Investing in our planet

We believe in 'doing the right thing', and that extends to doing the right thing by our planet. Here we highlight just some of the initiatives Barnett Waddingham has been undertaking across our 10 UK offices to reduce our impact on the environment.

Our people have used their annual volunteering days to support and enhance the environment around their local offices and homes, improving green spaces for our communities. We’ve helped create new gardening areas, planted wildflower seeds in nature reserves, supported the establishment of a new tree nursery, worked with wardens at an ecology park to manage diverse habitats, and cleaned up the River Thames through plastic fishing.

Local green initiatives

Even our office Christmas trees were obtained through our partnership with Tree2Me, which saw 50 trees planted and contributed to the Project Eden Reforestation Project in Madagascar, offsetting 2 tonnes of C02e.

Carbon offsetting

SUSTAINABILITY HUB

Our employee benefits platform has environmental benefits built in, tying green incentives to the benefits our people are already enjoying. Our people have been using this to contribute towards mangrove tree planting, ocean plastic removal and coral reef restoration projects around the world, with a tracker showing their positive impact on the planet.

Sustainable benefits

Cycle to work scheme

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We support an extensive cycle to work scheme across all of our UK offices, promoting healthier journeys and reducing the carbon footprint of our colleagues.

Cycle to work

Our ‘Keen to be Green’ programme sets out guidelines for purchasing items such as furniture or stationery, evaluating their green credentials. We also partner with like-minded businesses - when approaching new suppliers, we check their sustainability and environmental policies as part of the initial discussions.

Green procurement

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We offer all employees the opportunity to lease an Electric Vehicle (EV) as part of our benefits package. There are EV charging ports available at four of our offices – Birmingham, Bristol, Cheltenham and Guildford – and more are being planned in the future to encourage use of EV and hybrid vehicles.

EV charge points

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Recycling at BW

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98% of our overall waste is recyclable and we endeavour to improve this further. This includes all paper and cardboard, food packing and wrapping, mixed recycling, plastics, batteries and toners. Across our Birmingham, Amersham and Guildford offices alone, we recycled over four tonnes of waste material in 2022.

Recycling

Where possible we follow the ‘Waste Hierarchy’ - waste prevention, as the preferred option, is followed by reuse, recycling, recovery, and finally safe disposal. We see this process come to fruition, for example, when we donate used business laptops to local charities and schools.

Reducing general waste

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Our offices are equipped with movement sensors to control lighting levels, and we're replacing exisiting fluorescent tube lights with more energy efficient LED panels. In addition, we have the maximum number of solar panels installed at our Amersham and Birmingham offices.

Office energy conservation

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The future

We know the journey towards sustainability is not a short one. Although we have various schemes in place already, we are constantly evaluating our efforts, and setting new goals for the future. We have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2025.

Our coffee is ethically procured through the Office Coffee Company, contributing to the protection of at-risk rainforest reserves around the world. In 2023/24, this partnership led us to sequestering 268.3 tonnes of CO2e and protecting 28sq km of rainforest.

Whilst we are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint, we still are responsible for over 1000 tonnes of CO2e each year, including the commuting emissions of our staff. In line with our carbon neutrality pledge, we offset this amount through certified global climate projects. These initiatives align with our responsible business strategy and provide additional social and economic benefits for local communities.

Our office initiatives

At BW we mark every Earth Day, World Environment Day, and International Women's Day as well as many other sustainability related events. This year's theme for World Environment Day was "Beat Plastic Pollution" and with our partnership with the Soil Association, we have run a number of initiatives to raise awareness. For Earth Day, the theme was renewable energy.

SUSTAINABILITY HUB

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Sustainability initiatives

Investing in our planet