Clear for take-off toward net zero

Moog is an American-based global engineering company that specialises in solving its customers’ most technical challenges in 90 locations across 25 countries and nine time zones. The company is an expert in motion control units and its applications feature in spacecraft, aircraft, racing cars, and wind turbines. As such, Moog works in the supply chains of some of the biggest, most recognisable private and public sector businesses in the world.

With the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework gaining pace in all business and government sectors, Moog knows it must demonstrate to customers its potential as a “clean” partner that is sustainable and environmentally viable for the long term. Resolved to understanding and tackling its carbon emissions, Moog set about finding a trusted partner to help improve its sustainability and support it on its decarbonisation journey.

Net Zero Pathway Advisory Services

Aware of the complexities involved in both its own technologies and in decarbonisation, Moog approached Centrica Business Solutions to help demystify the process and support its transition toward best practices for all ESG matters.

Centrica’s Net Zero Pathway Advisory Services utilises science-based methodologies to define an actionable pathway of decarbonisation activities. This approach aims to fulfil net zero ambitions using a “Plan, Cut, Convert, Complete” framework. Using this methodology, the Centrica Business Solutions team completed an audit across five regionally diverse Moog sites and identified a series of measures that would put Moog on the pathway to net zero.

The audit was aided by Centrica Business Solutions’ global coverage footprint, which mirrors Moog’s footprint, allowing for local Centrica Business Solutions engineers to feed audit data output into the centrally managed Centrica Business Solutions Net Zero Advisory Services. The Centrica Business Solutions team was truly across borders, working with various sites and Moog teams across multiple US states and European countries.

The team’s dedication and work ethic didn’t go unnoticed. “I was drawn to working with the team at Centrica Business Solutions because I felt like I could build a pragmatic, long-lasting relationship with them. That’s definitely part of the appeal of the relationship, and part of the reason it’s been so successful,” says Hamish Ferguson, Sustainability and ESG Director at Moog. “They are a good partner to us; they listen to what we’re saying, how we’re saying it, and what we’re trying to achieve. I’m very happy with them.”

Results of the recommendations

The pilot studies across the five regionally diverse sites identified how Moog can achieve various near-term ambition scenarios, with a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2032 and reaching net zero by 2044 for the specific sites that were reviewed, detailing measures in terms of technology, time, and investment. Centrica Business Solutions has also used pilot study strategies to extrapolate the results for the rest of Moog’s footprint to understand the overall investment costs and times to reach various ambitions, and eventually achieve net zero.

“My interest in working with Centrica Business Solutions is about working with people you can relate to, that understand, and with whom there’s a cultural alignment,” says Ferguson. “Centrica Business Solutions helped us understand these five very different factory situations and what the baseline data looked like for each one. They’re experts at knowing the technology and complexities of the field,” he continues. “The data and the presentation material that they put forward has been exceptional. There’s a really high standard of analysis and specialist recommendation.”

Solar PV array installation, LED lighting, heat pumps, hydrogen fuel solutions, and data management systems were among the technical solutions recommended, with the specifics of each differing according to site.

Alongside data insight management, other identified key areas through which Moog can unlock its sustainability potential are energy efficiency, on-site generation, and decarbonisation of heat.

This will enable the company to not only become greener but achieve energy security, reducing dependency on the grid through on-site electricity production that will also reduce energy costs.

Its partnership with Centrica Business Solutions’ Net Zero Advisory Services has equipped Moog with the knowledge, understanding, and support to move forward on its carbon journey. Ferguson said: “If we set a pragmatic, realistic, but ambitious carbon emissions target, then it sets us up for the future, business-wise. It means we’re competing with the very best to provide our solutions. And critically, it makes us a clean solution and a sustainable and viable one for our customers in the long term.”

Centrica Business Solutions’ Advisory Services outputs have included recommendations for:

• The target year for net zero corporate commitment
• The short, medium and long-term corporate carbon reduction commitment
• The level of investment required for Moog to fulfil its net zero and carbon reduction commitments and the associated financial returns
• The low carbon technologies required to deliver these commitments and the logical sequencing of their development at site, commercial group, and global levels

These recommendations have supported the Moog senior management decision-making process for the key corporate strategic decisions related to its net zero corporate position. 

Plans into action: Solar PV installation

Following the success of the Net Zero Advisory Services outputs, Moog partnered with Centrica Business Solutions to begin implementing the recommendations, by installing Solar PV at their manufacturing site in Wolverhampton.

The agreement sees Centrica Business Solutions lease roof space from Moog to install a 2,200 solar panel array capable of generating circa 1MW. Centrica Business Solutions finances the project and have agreed on a PPA with Moog Inc. for the renewable electricity generated on site. The panels will provide Moog Inc. with 800 MWh of renewable, reliable energy every year for the next 25 years – around 10 per cent of the site’s existing electricity requirements. It gives Moog price certainty and access to green electricity without any upfront costs, and it will reduce operational CO2 emissions by 175 tonnes every year.

Dr Jean-Yves Cherruault, Head of Net Zero Pathways at Centrica Business Solutions, said: “To be able to finance deals like this with no up-front costs is an incredibly attractive package for many businesses. It allows them to become energy-independent, more resilient and ultimately play their part in achieving the UK’s sustainability goals.”

Ferguson concluded: “Working with Centrica has enabled us to implement a solution that makes sense from both a carbon reduction and a finance perspective. It’s the first retrofit on an existing manufacturing plant of a solar array for Moog and we’re looking forward to implementing similar projects around the world to achieve our carbon reduction ambitions."