Culture24 is committed to operating our organisation in responsible, environmentally-aware ways. We are reducing our environmental impact and energy usage across all of our activities. We are working towards net zero by 2024 through a combination of reduction, reuse, recycling and offsetting
The pandemic has had a positive impact on our carbon footprint. We have had success in changing our face-to-face workshops, events and meetings to online, significantly reducing travel and changing the way we operate forever.
We have also embraced a hybrid working pattern for staff that has reduced travel and introduced flexible working that brings additional benefits to team members. For the first time we also have some team members who are working remotely from locations across the UK.
What we’re doing
Across our programmes
- Building an understanding of and advocating for the benefits of digital working on environmental sustainability into all our training, workshops, consultancy and action research
Travel and in-person events
- Limiting the number of face to face workshops or events across all programmes
- Ensuring necessary travel is planned well in advance to ensure we maximise the value of that travel through multiple meetings in the same location
- Using trains rather than planes on short-haul trips
- Directly offsetting the carbon footprint of any necessary staff travel for project delivery via tree planting with Yorkshire-based charity Make it Wild
- Strengthening our use of local businesses to reduce mileage of food, a conscious decision not to use chains, but to use local, handmade and homemade, not pre-packaged or mass produced
- Committing to the use of paperless, digital systems for all event bookings and ticketing
In the office
- Adopting hybrid working so that staff can make fewer journeys into the office
- Adopting a make do and mend approach to office fixtures and fittings
- Donating old technology to local charities to be fixed and then forwarded on within local communities
- Switching to greener LED lighting in the office
- Continuing to support the Environmental Action Plan of our landlords (who are ACE funded NPO Lighthouse) for the building and shared facilities where our office is located, which covers energy supply and usage, waste and recycling services
Digital
- Carrying out a digital spring clean, review what is being stored digitally and where and get rid of any digital waste
- Committing to cloud-based file-sharing solutions that allow us to consolidate and reduce large email exchanges
- Researching different systems to see which are greenest