Our Environmental Policy commitments are key in guiding our business operations. By minimising environmental risks and impacts we can both facilitate the transition to a low-carbon society whilst reducing our own carbon footprint to meet company and national Net Zero targets.
In line with our environmental policy, we are working to:
- Incorporate environmental, social, and economic issues into our decision making
- Minimise all direct and indirect Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from all transport and energy usage
- Integrate low and Net Zero carbon climate change adaptations into the operational processes within of our business
- Deliver or implement sustainable resource use practices across the business. This includes reducing waste, energy, and water usage as a consequence of both our direct and supply chain activities.
- Establish, maintain, and check our procedures to control our environmental risks.
- Complete regular audit checks to ensure compliance with legislation, regulatory frameworks, and internal policy standards.
- Engage collaboratively with external stakeholders such as government agencies, trade bodies, and regulatory organisations to guide business improvement opportunities, strategies, and policies related to environmental compliance.
Since 1997, we have held certification to our own Environmental Management System (EMS), which has been verified and approved to the international ISO 14001 standard. This was last reviewed and granted in October 2021.
Reducing environmental risk is at the heart of our EMS, meaning that the evaluation of environmental aspects and impacts is embedded into all business decisions. As a large business operating in the UK we have a responsibility to go beyond the legal bare-minimum and work to proactively enhance our natural environment and reduce our carbon footprint wherever possible. In practice this looks like:
- Complying with all legislation
- Communicating company policies and best practice to staff on a regular basis
- Preventing pollution and minimising environmental impacts
- Regular reviews of business performance to go above and beyond environmental compliance laws and standard regulatory performance expectations
We have been investing significant time and resources to enhance the training and environmental awareness of our staff. This includes becoming a partner of the Supply Chain Sustainability School, as building knowledge and awareness of environmental issues among our workforce is key to fulfilling our environmental roles and responsibilities. We track all incidents and actions to further learn from them. These are communicated to the wider business, often by operational colleagues, meaning that our staff can continuously learn and improve with regards to environmental best practice, which is a cornerstone of our EMS.
For more information about our most recent initiatives, check our case studies!