Net Zero Carbon

APP Wholesale named one of the Net Zero Carbon Business Champions, as we are one of the first companies in the UK’s construction industry to declare our commitment to support CO2nstructZero. APP Wholesale was chosen the Construction Leadership Council for demonstrating our commitment towards the sector’s mission towards reducing carbon emissions in the delivery and operation of the built environment. Along with other leading companies, we have committed to share evidence of our net zero carbon plans against the nine CO2nstructZero principles, contribute to the CO2nstructZero industry reporting process and work together to support companies in the sector to developing their own plans in support of the industry change programme.

Making progress to Net Zero is important to APP as we are fundamentally aware that we are contributing to the problem and we are running out of time. We need to invest urgently to escalate, inform and speed up the change. We firmly believe that our customers will be receptive to change as we have been through numerous legislative changes on efficiency previously. The business needs to MITIGATE RISK, DRIVE GROWTH, REDUCE COST and MANAGE TRUST in order to be prepared for the future. These four pillars will be used to support our sustainability targets, to reduce our impacts on the environment and create a better blueprint for our business in the future. The negative impacts of our business need to be decoupled and a positive counteractive solution needs to be sought. This is why we have started to look at our main activities and are seeking positive counteractions. One of these solutions is BoilerBox. We are acutely aware that there will be disruptions to economic systems in the future and the business needs to be prepared and do its part to get to Net Zero.

The priorities that are most relevant to our business

Transport

This a key area that we are looking at minimising impact and introducing better tracking and formulation of routes and deliveries to accumulate orders per area. We will be introducing a Green Van option for all our customers shortly in order for them to choose a slot that uses aggregated orders to maximise deliveries to postcodes anywhere in the UK. Our fleet of vans will be converted where applicable to zero emission vehicles as soon as the technology is viable. More enhanced tracking will enhance the TRUST our customers seek and reduce our COST enabling us to further invest in the technology

Buildings

We are ready to scale up to offer low carbon heat solutions in the form of Hydrogen ready boilers. Within our portfolio of products we have own brand solutions that will be ready in 2022 and incorporated with Hydrogen Ready technology as standard. This highly competitive boiler range will be affordable and a great solution for Landlords, Tenants and Homeowners. Our partnership with Google Nest to offer Boiler and Thermostat packages ran throughout 2020 and is in its second year of success allowing customers to leverage the benefit of a highly efficient boiler combined with the Intelligence of a thermostat that uses occupancy to drive greater efficiencies. We have also introduced a product that reduces scale effectively up to 76% without using sacrificial anodes or rare earth metals. This device increases the performance and ultimately the efficiency of boilers and water heating devices. Driving growth in our business is key to implementing further change.

Construction activity

We have implemented a scheme to collect and responsibly recycle all end of life boilers for our customers. This is a nationwide scheme that allows customers to return the unwanted boiler in one of our custom made boxes, facilitating a clean and safe removal of the material. This supports our customers and offers them a solution for their waste which is convenient and guarantees that the unwanted material does not end up supporting the untaxed economy and adding to the £600million a year waste crime figure. The material is reprocessed at a central location, correctly streamed to maximise recycling, stopping the current process of materials ending up in landfill. Currently there is not a single boiler recycled in the UK and we have embarked on a project to increase the awareness and stream material correctly to maximise the impact of an end of life product on the environment. We are in discussions with boiler manufacturers to understand and consult on how this recycling activity could benefit the future product design. The BoilerBox was introduced to offer a reusable container for our customers that can be easily stored and reduces the possibility of physical accidents in handling and damage to a clients house. The in house recycling and material streaming is allowing us to increase TRUST with our customers and reduce embedded carbon. We will also be offering incentive schemes to pre-empt boiler change based upon efficiency and utilise the BoilerBox concept to show that over 80% of materials rescued will be recycled responsibly without the requirement for landfill.