Avery & Brown becomes a Planet Mark Certified Business

Russ Avery • Jun 20, 2022

On behalf of the wider team, I am delighted to announce that Avery & Brown officially became a Planet Mark Certified Business on Wednesday 1st June 2022. We are excited to have achieved this latest milestone on our regenerative business journey in advance of our 2-year business birthday in August. This further demonstrates our commitment to driving down emissions and tackling the climate crisis.

If you’re new to Planet Mark Certification or you want to know more about it and what it means for a business like yours, please read this post and I’ll do my best to break it down for you.

To view our Planet Mark Certificate, please click here.

A Brighter future? it's a numbers game.

Of all the myriad ways we can contribute to tackling the climate crisis, driving down CO2 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is paramount. The global scientific consensus and the 2022 IPCC report confirms that massive-scale emissions reduction must happen immediately if we are to avert the worst case scenarios of complete climate breakdown and ecological collapse.

Businesses have a huge role to play here. Every business generates emissions of some sort, no matter how few. And with over five-and-a-half million private sector businesses in the UK alone, the collective impact we can all make if we focus on reducing our business emissions is considerable. In 2020, businesses accounted for 18% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions, based on provisional BEIS territorial emissions data.

how does the planet mark process work?

Planet Mark gives businesses a clear picture of their environmental impacts by measuring a single common metric; carbon dioxide. They help make the process fast, efficient and easy using readily available company information.

To kick things off, one of Planet Mark’s sustainability experts will set up a meeting with you to set your reporting boundary and give you guidance on data collation. The categories of carbon measurement include: buildings (your office sites); travel; waste; water; and procurement.

The onus is then on you and your team to collect all the required data and the associated evidence (which can vary in form, from utility bills through to, yes, a photo of your office rubbish on a set of weighing scales!) and bundle it all together in a file ready for your submission to Planet Mark. You have 12 weeks from signing up to collect and submit your data.

It’s then over to the Planet Mark team to review and validate all the data and evidence you have submitted. And don’t worry; the team is always on hand if you have any questions at any stage of the process. We had a couple of questions about our office (which we sublet) and our energy and utilities data - or lack thereof - and the Planet Mark team was always super responsive and helpful.

And that’s it!

Assuming your data and evidence is all in order, Planet Mark will then contact you to tell you that you have achieved Planet Mark Certification. They will issue you with an annual report with a complete carbon footprint, your measured contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and general recommendations on how to improve and advance on your sustainability journey.

Avery & Brown's Certification Report and details of our Impact

Please click the button below to view our 2021 Planet Mark Certification Report.

Avery & Brown's Planet Mark Certification Report 2021

Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals

Within our report, you will see that we directly and measurably contribute to 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is the number of goals we contribute towards simply by measuring and reducing our carbon footprint with the Planet Mark. E.g. it doesn’t include any other goals we also contribute towards through the work we do for our clients and the other actions we take on our sustainability journey. (More about this in a future blog post!)

We are pleased to contribute to the following 5 SDGs. (View our report for the full breakdown of the targets we address in each goal.)

protecting the world's rainforests

Through Planet Mark’s partnership with Cool Earth, one acre of Peruvian rainforest has been protected in our name.

Protecting our rainforests is one of our best lines of defence against climate change. Cool Earth is helping rainforest communities to protect nearly 100,000 hectares of biodiversity rich rainforest across three continents. Behind this huge milestone are thousands of families whose futures have been transformed.

To read more about the Asháninka people, whom we are supporting through our Planet Mark membership and Cool Earth contribution, please click here.

supporting environmental education through the eden project

Planet Mark recognises that we need nature to address the greatest challenges of our time. That’s why it contributes 5% of its Business Certification fees to the Eden Project, an educational charity which connects us with each other and the living world, exploring how we can work towards a better future.

Eden's global mission is to create a movement that builds relationships between people and the natural world to demonstrate the power of working together for the benefit of all living things.

what's next on our journey?

As far as Planet Mark goes, we have our targets to achieve next year, which is a total carbon reduction of 0.03 tCO2e, and a carbon reduction per employee of 0.01 tCO2e (a reduction of 5% respectively).

More generally, we will maintain our focus on operating as sustainably and as responsibly as we can; something which is core to our strategy here at Avery & Brown and which has been since the day we incorporated the business. We will continue to live out Our Purpose - to inspire others to be a force for good - by publicly sharing every step of our journey so that other businesses can take inspiration from us and/or copy us, and by continuing to campaign for a better world which is more just and equitable for all.

We already have our sights set on becoming a recognised Living Wage employer and a Certified B Corporation, so watch this space for news and developments on those fronts. Beyond that, we will continue to do the best work we possibly can for our clients, so that the positive impact they can have on people and the planet is as great as it can be.

Thank you to the wonderful Planet Mark team for doing what they do to tackle the climate crisis and create a brighter future for all. And thank you as always to you, for following our journey and being an Avery & Brown supporter. We appreciate you!

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