With the UK placing a strong focus on its 2050 net-zero target, carbon footprints are becoming a hot topic in the world of business.
UK SMEs produce 25.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, accounting for at least 6 per cent of the total UK production. To meet the targets set by the UK government, there needs to be a change in how businesses use their energy.
Thankfully, we are seeing more and more businesses taking huge steps in reducing their carbon footprint. The companies listed below have all shown an incredible effort in tackling the climate change crisis. They deserve recognition and highlighting to hopefully challenge others to get involved too.
Boxergy
Edinburgh based Boxergy have the mission of providing energy to homes that is greener, cheaper and smarter. By combining existing low carbon technologies and their smart tariff, customers can buy their energy at the time that is cheapest, greenest and it is available to use whenever they want.
With over 70% of UK houses still using fossil fuel boilers, Boxergy aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by electrifying domestic heating, making renewable energies more available and storing energy at consumers’ homes, where it’s needed.
Unpackaged
Unpackaged has a plan to reduce the amount of unnecessary packaging we see every day. With the introduction of their eco-friendly stores, this is one way to tackle so much waste.
Across the UK, all 13 of Unpackaged’s stores are equipped with refill stations where customers can refill Tupperware with pasta, grains and other items, all reducing plastic waste.
Alongside the refill stations, Unpackaged hosts numerous workshops each year that help businesses to set up their own zero-waste shop. They can provide specialist knowledge, helping more companies to get onboard with zero-waste initiatives.
| Quick Facts |
| Utilise refill stations to reduce plastic waste. |
| Provide workshops to help businesses reduce waste. |
| Eco-friendly stores. |
Quorn
Since 2012, the meat substitute company Quorn have reduced their carbon footprint by 37% in their factories. Alongside this, they have seen a 21% reduction in water usage, as well as 80% of packaging being recyclable.
Reducing meat consumption is an important way for us to reduce the effects of climate change, with livestock farming creating a huge impact on the environment. This includes methane emissions and deforestation.
With Quorn being a meat replacement brand, they are tackling this issue head-on. They were the first business of their type to have third-party certification of their carbon footprint figures, furthermore boasting more than half of their products achieving the Carbon Trust Footprint.
Did you know that for just once a week for a year, switching from beef mince to Quorn’s plant-based mince, the amount of energy saved could boil 20,000 kettles? This is due to Quorn mince having 90% lower greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to beef.
Since 2014, Quorn has only used certified sustainable palm oil and they also have a Sustainability Calculator on their website to guide people on how changing to a plant-based alternative to meat can reduce carbon footprints.
Better Dairy
Each year, dairy farming creates 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2, equivalent to five times the global aviation industry produces. Better Dairy is aiming to fix this issue by creating completely animal-free dairy products, identical to traditional dairy. This is all done by using a similar process to beer brewing.
Current dairy production is incredibly unsustainable and highly inefficient. By using yeast fermentation, Better Dairy can produce the products we love, such as cheese, ice cream and yoghurt all without having to use animals.
Innocent
Innocent has a huge ambition of becoming completely carbon neutral by 2030. They have made huge strides so far, by using recycled and plant-based materials for packaging and to heat and power its head office, they use 100% renewable electricity and biogas.
Since 2017, Innocent has reduced production emissions by 5% and have sourced over 60% of the electricity in their production from renewable sources. There are plans in place to see this become 100% too.
Over the last 3 years, across their offices, Innocent has run a Do Nation Campaign. The scheme encourages people to save carbon and overall, it has saved more than 4,000 tonnes of carbon emissions which is the same as 26,075 flights from London to France.
| Quick Facts |
| Use 100% renewable energy at their head office. |
| Reduced carbon emissions by 5%. |
| Plans to become 100% powered by renewable energy. |
OLIO
OLIO is an app that allows surplus food to be shared instead of thrown away. In the UK alone, more than 6 million tonnes of food is wasted per year. OLIO is here to reduce that number.
As of today, 17,829,996 portions of food have been shared, the equivalent of 52,355,572 car miles saved. OLIO is also a carbon negative company, diverting more greenhouse gas emissions than they produce.
The emissions OLIO creates are offset by only 4% of all the carbon they save. Also, they have committed to measuring their global organisation’s emissions, reporting them publicly each year.
