Sustainability Policy

We will not profit from climate destruction 

We do not work with fossil fuel companies or other high-carbon industries and we will continue to screen our clients to ensure we are only working with organisations making a positive impact. We will publish an annual Client Disclosure Report.

We are B Corp certified

In April 2023, we became B Corp certified, demonstrating our commitment to meeting the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

We measure and report our carbon footprint

We will monitor our impact on the environment and we will report on our emissions annually. We are currently in the process of doing a detailed analysis of our Scope 3 emissions alongside our partner Inhabit which will provide a comprehensive view of our emissions across the board.

We will mitigate the carbon impact of our client projects

We are concerned about the emissions resulting from digital technologies. We will seek to reduce the impact of the sites we build, setting targets and reporting against them. We compensate* for the emissions generated in the development of our clients' sites and in 2023 we will start to report to our clients the emissions associated with hosting their sites.

We compensate* for our annual emissions

As well as striving to reduce our carbon footprint, we compensate for our annual emissions. Last year, we used a number of compensation programmes including Running Tide Kelp Sequestration, Pumped Wood Burial, and Biochar. In addition to these compensation strategies, we continue to grow our grove with Trees for Life.

We are reducing our impact

Our newly appointed Chief Planet Officer will this year lead the development of our Net Zero strategy. This work will be supported by our employee-led Sustainability Voice Group which creates and leads initiatives to help us to reduce our impact on the environment and to live and operate more sustainably.

We use 100% renewable electricity in our Charlbury office and expect to make the switch to renewable energy in our Bristol office in 2024 when our current contract expires (this is a multi-occupancy rented building so we do not have control over this). Next year, when our current contract lapses, we have contracted to switch our Bristol heating gas supply to 100% certified renewable gas via the SSE Green Gas Plus product.

We also have programmes to reduce our waste including composting in our Oxfordshire office.

We are tackling digital sustainability

We measure the carbon emissions associated with our digital footprint and the sites that we create and host for our clients. Our Digital Sustainability Group is leading the efforts to reduce our digital footprint in the Wagtail CMS, in the sites we produce and in the hardware and software we use.

See our Digital Emissions Methodologies.

We travel lightly

We prioritise efficient, low-emission transport, we encourage cycling to work through an unlimited cycle-to-work scheme, we provide free electric car charging in Charlbury and an electric car scheme, and we do not fly for business except where absolutely necessary (we average fewer than ten flights per year over the last five years). In addition, we offer our employees two days of sustainable holiday travel time through the Climate Perks scheme.

We encourage sustainable behaviour amongst the co-owners

Our Climate Voice Group encourages sustainable living by hosting clothes swaps, supporting green living campaigns like Veganuary and running awards for sustainability champions. All catering in Torchbox including Tuesday and Thursday team lunches are healthy, plant-based food only.

What else should we be doing?

We strive to be a sustainable, responsible business and welcome conversations and ideas from other businesses about how we can be better. Get in touch if you want to share.

*We do not believe that offsetting is the answer, but it’s a simple positive action that we can take now while we gather better data and implement our Net Zero strategy. We also recognise that questions exist around many of the new carbon removal strategies, however, we choose to support these programmes rather than avoidance strategies for their promise to deliver and scale solutions that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere now.