment opportunities in the UK.
Over the next three years, with an increase in the numbers of meters being replaced expected to quadruple with the roll-out of smart meters, this contract is projected to save £531,000 in sorting costs and the value of the scrap metal and other materials will also act as a source of revenue rather than a cost.

http://portalapps.corp.pg.eon.net/InsideEonUk/Story.aspx?storyID=6646&target=1

Diverting 1.5 million meters from landfill over a three-year year period is equivalent to 1,659 tonnes of waste and the equivalent to more than 3,000 tonnes of carbon.

Tree cutting is a must to ensure that they don’t impact on our overhead power lines – but disposing of the chippings can cause a headache.

That is, until we learned of the plight of teachers and youngsters at a school in Nottingham who were desperate for material to finish off their woodland walk.

Our tree cutting provider, Tilhill, came to the rescue and provided three tonnes of bark chippings for Kirkby Woodhouse Primary School

Not only that, but we presented the school with a cheque for £2,468 from our Employee Community Fund, with the money going towards the cost of making and maintaining the new woodland walk.

E.ON’s help came about when Hayley Conway, who works in our Supply Chain team, got in touch with a colleague in Central Networks, our distribution business. Hayley’s eldest son attends Kirkby Woodhouse Primary, and the school were looking to get three tonnes of bark chippings as part of a project to redevelop a large patch of overgrown ground.

Tilhill were delighted to get involved, and when they went to the school in mid summer they not only supplied the bark chippings, but cleared the overgrown area too. Several colleagues from our Retail business then mucked in to do the landscaping after the site had been cleared as part of their Community Challenge.

Now the walk is popular both for outdoor lessons as well as at playtime, giving the children a safe and comfortable environment for both learning and fun.

In June 2010 a team of 65 enthusiastic volunteers from our IT team spent three days transforming the playground at a primary school in Kirby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, one of E.ON's Energy For Children Centre schools.

By redecorating totem poles in bright patterns and painting the trim trail in a fun giraffe design, new life was injected into the playground, making it a colourful place for the children to play and display their artwork.

To encourage children to show an interest in gardening, the volunteers also gave the garden area a makeover with the addition of new plants, shrubs and a vegetable plot. The team also recreated the memorial garden used for reading and quiet thinking, known as ‘Kerry’s Corner’, named after a teacher who passed away last year.

E.ON’s Sustainable Energy Fund was set up to help those people in the community who could most benefit from our help in improving their living standards – and one group of youngsters in Cumbira certainly came into that category.

When they applied for funding, New Rainbows Pre-school in Cumbria mentioned that many of the children came from low income families and many were in fuel poverty. The Sustainable Energy Fund panel thought that in addition to awarding the group with money to insulate their building, there could be other ways to help the families which use their facility. Following discussions with the centre managers, members of E.ON’s Energy Fit Advice Team visited the group to offer the community advice on how to save energy and money as well as answering energy related questions.

They held a pre arranged drop in clinic to coincide with when parents would be returning to the preschool to collect their children.

We were able to offer the families a range of advice and practical help:

• Energy Efficiency advice on how to be energy fit in their homes and save energy and money
• Energy saving devices such as TV power downs and energy monitors
• Help in maximising their household income by making sure that families were claiming all of the benefits they were entitled to
• Information on free or discounted cavity wall and loft insulation which could save homes up to £340 a year
• Making sure that they were on the right energy tariff and more information about energy tariffs and prepayment meters
• An opportunity to ask any energy-related questions
• Members of the community could bring in their bills to have any part they were not sure of explained
• Energy account check for E.ON customers to make sure that they were on the best tariff for them
• Advice with any problems experience with their energy providers
• Advice about E.ON’s CaringEnergy Fund which can provide financial support to cover the costs of installing heating systems and essential household appliances such as fridges, freezers and washing machines.
• Easy referral to Warm Front and other support arrangements
• How to stay safe. Advice on the dangers of carbon monoxide.