“Going green”

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

• Becoming a B Corp
• Top trend predictions for Christmas 2021
• Self-sacrifice: The importance of building a leadership legacy centred on others
• Undercover Boss
• Can/should bosses really be close friends with their staff?

With the end of the summer seemingly upon us after what was a shockingly cold weekend, now is a good time to look at how you can green up in terms of your energy and fuel usage

You may have thought about it previously, but now is the time to do it for your business (if you have the power!) and personally.

There are many actions as a business you can implement immediately. A couple of years ago we started offsetting all the carbon used in our business travel, cars, trains and planes, by our company during the year at the end of the year. It is incredibly easy, and you have no excuses. There are several companies set up to help businesses do this in the UK. One is Climatecare, who calculate the tonnes of CO2 your company has put into the environment based on the land or air miles and give you a total amount to pay back. This money then goes into carbon-reducing projects in different parts of the world. We choose Climatecare because some of their carbon-restoring work is based in Kenya, which is close to our heart.

As a company we hope to have a fleet of electric cars to replace our current fleet as their leases run out over the next two years. By then the range will have increased and costs come down to make them viable for us. I personally have a deposit down on my first electric car which will be charged with completely sustainable electricity at work and home. We also hope to transition to electric trucks when they become available in the UK, they are currently being used in the USA for short-haul. Working with our logistic partners, we are committed to being one of the first UK distribution companies to move to electric lorries. Until they we are looking at moving our transport hub away from the south of England more towards the centre of the country, which will reduce our carbon output by hundreds of tonnes.

Something else you can do now is to change your energy supply to a sustainable supplier. We have done this as a business and, yes, it does cost slightly more but we are pleased to pay extra. We also encourage our employees to switch to renewable energy at home. Bulb is a new company that is 20% cheaper than the ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers’ plans, so you can save money and the planet at the same time, and you are not locked into a contract. As an employer, why not go one step further and incentivise your staff to switch. Do it here and get £50 off your first bill.

There are a number of changes we can make within our businesses to reduce carbon: more recycling, less paper, ensuring that lights turn off when no-one is in an office or a part of the warehouse. I would recommend an audit that will give recommendations on how you can reduce your carbon footprint as a business. There is an organisation called the Carbon Trust who will audit your premises and processes and make recommendations on change.

So don’t delay, go greener today.