Richard Braid, MD at Cistermiser Keraflo, looks at how merchants can make a significant contribution to the Net Zero by 2050 goals through encouraging their customers “to choose sustainable water solutions that are now readily available for off-the-shelf sales.”
In order to meet the goal of hitting the all-important sub-1.5°C, our planet-warming emissions must drop by 50% within the next ten years. That is, for a lot of people, an intimidating and overwhelming prospect, but there is hope.
As a society, we can contribute to that reduction by up to 70% through lifestyle changes, and as an industry we can do our part by choosing products that are designed and built with sustainability at their core.
Recently released, the ‘Cheaper Bills, Warmer Homes’ strategy is an independent plan from a cross-sector group of UK industry experts including professionals, thought leaders, charities, private sector institutions, local authorities, analysts, academics, and policy makers. The plan offers a bold and transformative ten-year programme to retrofit UK homes that will have huge financial and sustainability effects for the entire industry.
Significantly, it offers the chance to place merchants as an integral link in the plan’s delivery due to their connection with installers and contractors from their privileged position at the heart of the supply chain. Included in the strategy are the following aims:
Address climate change
Tackle the long-term causes of the cost-of-living crisis
Bring economic prosperity
Improve quality of life
Above all, Cheaper Bills, Warmer Homes is an important contribution to mapping out a workable strategy to retrofit and upgrade the nation’s homes by really getting to grips with the scale of the problem and offering practicable detail of solutions.
Win-win
Working towards meeting sustainability is a win-win situation for everyone involved. By providing the tools and products for customers to use and thereby carrying out the steps recommended by the Cheaper Bills, Warmer Homes plan, merchants will be contributing to and benefitting from:
Revitalising local economies and communities: driving an average of £671million investment into each local authority area, managed and delivered by local people, creating 500,000 high quality local jobs.
Local delivery for local benefit: the plan is made easy and accessible to all through future-fit one-stop-shops nationwide. This provides a huge opportunity for merchants.
Funded work for installers and contractors: No household will have to pay from their own pocket. Instead, measures are funded through a mix of repayments from energy savings and grants for lower income households.
These hugely positive commercial benefits come from the collective whole, and the area that Cistermiser and Keraflo is naturally so passionate about is water. Water quality, hygiene and savings, be that financial, energy and/or water are the foundations upon which we stand. These sustainability foundations are embedded into every solution we offer, and are the key drivers for any of our new product development, including infrared technology, ‘rEVOlutionary flushing valves’, flow regulators and timed shutoff valves, amongst others.
We are deeply proud that whenever a Cistermiser or Keraflo product enters the market, often through a merchant, we know we are contributing positively to the environment, health, and budgets of those using our products, as well as the long-lasting survival of the planet.
Merchant opportunities
Doing the right thing for the environment will be positive for merchants’ bottom lines. The retail industry and product supply chains are one of the largest contributors to UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with 30% of all emissions able to be attributed to products sold to consumers. This gives the industry both a huge opportunity as well as a responsibility to step up to combat climate change.
Helping businesses and consumers to live lower carbon lifestyles and make more environmentally conscious choices is essential if the industry is to reach its goal of being Net Zero by 2050.
By incorporating environmentally conscious products, merchants are not only contributing to lowering emissions but are also benefitting from the added value sales which their customers are demanding. It is for this exact reason that Cistermiser and Keraflo’s entire merchant product portfolio focuses on effective and efficient water savings.
For example, recently launched — and already a winner at the Bathroom Manufacturers Association (BMA) Sustainability Awards 2022 — the EasyflushEVO is calculated to save up to 78,475 litres of water per unit per annum, and although it might not single-headedly solve the water wastage problems we have, it goes a long way to raising standards and awareness.
Our industry is in a unique and challenging position. In the words of the UN Climate Change cop27, the planet is ‘sending us a distress signal’ and it is incredibly motivating to know we can, collectively, play a significant part in the solution. The prospect of meeting such large goals may seem overwhelming but working in partnership with our network of merchants across the UK, I am confident that we can make a significant change to the future.
Click here for more information on Cistermiser Keraflow and its range of products and services.
A version of this article appeared in the February edition of Professional Builders Merchant. Click here to see the full digital issue via the PBM website.
