With the eyes of the world on Glasgow and COP26, it is only fitting that Thales’ oldest site in the UK is playing its part in the green revolution.

Established in 1888, our Glasgow site has played a critical role in developing world leading technologies and innovative solutions for decades.

In an increasingly environmentally conscious world, that same technological expertise is being utilised for the benefit of the climate and society.

One of the key drivers for Thales is partnerships, to work with academia and industry in the UK to develop solutions that benefit all. We are driving forward autonomous technologies and solutions with the Universities of Bristol and Southampton that could see autonomous platforms playing a key role in the way we look after our environment.

For example, Thales is part of MIMRee, an innovative project paving the way for human-robotic teams to assist in maintaining windfarms, with the aim of making windfarms designed for robotic maintenance by 2050. 

The aim of the project is to demonstrate that robotics and automated systems are a viable solution for inspection and maintenance at offshore wind farms, boosting efficiency and reducing the risk for human crews.

The On-board Moving Wind Turbine Inspection System was developed out of Glasgow and incorporates world leading optronic technology currently used in our defence business.

The project supports the UK Government’s ambition to make offshore windfarms a critical part of the nation’s future green energy ambitions and infrastructure.

In Space, Thales Alenia Space in the UK design and build science instruments and make valuable contributions to observation missions, which enable better monitoring and modelling of climate change to help decision makers make informed decisions to protect life on Earth. 

We have also invested £6m in Northern Ireland to create a “green” satellite electric propulsion manufacturing facility. Whilst traditional satellites use various types of chemical propellant for propulsion, Thales Alenia Space’s propulsion uses Xenon gas and solar-powered electrical energy, which is much more environmentally friendly and truly represents a step change. 

But it’s not just our technology making our difference, we are looking at our UK footprint and the way we work to see where we can do things better.

A sustainable industry drives economic growth and creates job opportunities; innovation advances the technological capabilities and prompts the development of new skills, whilst infrastructure provides the basic systems and structures essential to our operations.

At a global level, Thales has just launched our GREENgineer challenge, which gives our employees the opportunity to pioneer innovative technical solutions that will reduce the environmental footprint of our products and services for our customers. 

Our UK business has made continuous efforts to reduce its CO₂ output year on year since 2010. This has been done by implementing a range of initiatives such as improved building operating principles, property consolidation and energy saving initiatives. These have included the introduction of solid state Chillers at certain sites and LED lighting throughout UK with Passive Infra-Red light activation.

We’re also looking to find ways to give our employees more flexibility to make better environmental choices, including increasing the availability of electric charging points at our site. 

Alex Cresswell, CEO and Chairman of Thales UK said:

Throughout the course of the COVID- 19 pandemic we have seen how interconnected we are and that there are certain problems that are not contained by borders. COP26 is a chance for us to look at the serious climate situation we are facing and come together to take responsibility and commit to doing more. For example, Thales aims to be carbon net zero by 2040.

I hope we will see a renewed commitment to working across borders to harness technology to tackle climate change and an acknowledgement that science and research must be at the heart of the approach.