Carbon off setting? What’s this about then?
Having achieved near zero from our internal office operations, and having reached our current full potential of having a sustainable head office, the inevitable question was…what next?
We realised that to achieve our carbon neutral status, we had to next address the 30 tonnes of carbon generated by our essential vehicle movements.
As discussed in our previous post, commercially electric vans are currently not viable. Expensive, plus an infrastructure that isn’t quite up to the job yet. We are seeing EV chargers installed more and more, including at our own head office, the costs just don’t work. We are fully behind electric vehicles and look forward to fully embracing them when issues, such as battery manufacture and infrastructure, are resolved. So…what are we doing in the meantime?
We have now got all vehicles movements planned and tracked to ensure efficient use of fuel. We are already starting to see a reduction in fuel, and we’re saving money too! We are offering Teams or Zoom where practical to normal business operations, although of course we are firmly of the belief that face-to-face interaction for Rejus staff is essential and one of our strengths.
I look forward to measuring the reduction of CO2 over the forthcoming months! I’d love to see surveyors preparing either live video visits, or recorded video surveys when requesting dilapidations/fit out quotes, so at least a contractor has a choice on travelling the length and breadth of the UK to source work. This modernisation of the trade opens the door for further carbon off-setting, and we can see exciting ways to improve our sustainability.
We see there are absolutely further opportunities for carbon offsetting to achieve Net Zero. There are many, many options out there, and undoubtedly there are many preferences, mostly subjective, about how you achieve this. The way we saw it, Rejus needed to partner with a tried and tested external source to make sure we were maximising our net neutral potential.
We carefully selected our partner and went with Highland Carbon. There are two reasons why we’re thrilled with this partnership. One, we are supporting a local business, and two, because founder Richard Clarke is highly knowledgeable and is doing great things for sustainability.
At this stage we’ve surpassed what we need to do to offset our carbon. We have purchased 100 tonnes of offsetting relative to our 30-tonne carbon footprint. Doing so makes us a forward thinking and climate-positive company.
We plan also to go further and invest in nature and biodiversity of the fantastic Scottish Highlands.
Rejus is also looking at purchasing further carbon offsets, a push to furter help environmentally friendly projects, and to also support staff travelling to work and their household carbon footprint. We plan to achieve this with the help of Highland Carbon.
I believe, currently, the whole carbon zero and way of measuring is limited and narrow. However, it’s a first step, and we are achieving the targets now that government has set for 2035. We have achieved scope 1 and 2, Carbon Neutral within the confines of our business operations. Job done!
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Step 2 must be considering the wider impact of our business chain, up and down, educating where needed, supporting and guiding where we can. As we’ve been on this journey, relatively short and surprisingly easy, we’ve learnt so much. We’re proud of the ways we as a company have expanded and deepened our knowledge, and progress continues.
Whether you agree or disagree with Net Zero, achieving it is the key component of the United Nations Paris Agreement and subsequent COP agreements. Nations cannot achieve their Net Zero commitments without companies taking an active role. It’s here, it’s not going away.
I believe, as a business, it is important that we act positively...find a way to do what we have to do. That’s what we all do isn’t it?
- Mathew Lynds, Director of Rejus Ltd.
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