CarbonNeutral Office Services

As part of our response to the challenge of climate change, we became the first company in our sector to become CarbonNeutral®, which we gained in 2006.  As a CarbonNeutral® company, we have net zero emissions.  We achieved this status a business by:

  1. measuring baseline emissions in 2006
  2. setting a target of net zero
  3. putting in place a robust programme of internal and external reductions to meet the target
  4. communicating our activities to all our stakeholders through written communication and our CSR Day.

To compliment our internal carbon reduction programme, we have embarked on a programme of offsetting our unavoidable emissions.  As carbon emissions are a global problem, we believe that it is sensible to support carbon reduction programmes across the world.  Some of the projects we have supported include:

Subsidising the provision of solar-powered electricity to rural India and Sri Lanka to replace kerosene lamps.  In addition to the environmental benefits of this project, switching to the more energy efficient lighting systems will eliminate the health hazards caused by kerosene fumes, including respiratory infections, lung and throat cancers, serious eye infections and cataracts.

Providing discounted low energy lighting in Jamaica.  The island is reliant on oil-fired power stations for its electricity and by providing low energy light bulbs, over 40,000 tons of CO2 will be saved from being added to the atmosphere.

Supporting a run-of-river hydropower project In the Fujian Province of China.  With 80% of total electricity production coming from coal based power plants, these renewable technologies are essential to reduce the requirement to use fossil fuels.

Building and operating a windfarm at Te Apiti in New Zealand. The farm consists of 55 1.65MW turbines and is capable of generating enough power for up to 45,000 average homes, which will save 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from being added to the atmosphere.

PWC audits our projects to confirm that the emissions saving and other benefits are as claimed.  We also only chose projects that produce high quality emissions credits, such as those that adhere to the Gold Standard.

We believe that being CarbonNeutral® supplements a rigorous environmental programme of reducing impacts, including waste.  The CarbonNeutral® Neutral has used our example as a case study of best practice in carbon management.