The IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report, released in August, found that temperatures have now risen by 1.1c since 1850, bringing us very close to the 1.5C limit agreed in 2015, at COP21 in Paris. The report is a stark reminder of our impact on the planet, detailing the unprecendented and irreversible changes observed since their previous report, such as continued sea level rise, wildfires and droughts.

It has never been more urgent that we take action to rapidly reduce the global carbon emissions if we are to prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change. The 1.1C rise we have seen so far makes a 1-in-10 year drought 7 times more likely and a 1-in-10 year extreme heat event 2.8 times more likely. We are already seeing the impacts of these extreme weather events across the globe.

The COP26 summit represents an opportunity for global leaders to take the decisive actions needed to tackle climate change. It has never been more urgent that we need to take action to rapidly reduce global carbon emissions if we are to prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change.

What are Greenham doing to mitigate climate change?

At Greenham, we are continually working to capture our carbon footprint and understand how best to reduce it.

Progress has been made across our network of Service Centres, with all our Service Centres now supplied with 100% renewable electricity from guaranteed origin. We are also continuing to roll out LEDs and motion sensor lighting across our brand network to reduce our overall energy consumption.

To help tackle the emissions from our commercial fleet vehicles, we have invested in Verizon Connect route planning software to plot the most efficient delivery routes and we continually update our fleet vehicles to make use of lower emissions technology. We are currently retrofitting our fleet vehicles with solar film matting, which will enable our drives to turn the engine off when making deliveries. This not only saves fuel and reduces our carbon footprint, it also helps to preserve the air quality at our customers’ sites.

We monitor our energy and diesel use on a monthly basis and publish our carbon footprint in our annual Sustainability Report; in 2020, we saw a 17% fall in our scope 1 & 2 emissions. Whilst we have internal targets to help us reduce our energy and diesel consumption, we are also looking to set more ambitious target to help us reduce carbon emissions in line with climate science.

How are Greenham working with their supply chain to reduce their environmental impact?

We are currently engaging with our suppliers to ask them to share their position on sustainability. We are doing this at both a business and product level to help us understand where on this journey to a sustainable future our supply chain is and how we can help them improve their environmental impact.

This year, our Greenham Edition 22 Catalogue includes an 8 page section dedicated to sustainable products. Here we have curated a range of products and suppliers that are making great strides in improving the sustainability of PPE and workwear. The section includes carbon neurtral gloves, soft shell jackets and safety boots made using recycled plastic bottles and safety glasses manufactured from recovering fishing nets.

At Greenham, we are always on the lookout for innovative products and solutions that we can promote through our Wellbeing Through Safety and Sustainability Through Safety channels. These products and solutions often go on to help customers in achieving their own sustainability goals.

How can Greenham support their customers to improve their environmental impact?

Our Carbon Offsetting Service is designed to help customers understand their supply chain emissions and find opportunities to reduce them. This has been especially useful for customers who have made net zero commitments or who are trying to piece together their Scope 3 emissions.

Initially, our CO2 Delivery Calculator can show a customer the emissions related to the process and delivery of their orders from our service centres to their sites. We then work closely with the customer to identify where we might be able to reduce the number of deliveries they need and agree a target to work towards.

We can then invite the customer to join our Carbon Offsetting Service, which works very much in the spirit of net zero. Once we have worked together to make the actual reductions to their supply chain emissions, we will offset the reduced emissions on their behalf through Verizon Carbon Standard projects.

Learn more about our approach to Sustainability here.