Samworth Brothers passes one year of zero carbon emissions from electricity use
In October 2017 Samworth Brothers launched a scheme to purchase 100% of grid supplied electricity from certified renewable sources. Now, one year on, some 38,787 tonnes of carbon savings[1] have been realised, equivalent to taking around 8,100 cars off UK roads for one year.
During this 12-month period, electricity consumption made up 43% of the Group’s energy demand; hence moving to ‘green’ purchased electricity has had a significant positive impact on Samworth Brothers carbon footprint. By purchasing electricity through Smartestenergy’s Natural Renewable option, every megawatt hour supplied across the Group is certified as being generated by renewable sources, with certificates supporting the fuel mix for all electricity supplied.
The origin of electricity supply shows that of grid energy supplied to Samworth Brothers, around two thirds was supplied by wind power, with the remainder from hydro and solar PV. Of the carbon savings, Samworth Brothers Head of Responsible Business Deborah Carlin said; “We are encouraged by the progress we are making to reduce our carbon footprint and purchasing green electricity is a key step on our journey to achieving our strategy.”
The Group continues to promote the use of the Carbon Desktop software across all sites, a monitoring and targeting system that enables sites to track utility usage and focus on which parts of the sites’ operations reduction targets should be concentrated.
[1] Using DEFRA conversion factors for CO2e for 2017 and 2018