Cutting out the carbon: 5 things we're doing now to reduce our impact on the planet

Since achieving our carbon neutral status in 2020, we’ve continued to build on our commitment to reduce our impact on the environment.

To make sure we stay on the right track, we have continued our partnership with Alectro, a company that specialises in helping businesses understand and improve their carbon footprint. Alectro provides us with a yearly CarbonZero Report to analyse our progress and review our carbon emissions.

After receiving the results of our latest report, we are delighted to confirm that our ongoing efforts to reduce our carbon footprint continue to be successful, with The Keyholding Company emitting less carbon in 2020 than in 2019, despite growing as a company.

How did we compare to 2019?

Now, this is a complex topic but bear with us.

We achieved a 7% reduction in carbon emissions in 2020 vs 2019

Our total carbon footprint for 2020 was 188.2 tCO2e (excluding the Service Partner Network – more about that later). That’s a 7% reduction compared to 2019*.

There were 3 key contributors to our carbon footprint

Our total emissions profile is split into three main categories; Facilities, Operations and Transport. The bulk of our emissions comes, as you might expect, from Transport (61.4%), whilst Operations (32.8%) accounts for roughly a third, and finally Facilities (5.75%) playing a much smaller role.

What’s really interesting is that within Operations and Transport, there are 3 key contributors responsible for 84% of our total carbon emissions. These are:

Employee Commute (34%)
Company Vehicles Operational Emissions (26%)
Purchased Goods (24%).

We saw an 18% reduction in emissions per person

Based on our 130 full-time employees on average in 2020, this is a value of 1.45 tCO2e per employee. If we compare this to 2019, this is down from 1.75 tCO2e/employee – a total reduction of ~18% per person and a 7% reduction overall.

This shows that our emission profile is on the right track, and we’re pleased that the value is below the 2.0 tCO2e per employee barrier, which will help to reach UK domestic targets in the long run.

5 things we’re doing to reduce our carbon footprint

1. The Keyholding Company fleet goes electric

Exciting times are afoot for the team as our new electric vehicles hit the road. We have replaced 50% of our car fleet with eco-friendly electric alternatives, with the rest of the fleet following shortly. In addition to this, we are looking for a suitable electric powered replacement for our motorcycle fleet. This switch will continue to reduce emissions and drive the company towards lower carbon goals.

Our impact on the planet remains an important focus for us. Launching the electric fleet has been in the works for some time, and it’s a significant step in the right direction. As a business we are striving day-to-day to implement change so together we can all tackle the climate emergency head on.

Charlie Gordon Lennox | CEO

2. Powering our head office with low-carbon electricity

Another important step to continue reducing our carbon footprint is to swap to a zero-carbon tariff at our head office in Kirby Street. As a result, we would be powered entirely by low-carbon electricity. Currently, Kirby Street is powered by a standard E.On tariff that isn’t low-carbon. Working with our facilities management company to suggest a switch to a low-carbon tariff will help ensure we’re powered entirely by low-carbon sources.

3. Preventing equipment from ending up in a landfill

Electrical or electronic equipment that has been discarded (e-waste) is particularly dangerous due to toxic chemicals that naturally leach from the metals inside when buried. By introducing a formal e-waste policy, we can cut down on electronic waste whilst ensuring safe and responsible disposal at end-of-life.

4. Offsetting the emissions of our entire Service Partner Network

A major change compared to 2020 was assessing our Service Partner Network (SPN) in more detail to understand the total impact of operations done on our behalf. After a full review, we decided it would only be right to include the offset of emissions of our entire SPN alongside our own. In the future, we hope that working with the network to inform them of our learnings, will encourage our SPN to join us in reducing our impact on the planet.

Agreeing to offset the carbon emissions from our Service Partner Network is a massive step forward for our carbon neutral journey. It’s important to acknowledge not only our own direct impact on the environment but that of the organisations we work with as well. For me, it’s a testament to just how serious we take our pledge to minimise our impact on the planet, and I hope that our actions inspire those around us to do the same.

Lucas Gundry | CTO

5. Investing in clean cookstoves to offset our carbon surplus

Carbon offsetting is a way to compensate for our emissions by funding a future carbon dioxide saving elsewhere. Investing in carbon offsets will lead to future emission savings through green infrastructure, often in other parts of the world.

One of the carbon offsets projects we are currently funding is Proyecto Mirador. This is a fantastic project that builds clean cookstoves that improve the health and environment for the Honduras rural population. The project helps poor families use half the amount of firewood, provides the opportunity to live in a clean, smoke-free house, and reduces CO2 emissions by nearly 15 tons over the 5-year life of the stove.

As COVID-19 continues to disrupt our personal and professional lives, it is vital we continue to adapt and come up with new ideas to cut down on emissions. Employees will start commuting more, and offices will slowly fill up again. Ensuring we continue to reduce our emissions whilst facing a returning workforce will be a challenge, but one we’ll tackle head-on.

That concludes the latest update on our carbon neutral journey. It’s a great start but, there’s still a lot of work to do. We hope that sharing our carbon-cutting journey will help inspire more businesses to act and reduce their carbon footprint. After all, it is our responsibility to do our part for future generations.

Interested in starting your own carbon neutral journey?

To discuss becoming a carbon neutral business and starting a journey of your own, please contact the Alectro team at hello@alectro.io or visit their website: http://alectro.io/

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* Correction on last year’s analysis: The reported 2019 carbon footprint was 15.3 tCO2e lower than it should have been. This was due to a single missed digit in the commute analysis from 2019, incorrectly calculating the London Ops team commute by ~40%. To rectify this error, we have offset 16 tCO2e. We will use the corrected 2019 value of 202.50 tCO2e in comparison data for this year. We will use the corrected value for reporting and confirming Climate Neutral Now for this year, also. This statement and correction are appropriately measured to report in line with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Accounting and Reporting Principles and all future reporting.