Although we have achieved a reduction in energy and fuel consumption since we achieved our ISO14001 status in January 2005, we want to do more in our fight against climate change. Our initial calculations show that as an organisation we have a total carbon
footprint of approximately 533 tonnes of fossil CO2 during the course of one year.

This measurement reflects our consumption for the year ended December 2009 and is to be used as a guideline, which will enable us to measure our future performance year on year. The calculation has been arrived at, in the main, by looking at our fleet of vehicles, kilometres travelled and applying the rate of g/km as provided by the Environment Agency, with further estimates for energy consumption (electricity).

The calculation is at the initial stages and we are working closely with the advice and verification of FIRA, so that we have a
degree of certainty that our bench mark figure can be used, in the future, to measure our performance.

We are currently investigating carbon offsetting options which would enable us to offset our unavoidable emissions by helping fund projects that deliver an equivalent CO2 saving elsewhere. Before we turn to offsetting we are going through the process of reducing our CO2 emissions as described in these sections It is now widely acknowledged that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced dramatically to avoid climate chaos. Business, whetherdelivering products or services, has a central role to play in this.

The influential Stern Report published in 2006 called for a 60-80% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050 and the UK Government is now committed, in the Climate Change Bill, to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60% from 1990 levels, by 2050.

Extract of our Carbon Footprint Calculator: