We were born from our CEO Estelle Levin-Nally’s determination to help companies, governments and organisations in the minerals sector be environment-smart in their practices.
The environment is integral to our mission as a social venture, as we work towards a sustainable minerals sector that builds enduring value for society and the environment by upholding human rights, conducting business responsibly and enabling good governance in accordance with the SDGs.
We have been compensating for our carbon emissions since 2021. We have committed to its 6 ‘Guiding Principles’. First, we’ll avoid and reduce our total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) impacts. Then we will translate remaining emissions into nature-based offsets.
To help achieve this goal, we have been monitoring our GHG footprint since 2017. In 2020, we adopted the UK government’s environmental reporting guidance, based on the internationally recognized GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, from the World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
In 2021 we began the remediation of our carbon debt, by contributing £6,600 (the estimated value of our historic carbon footprint prior to 2017 and underspend for 2017-19) to three small charities with big impacts.
Our 2022-2023 Carbon Footprint reporting shows how we are exercising transparency in our own environmental commitments.
Our 2021-22 Carbon Footprint report is symptomatic of how the minerals and mining sector and world are reopening post-pandemic.
Our 2020-21 Carbon Footprint report showed a 96% drop in our carbon emissions to 3.66 tCO2eq thanks to a large reduction in travel due to the COVID19 pandemic. We offset this balance through the Vanga Blue Forest Mangrove project in Kenya, supported by the Association for Coastal Ecosystem Services (ACES).
Read our 2019-2020 Environmental report.
Our carbon accounting service is rooted in experience, including with our own company practices. In 2019, after two years of carbon footprint accounting, we launched our own climate policy. In it, we agree to prioritise train travel over plane travel, to serve vegetarian, local and organic meals at company functions, to set temperature boundaries in the office and to only use recycled paper.
We were the first company in our sector, first social venture and first SME to take up the CEO Carbon Neutral Challenge issued by Gucci President and CEO Marco Bizzarri. CEOs from The RealReal, Lavazza Group and SAP also joined the Challenge.
We are signatories to the New York Declaration on Forests and are committed to Fairtrade, an organisation that both ensures producers are paid fairly and that their agricultural methods don’t have a negative impact on the environment.
We've joined the Business for Nature coalition, a group of forward-thinking business committed to reduce their environmental impact. Together, we demonstrate business action and amplify a powerful business voice calling for collective action including for governments to reverse nature loss in this decade.
As part of our commitment to wildlife, we worked with our landlord to install bird boxes and flowers and plants in the shared garden area in Cambridge in 2020. We also contribute to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire Wildlife Trust every year.
Drawn from our work with industry leaders and learnings from our own practices, our suite of environmental services includes:
Our environmental policy incentivises our staff to put the environment at the heart of their business decision-making. Since 2017 we have allocated at least 2% of staff time (4.5 days per person per year) to work pro bono for organisations that could not otherwise afford our services on activities that protect vulnerable groups, reduce social injustice, conserve the environment, fight climate change, and help SMEs to operate more sustainably.
In 2020, we were shortlisted for the FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards – East of England in the Environmental Awards category. This competitive award recognises the most ethical, socially-responsible or green businesses. The jury selected us because of our sustainability work and impact on the green economy.
From the importance of minerals to the green economy to how the rush for lithium in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina threatens the viability of South American flamingos, to how jewellers can incorporate circular practices in their business, we share our environmental knowledge, for free, on our website.
Head to our Knowledge Centre to find out more.