At Sky, we depend on the environment to help keep our business running, right from the energy we use, to the raw materials required to make our products. We know operating efficiently, saving energy and using natural resources wisely is helping us build a more durable business, better products for our customers, and contributing to a more sustainable future for everyone. 

In the quest to minimise our environmental impact, in 2008 we set ourselves a series of bold environment commitments and targets, renewing them in 2012 as a result of meeting our initial targets early. Having recently published our latest sustainability report online, we can reflect on our progress against these commitments and the story so far.

Overall we’re proud of our performance overall, with most of our targets either achieved, or on track to 2020. That said, we can’t stand still and must continue to work hard to ensure we deliver what we set out to do. This is particularly true for the measures where our progress has slowed this year when compared to previous years such as carbon intensity, and, related to that, the energy-efficiency of our buildings and the percentage of our energy obtained from on-site renewables.

So let me explain. At Sky, our biggest impact on the environment is the energy we use, so we’ve put energy-efficiency and low carbon investment at the heart of our environment strategy. We met our original target of a 25% reduction in carbon intensity by 2012 so in this year we set ourselves a much more ambitious target of a 50% reduction by 2020. We knew that to achieve such a goal, business-as-usual or incremental changes would not be enough – we wanted to step up, innovating and challenging ourselves to go even further. 

For example, investment in renewable energy can be expensive and often risky, with pay-back coming to fruition over the long term. To help us make informed decisions on potential investments, we have used an internal carbon price to help us identify opportunities that would not otherwise have made the cut using return on investment alone.

Over the first few years, reducing our energy use and carbon emissions was relatively simple. But once the “low hanging fruit” had been picked, long-term investment was required by the business to reach our ambitious goals. 

Our focus so far has been in two main areas. Firstly, in on-site renewable energy through the development of many different types of renewables, some of which were new to the UK when we decided to invest. These include a Combined Cooling and Heating Power Plant (CCHP) fuelled by recycled wood pallets; a 100KW wind turbine; biomass boilers; and photovoltaic cells. 

Secondly, we’ve invested in the efficiency of our buildings. A few years ago we started by building Sky Studios, a BREEAM Excellent broadcasting studio, designed with sustainability and energy efficiency at its heart, making it Europe’s most sustainable broadcasting facility. This has continued with the redevelopment of our west London campus and a further three BREEAM Excellent buildings have been constructed in the last 18 months with a fourth on its way which will be the home to no less than 4,000 Sky people. 

Such an ambitious and long-term project means that while we wait for our new buildings to be completed, we need continue to lease our old offices. As a result, our energy use and subsequent emissions have risen. But we know we are on the right track, and this increase is a short-term impact of the necessary investments we need to make to significantly reduce our emissions over the long term.

Its exciting times for us as our new campus takes shape and we start to see the effect of our investment in a better, more sustainable Sky - 2020 targets, we’re coming to get you!