Chilly’s
Across the planet, single-use plastic is an ever-growing problem that can have a huge impact on the environment. Chilly’s aims to cut out single-use plastic with its stainless-steel bottles.
Not only have Chilly’s created a solution to reducing single-use plastic, but they have also been working closely with numerous charities, such as donating £200,000 to the environmental group City to Sea.
The Refill Project, a charity close to Chilly’s, aim to have free drinking water available on every high street in Britain, reducing more than a billion plastic bottles by 2025.
| Quick Facts |
| Reduce single-use plastic with stainless steel bottles. |
| Donated £200,000 to environmental charities. |
| Aiming to reduce one billion plastic bottles by 2025. |
Eden Springs
Across Europe, Eden Springs products populate many public buildings and offices with their coffee machines and water coolers. But you might have not known that since 2010, Eden Springs has been certified CarbonNeutral® by reducing its environmental impacts.
Their improvements in energy efficiency have been through many different factors, such as:
- Reducing paper use
- Providing low energy consumption coolers and coffee machines
- Internal recycling
- Optimising delivery routes
- Investing in renewables
- Carbon offsetting
Currently, the company is focusing on their plastic footprint, more specifically its water cooler bottles. They are 100% recyclable and can be reused 50 times before they are recycled.
Toast
Toast is a beverage company that produces zero-waste beer. This is done by using recycled glass and surplus bread from barley. They have ambitions of reducing overall waste and CO2 emissions.
So far, Toast has avoided carbon emissions of 32.1 tonnes, prevented the wastage of 1 million slices of bread and freed up around seven football pitches of land. Alongside these incredible achievements, Toast has donated £25,000 of their profits to food charities, leading to 46,611 meals donated.
Their website has a recipe for home-brewed beer, helping to engage more people in conversation about our impact on the planet and nudging positive action for change. There have been 82,747 downloads of the recipe.
| Quick Facts |
| Avoided 32.1 tonnes of carbon emissions. |
| Prevented the waste of 1 million slices of bread. |
| Provided an online recipe to help people get involved in carbon reduction. |
Nandos
Over the last 5 years, Nandos has completely transformed their approach to sustainability and have implemented steps to reduce their wastage. So far, the food company have decreased the carbon footprint of an average meal by 40% and seen direct emissions reduced by 98%.
Across England, Scotland and Wales, they have moved to 100% renewable electricity and gas and became the worlds first restaurant group with an approved Science Based Target and commitment to improved chicken welfare.
Recently, Nandos announced a 2030 Net Zero target, with a further commitment to becoming totally carbon neutral by the end of 2021.
Nakd
Over the last 7 years, Nakd have been partnered with Weforest, a charity that is a growing movement of responsible companies, all committed to making a positive change for our planet. Nakd have planted over 10,000 trees in Brazil and Burkina Faso over the last few years, doing their part for the environment.
Nakd snack bars are made from 100% natural ingredients and some delivery boxes are used with recyclable corrugated cardboard, all from a locally-based company. Being vegan bars too, they are a tasty, healthy alternative to meat snacks.
M&S
M&S are setting the trend for UK supermarkets to improve their energy usage and becoming more eco-friendly. Since 2007, M&S have been carbon neutral, reducing their carbon footprint by 75%, aiming to increase this figure to 90% by 2035.
They have achieved these numbers by becoming mindful about transport, as well as utilising low-carbon technology. M&S have made investments in anti-deforestation projects alongside sustainable cotton projects in India.
The supermarket company have encouraged their employees to be sustainable and have worked with global campaigns such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, World Economic Forum and Consumer Goods Forum.
| Quick Facts |
| First UK supermarket to become carbon neutral. |
| Reduced carbon footprint by 75%. |
| Encourage employees to be more sustainable. |
Ember Core
Ember, based in Edinburgh, Scotland are the world’s first 100% electric intercity bus operator. They have huge goals of creating a zero-carbon, zero-traffic world by delivering an integrated platform for managing chargers, vehicles, routes and drivers.
Their platform allows Ember to operate EVs at a higher utilisation than anyone else. The zero exhaust emissions are better for the environment, enabling a smoother, more peaceful journey for their customers. Ember ensures that the lifetime emissions of their vehicles are a tiny fraction compared to diesel vehicles.