Imperial’s Vice President ESG Lauren Rota weighs in at COP27, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt – COP27
Imperial understands that in order to become a purpose driven organisation that creates sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders, the company must prioritise people, the planet and profit. The company is increasing its investment in sustainable integrated ESG practices across their operations as a strategic pillar.
Lauren Rota on driving sustainability at every level of the organisation
Sustainability is embedded in our core business strategy and as such, we have a mandate to integrate ESG into every part of our daily business activities. So it's really high up on our agenda. We actually have a line that says ESG starts with me. The intent of that line is to say at the coalface – each and every person making small collective decisions – are we embedding the balance between profits, planet and people into those decisions? How we drive change is by getting it in at every level of the organisation, not just with the CEO; it's people on the ground all driving the change together.
On transitioning to a zero carbon fleet
That is a million dollar version. It is really about decarbonising our fleet. Currently, we have a large fleet of heavy vehicles that predominantly use diesel as a fuel and we are looking to transition to lower carbon and zero carbon fuels. We have a lot of pilots on the go to achieve that goal. It's also about looking at our electricity consumption and ensuring that as far as possible, we move towards renewables while also embedding energy efficiency, so we use less energy to start with.
On harnessing digital technologies and data to optimise assets
Firstly, we start with being as efficient as possible, and we do that through the power of harnessing digital technologies and data to ensure we are optimising every asset that we use and using as little as possible in the process. Then it moves on to decarbonisation. So, we are piloting new technologies around liquefied natural gas, electric trucks and green hydrogen. Once we have proof from those pilots, we will start to slowly but surely replace the fleet and transition to a zero carbon fleet. We aim to achieve this by 2050 across our African operations.
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