Nestled in a conference room at the PwC London office on Tuesday, the energy was palpable. A combination of excitement for being part of something meaningful, timely and critical for hitting our net zero targets, coupled with an air of urgency for all the very same reasons.
‘Competitors aren’t competitors on every front.’ Ian Sutherland, CFO and Head of Net-Zero, Tide, told an audience of 65 industry experts spanning the fields of Banking, Fintech, Government and beyond at the Perseus meet & greet event. Reminding us that, when it comes to meeting our net zero commitments, collaboration trumps competition every time.
Unexpected Coalitions
The kind of collaboration we’re seeing with the Perseus project is far reaching too. Rather than being isolated to a single sector, it’s facilitating ‘unexpected coalitions’ and creating cross-industry alignment. The potential benefits of the project are also clear, with Perseus looking to automate GHG reporting for every SME in the UK.
SMEs make up nearly half of UK business emissions while generating 52% of GDP, making it evident that, both on a financial and environmental front, the potential impact of project Perseus could be huge. The next question is how exactly will Perseus create impact? By making automated emissions reporting possible, Perseus can inform investment decisions, enable targeted decarbonisation interventions, reduce reporting burdens and unlock green finance.
Delving deeper into the session, a panel of industry experts from Natwest, British Business Bank, Tide and UK Finance looked at what Perseus can bring to the banking sector. One panellist described Perseus as the potential anchor of trust needed in reporting, especially when it comes to aligning on methodologies. Another highlighted the project’s emphasis on utilising half-hourly data directly from smart metres as a critical step towards obtaining verified data—the holy grail for the banking sector.
Looking beyond energy data
As the meeting drew to a close, the spirit of collaboration that runs through Perseus was reinforced with two interactive polls. One poll asked ‘Who else should be involved in the project?’ and another asked ‘What’s the one thing we should do next’? It was here that the art of the possible began to expand, as attendees in the room and online began to envision further cross industry cooperation as well as looking to industries like Gas and Business Transport as future avenues to explore.
The urgency in the room was matched by the Perseus roadmap which demonstrated the pace of the project. Last year, the Perseus demonstrator was presented at COP28, alongside a report that involved collaboration from 150 different individuals. This year, the project aims to build out a trust framework, solidify industry confidence before progressing into its pilot stage.
If you are interested in becoming a member of Perseus, please get in touch at perseus@icebreakerone.org