A call to action for business pollinators
Plus entrepreneur of the year named, gigafactory hopes and green ice-cream vans in the very first business newsletter from The Northern Eco
Andrew Procter is a man on a mission. His family business is looking to construct a major highway but this doesn’t involve concrete and traffic - it’s The Great British Pollinator Highway.
Starting from their base near York, he has a vision to connect businesses across 837 miles by 300 miles with special monitors which will track the pollinator action on their sites and be made visible on a map.
He told me more: “Ultimately it’s going to stretch to all four corners of Great Britain. We're starting it now in York and North Yorkshire, and expanding it from there through pins in the map. These will go out in four directions, wherever it takes us.”
The first step is to engage businesses in the initiative to create the vast network of interconnected habitats across the UK, providing essential corridors for pollinators to thrive.
Building on growing interest and emphasis on environmental, social, and governance (ESG), businesses are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their positive impact on society. The Impact Evaluation Standard and other government frameworks are elevating the importance of measuring and reporting social value.
So, by quantifying the social and environmental benefits of The Great British Pollinator Highway, BiodiversityUK intends that businesses can not only enhance their reputation, attracting socially conscious customers and investors, but also mitigate risks associated with negative externalities.
“This decline isn't just a concern for nature lovers. Pollinators are vital to the intricate web of life, contributing significantly to the UK's biodiversity. Their disappearance threatens to unravel the delicate balance of our ecosystems.”
How does it work?
Automated Pollinator Monitoring hardware, affectionately known as Polly’s: Developed by AgriSound are installed at the business site. A Polly is a revolutionary audio monitoring system that uses acoustic sensors to detect and distinguish the unique sounds of bee wings. This real-time data will help the companies understand pollinator populations and optimise habitat creation.
“We will get to know what wildflowers are working, we can actually evidence that as nobody seems to know what is actually working. There'll be ecologists, scientists, that ultimately, hopefully, can use this information to improve attracting the pollinators,” says Andrew.
The initiative is not alone in encouraging pollinator action with an initiative called B Lines from the Bug Life Association also operating in this space that readers maybe familiar with.
Andrew explained the difference: “We wholeheartedly support other organisations working to create pollinator-friendly habitats. However, a key distinction lies in the lack of technology at B Lines sites for monitoring, counting, and tracking bees. We aim to address this gap by providing Polly's to individuals and organisations, enabling them to collect valuable data on bee species and maximise positive outcomes for pollinators countrywide.”
How to get involved
Helping pollinators isn’t only of interest to business and individuals can also participate in the The Great British Pollinator Highway.
“By placing Polly's in 1% of UK homes and establishing over 1000 sites nationwide, we can significantly expand our impact, educate the public, and collect valuable data and research. Creating pollinator-friendly, flower-rich habitats requires a collective effort from farmers, landowners, wildlife organisations, businesses, local authorities, and the general public.”
Andrew notes that anyone can also make a difference:
Plant native wildflowers and trees in your garden, balcony, or local community space.
Create wildlife havens by letting a patch of lawn grow wild or adding nesting boxes for birds and insects.
If you’d like to know more about how you can join Biodiversity UK and what the benefits are to your business, please connect with Andrew Procter via info@biodiversityuk.com or call direct on 07359 544445.
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Got some news to share about your green business? Get in touch with any press releases via business@thenortherneco.com.
In other business news
Regular readers may remember the incredible Helen Hill who came to prominence by donning an plastic waste related mermaid outfit - well, congratulations are in order! Helen has just been named as Entrepreneur of the Year at the Digital Women Awards.👏🍾
“Winning Entrepreneur of the Year is a huge honour, and what’s even more exciting is the opportunity to bring Be The Future IMMERS[ED] to life with this new funding.”
You can read more on her journey and the new initiative she’s launching here.
A top councillor in Northumberland has said he remains hopeful a transformative “gigafactory” can be attracted to the county despite the failed Britishvolt saga, writes James Robinson at The Northern Echo.
North Yorkshire Council has refused a plan to build four electric vehicle (EV) charging points at Settle’s Booths supermarket due to the impact on trees, reports at Thomas Barrett at The Yorkshire Post.
Plans for a ‘battery energy storage facility’ on Wearside have been given the go-ahead. Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee, approved an application for a major energy infrastructure project. The development aims to take energy from the National Grid when demand is low and store it, before releasing it back to the National Grid over “periods of extreme demand”, reports Chris Binding of the Sunderland Echo.
Ice cream vans in Sheffield will need to go green if operators are to win licences.
To help firms recoup the extra investment involved, the contracts for three city parks will be extended from the current three years to five or seven years, writes Julia Armstrong for The Star.
Wirral-based Starship Group has been showing off a house built in a week during the Labour party conference in Manchester. The company hopes the building will persuade decision makers to deliver zero energy bill homes. More on that from David Humphries at the Liverpool Echo.
Pressure is mounting on the government to make low carbon homes compulsory as they can save people £1,341 in bills. Fiona Harvey at The Guardian reports on a study which shows that:
“People living in a typical three-bedroom, semi-detached newly built house would save an average of £1,341 a year if it was equipped with solar panels, a heat pump, high-grade insulation and battery storage.”
A lithium extracting operation based across large areas of Weardale in County Durham is to raise more than £6 million after a series of successful tests. Mike Hughes reports for The Northern Echo that the company aims to deliver a domestic supply of lithium – a critical mineral essential for the production of lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles in the UK.
How can heat networks help the region achieve its net zero ambitions? Andrew Hirst, partner and heat network expert at international law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, tells The Northern Echo how the North East has a strong track record of developing and delivering these projects, but that there is still a lot more to do to reach the UK’s net zero goal.
North East and Yorkshire Net Zero hub has opened Applications for the third round of its Community Energy Fund (CEF) until 13 Oct. CEF supports the feasibility and development stages of urban and rural community energy projects to benefit their local area and help kickstart clean energy projects for saving, managing or generating energy. Answers to FAQs can be found here and presentations about the CEF funding from the 8 March ‘Securing Funding for Community Energy Projects’ and 10 April ‘Community Energy Fund’ webinars can be found here. Find out more about CEF.
JOIN: Our fun, fast, interactive workshops Carbon Reduction Workshop: Does your team want jargon-free information about carbon reduction, net zero and climate change? As a small business, making a plan for action on carbon reduction can be overwhelming. The Northern Eco is here to help with an action-orientated workshop that gives your business all the tools you need to get started on your carbon reduction journey. You’ll gain an idea of your footprint, understand the emissions of everyday actions, and build a visual plan of your own. It has been designed to engage the whole team and bring them on the journey with you, in a fun, fast, interactive workshop over less than two hours. We’ll be launching in late October so please do join our waitlist here if you’d like to be kept informed.
We’ll be back as usual on Tuesday with our general news round-up. I hope you’ve enjoyed this first business newsletter and would love to hear any comments or feedback you have.
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