For nearly a decade we’ve been driving down our carbon emissions. We looked to efficiency gains first and, like Forrest Gump, we simply kept going to become a zero carbon company.
This entailed a radical re-think if how our business operated, how it consumed resources and how it viewed energy. In less than a decade we’ve rolled out; location-independent working, hybrid electric vehicles, zero-commuting, 100% green energy, tree-planting carbon offset, a ban on diesel passenger cars, public transport usage, printing caps, supply-chain auditing and on-demand car use. 2021 will see us ban new petrol cars.
It might only be three years since the Paris Treaty was signed but we have always felt it incumbent on our business to leave the world a cleaner place than when we founded, a year before the Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997.
What does this really mean?
It means that we don’t produce any net carbon output. Not all of our suppliers are in the same boat so in in 2019 we embarked on a journey to make sure everything we buy-in (services, products, people) are also zero or low carbon with the aim of cleaning our upstream supply chain.
This costs money, money that we feel is well worth investing to help with climate change and creating a cleaner, safer environment both now and for the future generations.
If more businesses sought out zero-emission suppliers, that demand would increase and the overall carbon emissions in the world go down, obviously. We think this demand in the supply chain is vital to long-term carbon sustainability and are actively encouraging our suppliers to do the same.
During 2019 we are auditing the carbon policies of our upstream supply chain with a view to phase out and replace poor actors with zero or low emission alternative. So far we have borne this cost directly ourselves and from mid-2019 will offer our clients the ability to “pay a bit more” to ensure they receive a low-carbon service.
But there is more, if you stand outside our office on Euston Road (just outside the ULEZ) you cannot help to notice the poor quality of the air. Mostly this is caused by diesel fumes from cars, taxis, buses and lorries. To do our bit we’ve banned the use of cars in the ULEZ (and the expanded area from Oct 2021). Public transport, walking, cycling and electric/hybrid taxis is now the preferred options of travelling around the capital.
We as a business are here for the long-term and investing in a cleaner, healthier, safer future makes perfect sense.
