Climate Change

Climate change is now a mainstream issue for business. We are not a manufacturing company nor do we have any industrial processes that emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but our activities do have an impact on climate change. We generate emissions from our use of energy in our buildings and from the fuel used by our commercial fleet and company cars. This is what we term our ‘operational carbon’. We aim to minimise these emissions where we can through improved efficiency and the use of alternative, low carbon fuels. This not only benefits the environment, but helps us to avoid increasing costs from rising energy prices. The prospect of significant changes to the UK’s climate and the resulting Government policy initiatives to reduce energy consumption is likely to continue this price trend. Climate change also brings other risks to be considered such as changes to consumer demand patterns and increases to other costs such as insurance premiums. Download Energy Policy PDF

A large proportion of the products we sell use energy and so we have a responsibility to consider the energy they consume. We must make sure that we offer our customers a range and choice of products, including those that are energy efficient, and to make this clear to them. We also acknowledge that energy is used to manufacture these products in the first place. The indirect emissions from the use and manufacture of the products is what we term ‘product carbon’.

More general changes in the way that our customers shop and the type of products they buy could significantly impact on our business. For example, changing weather patterns could impact on the seasonality of the home improvement and DIY area, and rising awareness of environmental issues generated by climate change could drive demand for new ‘green’ products. During the coming financial year, we plan to review and determine our policies in this area.

Carbon offset

Carbon offsetting and schemes offering ‘carbon neutrality’ have received widespread attention in the media, and many companies are incorporating carbon offset into their climate change strategy. We do not believe that merely offsetting our CO2 emissions as a single strategy is a satisfactory response although we acknowledge that it has a part to play. Instead, strategies to reduce CO2 should have greater priority. If carbon offset is to have a place in the business strategy then it is likely to be considered only for offsetting projects which promote renewable and non fossil fuel energy sources.

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