Moving to a Net Zero approach

We all produce a carbon footprint, from running our houses, to what we eat, driving to work or taking a holiday. As a business, our carbon footprint is far bigger than that of any person. We know it’s our responsibility to ensure we are reducing and offsetting that footprint where we can. As a business that does things properly, it’s important to us that we reduce our impact on the planet, in our supply chain and in our operations. Since the late 90s, we have invested in projects such as tree planting to offset our climate change impact and give back to the environment and communities we operate in.

In 2015 we took the pledge to become CarbonNeutral® which we fulfilled, gaining certification in two areas: product certification in 2019 and business certification in 2020. This meant we offset the emissions in our supply chain from tea and coffee fields all the way to getting our products on shelf. We did this by investing in community projects in the countries we source from. In Kenya we worked with TIST to plant trees, in Malawi and Kenya we collaborated on a fuel efficient cookstoves project, and at home in Harrogate we found more sustainable ways to run our factory and operations.

In 2021, we were recognised by the UN for this work and awarded a UN Global Climate Action Award, an honour for us as a business and something we hope will encourage others to act in the climate crisis. 

We are proud of our achievement in becoming CarbonNeutral®. Our approach was innovative and did make a difference but we need to do more to address the escalating climate crisis. Carbon Neutrality must simply be the starting point for our next challenge: Net Zero. 

The UN defines Net Zero as the ​“cutting of greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance.”

The science behind the climate emergency compels us to drastically reduce the amount of carbon we put into the atmosphere, not just accounting for it with offsets, and that’s exactly what Net Zero aims to achieve. 

As the strategies for achieving Net Zero are rapidly evolving, we’re planning to get some help from external consultants to make sure our approach is as strong as it was in achieving carbon neutrality. We will develop a timeline of work to identify where and how we can reduce our emissions and ultimately indicate a target date for achieving our ambition. We will be working with a global climate change consultancy who will support the first stage of our journey to Net Zero through a series of initial work that identifies exactly where we can reduce our emissions and how. They will provide us with a timeline of the work and an estimated date for achieving Net Zero. This is an exciting chapter in our pledge to protect the planet and an important part for us to play in reducing our impact in the climate emergency crisis. It won’t be simple or quick but we know this is the proper way forward.