Developing a Decarbonization Strategy With Strong Returns

Top 3 Areas of Impact

Determined hot spots for reducing energy use to lower emissions and costs

Identified project expected to reduce energy consumption 5% to 10% with less than one year Return on Investment (ROI)  

""Developing and supporting implementation of  decarbonization  strategy

Summary

An auto parts manufacturer struggling to achieve its sustainability and net zero goals reached out to BDO for help developing a decarbonization strategy that would also generate strong returns on investment.

Meeting discussion.

Challenge

Our client had sustainability and net zero goals in place but was struggling to achieve them. Not only did they need to develop a decarbonization strategy, but they also needed some quick wins to show progress and to make the business case for larger strategic investments.

Recommendations

We coordinated a decarbonization workshop with our client’s operations team to identify energy use and operating costs associated with each stage of the manufacturing process. The workshop resulted in a heat map that identified which equipment and processes could be modified to provide maximum sustainability and financial impacts with minimal investments.

We identified air compressor pumps as one major area of focus. We’re working with our client to develop and test a strategy to shut down compressors at the times they are not needed. This simple solution is expected to reduce energy consumption, emissions, and costs.


Results

We helped our client jump-start its decarbonization journey by identifying a set of quick win emissions-reduction projects forecast to pay for themselves through cost savings. Many businesses, regardless of industry, have the potential to seize these types of high-impact, limited investment projects that can set the groundwork for a sustainability program’s long-term success.

Rizwaan Sahib
Managing Director, Sustainability & ESG Climate Services