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GoodOaks is one of the first UK homecare companies to become carbon neutral.
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded Carbon Footprint accreditation after offsetting our carbon emissions.
This follows an audit of our carbon emissions across all of our offices in the UK. Carbon Footprint evaluate the emissions that we record each year and identify recommendations for reducing these.
The majority of our emissions were generated by care professionals travelling by car to provide care at clients’ homes. The other significant source of emissions was electricity consumption across the multiple sites.
How are we offsetting our emissions?
We chose to offset all unavoidable carbon emissions by investing in Carbon Footprint Ltd.’s carbon offset projects. Good Oaks Poole and Bournemouth, our largest office with over 100 employees, was responsible for the majority of carbon emissions.
These will be offset via a tree-planting scheme in the South West, which plants trees at schools and other bio-diversity sites.
Co-Founder of Good Oaks, Ben Ashton, said: “Becoming carbon neutral was an important investment for us to make. We didn’t want to wait for legislation to make this compulsory for smaller businesses.
“We hope that other companies follow our lead, to calculate, reduce and offset their carbon emissions. As far as we know, we’re the only homecare provider to have this accreditation and this needs to change.
“Due to the nature of the service we provide, our care professionals currently need to use their cars to get between visits. We needed to take action to reduce the impact of our carbon emissions now.
“Offsetting is just part of our long-term environmental strategy. We’re working hard to reduce our impact on the environment wherever we can.”
Carbon offsetting projects
Carbon Footprint’s tree-planting project ensures that all trees planted are native, broad leaf species that help to preserve the UK’s biodiversity. For every tree that is planted, our investment will also save one tree from being cut down in the Brazilian Amazon through Carbon Footprint’s avoided deforestation programme in South America.
The carbon emissions from our other offices will be offset by investment in solar power. This is through one of Carbon Footprint’s projects in the states of Tamil Nadu and Telangana in India. The project develops renewable energy generation plants based on Solar PV technology to deliver electricity to the grid.
Dr. Wendy Buckley, Client Director at Carbon Footprint Ltd, said: “GoodOaks has taken a leading position by assessing the carbon impact of its business – even though there is no legislative requirement for them to do this.
“By offsetting unavoidable emissions, they are assuring that the service they deliver to their customers is sustainable and projects support communities both near and far.”
The carbon footprint assessment includes:
- Building electricity consumption
- Car travel
- Bus and rail travel
A Carbon offset is a way to compensate for emissions by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere. Everyday actions consume energy and produce carbon emissions, such as driving, flying and heating buildings. Carbon offsetting is used to balance out these emissions by helping to pay for emission savings in other parts of the world.
Planting trees removes carbon emissions when trees absorb carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and wood by photosynthesis.
We are committed to not only helping people but also our planet. We are always looking for new ways we can help make a difference and we hope to inspire other companies to do the same.
