Volute’s Environment and Sustainability Policy is designed to ensure that its operations will be carried out with a commitment to protecting and enhancing the environment.
Volute’s Directors recognise that our activities have an environmental impact; in developing this policy, we seek to confirm our commitment to develop and embed environmental awareness and principles.
In implementing this commitment to manage our environmental impact we will:
- Fully comply with environmental compliance legislation
- Ensure that environmental considerations are integrated into our business decisions
- Encourage company-wide participation in environmental activities, training and programmes
- Ensure that we use risk assessments in order to identify potential environmental risks associated with our business
- Actively pursue opportunities to minimise the environmental impact of our operations, concentrating particularly on the use of energy and waste disposal
- Regularly review our policies to ensure that they remain properly aligned to the need to reduce waste and encourage the most effective utilisation of scarce resources
- Continually improve our environmental performance
This Policy will be reviewed annually and updated as necessary. The management team endorses these policy statements and is fully committed to their implementation. Responsibility for implementing this Environmental Policy Statement rests with the Directors.
Aim
We want to adapt and respond to climate change by measuring and reducing our environmental impact. We are motivated by both ethical concern and an economic imperative. We will concentrate on our technical performance of our company and our organisational behaviour as a way to embrace the low-carbon economy of the future.
Responsibility
Tim Ryan (Director) is responsible for ensuring that the policy is implemented. However, all directors and employees have a responsibility in their area to ensure that the aims and objectives of the policy are met.
Objectives
We have produced an Environment and Carbon Assessment Report, developed for us in July 2022, by the Nottingham Trent University SiE Sustainability Consultants. This shows for the financial year 2021-22 we have a baseline gross carbon emissions of 5.96 tCO2e and net emissions of 4.05 tCO2e.
The SME Climate Commitment
We have signed the SME Climate Commitment and this means we aim to:
- Halve our greenhouse gas emissions before 2030
- Achieve net zero emissions before 2050
- Disclose our progress on a yearly basis
In doing so, we are proud to be recognised by the United Nations Race to Zero campaign, and join governments, businesses, cities, regions, and universities around the world that share the same mission.
During 2022-23 we plan to:
- Help to deliver a net zero NHS by hosting our healthcare websites and bespoke software in a datacentre powered by 100% renewable energy
- Continue to enable hybrid studio/mobile/home working
- Implement a policy to preferentially purchase energy efficient equipment
- Set up automatic power down for computers and screens
- Recycle IT equipment
- Remove bottled water from the studio
- Run an energy-based employee engagement campaign
- Create a studio working group for carbon reduction
- Encourage employees to sign up to the local Green Rewards programme
- Install reflective insulating radiator panels
- Roll out new bin signage for recycling
- Improve active travel provision for our staff
- Implement a travel hierarchy for business travel
- Continue to use videoconferencing and the use of other digital communications to reduce travel-related emissions
- Offer sustainability training and briefings to staff
- Create systems to gather, monitor and report accurate sustainability data
- Set environmental objectives and targets and report performance annually on the Volute website
During 2023-24 we plan to:
- Engage further with our suppliers
- Investigate relevant carbon reduction certification standards
- Investigate aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Consider sustainability objectives and KPIs for employees
- Continue to monitor and report carbon emissions
This Environment and Sustainability Policy Statement has been approved & authorised by:
Tim Ryan
Director
10th October 2022
