Ricardo puts Surrey Police on right path to achieve their 2030 net zero commitment

Ricardo has developed a route map for Surrey Police to achieve net zero by 2030.

The routemap covers Surrey Police’s buildings and transport fleet. It includes the constabulary’s baseline emissions, business as usual projection, decarbonisation measures and net zero projections detailing how this commitment can be achieved. This is accompanied by a carbon management plan illustrating how it can be implemented, governed, communicated and monitored.

Ricardo’s expert team agreed the scope and boundary of the commitment, establishing the baseline emissions; modelling the business as usual trajectory; conducting site visits and identifying measures; producing net zero projections, a strategic routemap to carbon neutrality and a carbon management plan.

Rachel Mason-Salkeld, Ricardo Senior Consultant and Project Manager, said: “There was a lot of groundwork involved in developing this route map, and, while it is challenging, we believe that it is achievable.”

To support the development of the route map, stakeholder engagement workshops with key Surrey Police staff were held as well as a staff behavioural workshop to assist in providing the necessary cultural change.

Surrey Police energy and environment manager Mohammad Rafique said: “Reaching net zero by 2030 is a huge challenge for us as a force, and it’s a target our chief officers are absolutely committed to achieving – in part through a new headquarters for which we aspire to achieve a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) excellent rating.

“Ricardo’s input in helping us to kick off this piece of work was invaluable for me as the lead for this work because they brought industry expertise into this project. The team helped us to understand the challenges surrounding decarbonising our large operational fleet and the heating of our buildings. Ricardo was able to offer us the step-by-step approach we required to address both the net zero commitment and to ensure we are being as efficient with our budget as possible.”

The project resulted in a flexible route map with realistic and cost-effective options for achieving net zero with a pragmatic vision of how the transport fleet can be decarbonised and how staff and stakeholders can assist in facilitating the net zero transition.