Acorn is proud to announce a second year of achieving The Planet Mark in partnership with Eden Project, improving our sustainability performance even further.
Using the internationally recognised Planet First Protocol methodology, during 2014 the carbon footprint for our Slough head office was calculated at 324 t/CO2e, a reduction of 7%.
We have been working hard to reduce our carbon footprint and achieved well over our original targeted 5% reduction.
Our carbon footprint is split into three different scopes. Scope 1 is in relation to our fleet, scope 2 is our electricity usage and scope 3 combines our waste, water, travel and paper usage.
Scope 1 had a 10.6% reduction between 2013 and 2014, this is because of a reduction of emissions from our fleet. We recently updated our Fleet with more fuel efficient vehicles and are also using our tracker system more effectively.
Scope 2 had a 0% change in our electricity usage. Our electricity consumption actually fell by 9.8% which was improved by LED installations in Acorn House. However, there was a 10.9% increase in the emissions factor which meant our overall carbon footprint remained the same.
Scope 3 which included our waste, water, travel and paper usage increased by 12.5% which gives us scope for improvement, but is also a sign of our business growth.
“The Acorn team are doing a great job in tackling sustainability and carbon reduction. They are making some really significant changes which will be reducing their carbon footprint and hopefully result in a higher reduction rate next year, well done.”
Steve Malkin, CEO, Planet First
We are now working towards improving the business’ environmental, social and related economic performance even further than last year.
Since achieving The Planet Mark in July 2015, we have introduced some new initiatives to improve our performance.
The two biggest areas we can improve on for next year’s performance are scope 2 and scope 3.
We have since installed a Voltage Optimisation unit into Acorn House and are looking forward to seeing some really positive results in reducing our carbon reduction in electricity usage.
Scope 3 included waste which we have since introduced a robust recycling system in place which means we will be able to reduce the carbon emissions from waste disposal. We are also introducing double sided printing and encouraging our employees to only print if necessary to help with our paper usage.
The impact of our sustainability programme is significant and two-fold. We operate in an ethical manner as a responsible business should and we have seen customers come to us as a direct result of wishing to work with a solid partner that is committed to sustainability.