As we work through our business practices, aligning how we operate with those required to be certified as a B Corp business, we have come to understand more about our carbon footprint and our inability to change some areas quickly enough.
That has nothing to do with wanting to change them and more about the physical environment we operate in, plus having the cash to make some of the big moves straight away. Our aim is to eliminate as much carbon as we can, however with shops in different regions we freight product to them, we visit them and use electricity. We don’t operate Company cars, we meet electronically to avoid some travel but personal interaction is important.
We have reduced our deliveries to stores significantly. We are reusing and repurposing shop fittings. We are well though a shift to LED lighting and are reusing/ repurposing scrap fabric.
However, we have accepted that in the interim we will have to offset the carbon emissions we can’t at this stage avoid.
As a group we are fans of rewilding. Indigenous species and native trees are important. So with that in mind we have decided ‘’Trees that count’’ will be our go to partner and once a quarter we will buy into the programme to fund native tree planting in vulnerable areas around New Zealand. This is just another step in aligning the company to the people and planet principles we believe in.