Behaviour change at The Jockey Club as they race to go green.
Background
The Jockey Club’s mission is to act for the long-term good of British horseracing. In 2012 The Jockey Club launched the Going Green programme to significantly reduce their impact on the environment. In the race to go green, two ambitious targets were set:
- Zero waste to landfill by 2020.
- A 25% reduction in energy use.
In 2018 The Jockey Club stopped sending waste to landfill, two years before their target date. The programme has also prevented 4,870 tonnes of carbon being emitted and saved over £1.9 million through reductions in energy.
Our Support
When delivered effectively, behaviour change programmes can be a high impact, low cost way to consistently achieve demonstrable reductions in energy consumption and reduce an organisation’s overall environmental impact. But delivering long-term savings and maintaining momentum can be challenging.
Since 2014, Carbon Credentials has been working collaboratively with The Jockey Club to increase awareness and to help embed and maintain positive environmental behaviours that will lead to reductions in energy use and improved recycling rates.
Identifying the Opportunity for Energy Savings
In 2012 Carbon Credentials completed energy audits of all The Jockey Club’s racecourses. The audits revealed a clear opportunity to significantly reduce energy consumption by changing employee behaviours, particularly ensuring equipment was switched off after race days.
Establishing the Behaviour Change Programme
The following steps were taken to establish a behaviour change programme at The Jockey Club:
- Scoping through interviews and workshops.
- Strategy development, including tactics and governance, project management and reporting.
- Senior leadership workshop to gain buy-in.
Maintaining Interest
The Jockey Club maintains a group of over 42 active and engaged Green Champions. A detailed and interactive Toolkit was developed by Carbon
Credentials with guidance, tools and resources to support this role. Going Green is about making environmental management everyone’s
responsibility. Employees are made aware of how they can help, using regular communications – posters, stickers, emails and online content.
To motivate colleagues updates are sent via a quarterly newsletter, and in 2017 420 employees attended a Going Green roadshow. The roadshows provided the chance to learn more about the programme and how to support it.
Green Champions conduct regular site walks to ensure that all equipment is switched off, and every bank holiday Green Champions ensure concerted efforts are made to switch off each site. Fun reminders are sent to all employees encouraging them to join in the switch off. The results of these efforts are reported back via personalised energy reports for each site.
The Results
The direct outcome of the Going Green programme has seen a 21% reduction in energy consumption to date (based on 2017/18 energy data).
Furthermore, through the joint work between The Jockey Club, its waste contractor and Carbon Credentials, recycling rates have improved by 37% since 2011, with Carlisle hitting a 92% recycling rate. All remaining waste is sent to energy recovery
Further reading:
Using data to inspire behaviour change at IQ student accommodation
Engage your staff to adopt greener behaviours and help achieve your environmental targets
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