Southern Co-op’s climate analyst is determined to make a positive change. I spoke to her to find out how the business takes on this topic day to day and how doing something so good can have negative side effects.

My name is Olivia Clinton, and I am here at Southern Co-op for work experience and on Wednesday 18 January, I spoke to Lucy Haynes, Climate Analyst at Southern Co-op, all about her very interesting role including why and how she does it.

Lucy told me about her journey from completing her A-levels and a degree in history, politics, and international relations, to graduating with a master’s in international security including a dissertation in climate security. Lucy joined Southern Co-op last February.

Lucy explained to me Southern Co-op’s main climate targets, this being:

• 50% reduction in direct emissions by 2030 (from 2019 baseline) – they have reduced those by 30% already!
• 17% reduction in indirect emissions by 2030 (from 2019 baseline)

Looking at these targets Lucy creates monthly reports on the company’s emissions data. This involves direct emissions, the ones that the company directly puts out into the atmosphere. For example, the company cars, the electricity that is used, and fridge gas. This also includes looking at what to do in stores to conserve energy, introducing ways on how to encourage wildlife around the stores and other sites and looking at food wastage with schemes like ‘Too Good To Go’.

Alongside Lucy is Gemma Lacey, Director of Sustainability and Communications. In 2019 a climate action group was formed within the business to help the company decarbonise to reduce their emissions. The group is chaired by Mark Smith – Chief Executive, and other members include Jo Creese – Head of Finance, Dan Bowyer – Head of Property, Emma McVie – Project Manager in the property department, Glenn Waters – Commercial Relationship Manager also in property, Greg Wilkins – Finance Director, Gemma and Lucy. Creating a wide range of people within the group helps for things to be done quicker!

Commercially, Lucy and Gemma are always mindful of what the competition is doing whilst doing what’s right for the business. The co-operative can learn from others’ actions and discover opportunities for collaboration given the goals can’t be achieved in isolation. Working within the environmental space, everyone is wanting the same end goal, which is helpful as people are often a bit more willing. When involving other companies, it’s making sure that the right thing is being done as the consumer is becoming more and more concerned with what the company is doing. Lucy said: “A very rapid world to work in.”

From day to day, Lucy collects the emission data from different parts of the company and assesses this through spreadsheets, number crunching and data. In the beginning, Lucy explained that this side of her role was difficult to get her head around but learning on the job has made it a lot more assessable. Lucy said: “If it’s something you’ve never done before and you’re passionate about it you will learn to be good at it!”

Lucy said, there is also a factor of being careful with her personal mental health as she is regularly consuming all the negative news about climate change. On the other hand, it feels good to work in a company that really cares and takes it so seriously. It’s rewarding, being passionate about what you do motivates you. She particularly enjoys the data collection side and being involved within the process, looking at the results of ‘this is what we’ve invested in, and this is how its paid off and the emissions we’ve saved from it’.  At the beginning, Lucy thought of it to be very daunting but found everyone is incredibly approachable. Support plays a big priority within the role.