Planet

Environmental Awareness to Environmental Action

 

As we acknowledge the climate crisis and the required mitigation by businesses, we have committed to reducing our emissions to net zero by 2030 and become a circular business as part of Glasgow’s reduction targets. To reach this ambitious target we seek to work with suppliers that aim to report their own emissions and demonstrate reduction goals as well as support customers on their journey to sustainability.

 

The coffee industry is responsible for contributing to the climate crisis and in order to ensure that we sell responsible and delicious coffee, we have to acknowledge the transparency and traceability of our coffees.

 

Therefore, we practise an agenda of measuring, monitoring and reporting on our environmental impact of our operations and business practices as well as focus on supporting projects that are committed to improve the coffee supply chain and invest into climate mitigation. More on our commitment is stated in our environmental policy, which you can find here.

Since our B-Corp assessment and our commitment to net zero a lot has progressed. We have measured our emissions now and plan to report those annually, which means we can build our reduction strategy witnessing our progress. We reviewed our waste management system and looked at how to improve our disposal flow to become circular. 

 

Giving back to the community and the coffee industry is really important to us, understanding that we are part of something bigger. That is why we donate to 1% of the Planet; we are always looking to donate to environmental projects in Scotland and invest in projects at coffee farms, such as the Stumping Project.

 

The graphic below shows an overview of our journey: These are just highlights and milestones of our actions that we have achieved in the past and also have planned for the future:

For more information on our waste management practices and on our net zero targets, take a read of our blog, which we update regularly. Furthermore, we publish an Annual Impact Report as part of our B Corp commitment to continual improvement and transparency.

We started off on such a tight budget that all of our equipment was second hand which we still maintain and use daily. As we've grown we have invested in the newest, most energy efficient equipment. Our packaging is biodegradable, our wholesale customers can have coffee supplied in reusable buckets with vacuum lids to ensure absolute freshness along with a sound environmental solution. We don't have all of the answers but we ask all of the questions and have adapted our processes along our journey to find the best solutions available to us to supply with minimum carbon output.

Everything we do is instinctive. We recycle; we reuse; we compost; we minimise waste; we reduce packaging; we always have! We did all of this before Climate Change awareness hit the headlines! We will continue to find the best environmental solution in all that we do, in fact we run the world's first single use cup free coffee festival. You can read more about our practices on our guest blog for Circular Glasgow or via this case study following our Vibes Award for Good Practice from the Scottish Environmental Business Awards. Together we can all make a difference!

In 2020 we proudly achieved B Corp Certification following an assessment of our ethical statements and business practices and our commitment to putting people and planet before profit. You can read more over on our blog.

Thanks to the B Corp community we are now part of the B Corp Climate Collective, which is committed to the Race to Zero to address the climate emergency and to meet and (exceed) the Paris Agreement target to achieve a zero carbon economy.

As part of this commitment we have been supported by the Step Up To Net Zero initiative to measure our footprint, report on our emissions and plan our reductions.