We're Still Carbon Neutral

Through One Carbon World, a UN global resource partner, we’ve supported renewable energy and afforestation projects around the world to offset our Scope 1 and 2 emissions for the calendar year 2022.

Being certified carbon neutral means that our business has calculated its entire carbon footprint, made reductions where possible, then funded sequestration projects to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by the same amount. It is very important that offsetting is not used as the only solution to carbon emissions and climate change, but, if done responsibly, it can be an effective short-term tool.

In May 2021, we became the first organic food delivery company in the world to achieve both the Carbon Neutral International Standard and to join the United Nations' Climate Neutral Now Initiative. These voluntary initiatives have been set up by the UN to encourage organisations of all shapes and sizes, all over the world, to help achieve a climate neutral planet by 2050.

We’ve always believed in working collaboratively with our growers and makers across our supply chain, to reduce our emissions together. That’s why, with the help of environmental consultancy (and fellow B Corp) Green Element, we’ve been measuring and actively reducing our Scopes 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions.

Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from any owned or controlled sources – an example would be the fuel that our vans use. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions that come from the generation of purchased electricity. And Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions that occur in the value chain – this includes things like our waste, water usage and the production of uniforms.

We’ve set some ambitious targets to shape our reduction strategy:
• Reduce our Scope 1 and 2 emissions (in absolute terms) by 50% by 2030, from our 2020 baseline (3065 tonnes CO2e)
• Reduce the carbon intensity of our Scope 3 emissions by 53% over a period of 10 years, from our 2020 baseline (37,426 tonnes CO2e)
• Ensure that the absolute carbon figure for our Scope 3 emissions does not exceed our baseline year (37,426 tonnes CO2e)

To ensure our strategy makes a meaningful contribution to help bring the UK’s emissions to net zero, we’ve been working with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to validate our targets. They have helped make our targets as ambitious as possible, and also made sure they align with the aims of the Paris Agreement, to keep global heating to under 1.5C compared to pre-industrial temperatures.

• New technology – more efficient delivery rounds (routing software), keep warehouses cold (insulated roller blinds), keep offices warm (air source heat pumps)
• Fuelling some of our deliveries with hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO)
• Purchased electric vehicles for our fleet (Clean Van Commitment)

We’ll continue implementing our ambitious carbon reduction strategy, such as improving the infrastructure required to make all of our deliveries with electric vehicles.

We want to go further than simply offsetting, by looking a bit closer to home and investing in carbon sequestration on farmland. Healthy soil and biodiversity, like the kind found on our farms, can be important tools to sequester and store carbon from the atmosphere.

Until recently we have included Scope 3 emissions in our offsetting, but instead we want to work more collaboratively with our community of growers and makers to help them reduce their emissions. Keep a lookout for exciting news of our upcoming initiative to help reduce emissions across our supply chain.

Published May 2023