Going Zero Carbon

The start of a new year is often accompanied by lots of New Years resolutions. We all know someone who says they will sign up to that local gym, start to learn Spanish this year, or finally run that marathon.

For RCDC, we’ve actually got our own resolution that we’d like to share. We have made the decision to become a Carbon Neutral business, with the longer-term aim of becoming a Carbon Negative business, removing more carbon than we are responsible for. 

This decision has been driven by one of our key principles: Sustainability. We believe we should walk the walk, not just talk the talk. We also felt that we would learn a lot from undertaking the process ourselves, giving us lessons learned for our design and advisory work.

We are a small business, and we have a small carbon footprint, with limited travel and office space requirements (particularly at the moment!). Whilst this could be seen as a reason to not act on this point, we actually see as a good time to put into place the structures and processes that we will need in order to measure and then balance our carbon footprint. As we then grow and expand, we can grow and expand those structures and processes. It also means we are ‘doing our bit’ as an organisation, right from the start. It is never to early to act.

We have a two part plan for how we are going to achieve this. The first step we have now put into place, with a generic carbon offset plan set up through Ecologi for our employees. Ecologi allows you to quickly and affordably help to fund projects which directly impact atmospheric CO2 levels. They assume a carbon footprint of 14tCO2 per employee per year which gives a bit of a margin over the typical carbon footprint for someone the in the UK of around 10-12tCO2 (these figures are approximate based on typical annual emissions figures, UK population as well as commonly reported figures).

Offsetting of this carbon footprint is achieved through a number of reforestation projects which are implemented by Eden Reforestation Projects. These projects involve engaging with local communities and providing employment to plant trees, helping local economic growth whilst creating healthy forest systems. For 2021, RCDC will be funding the planting of almost 700 trees!

So that is our initial plan, providing a positive impact through 2021. During that same period, we will start to measure what our actual carbon emissions are, based on the standard methodology such as PAS 2060 or WBCSD/WRI Greenhouse Gas Protocol. We plan on including for all three standard scopes, and we also plan on expanding those scopes.

As an MEP and sustainability consultancy, our primary business activity is the creation, inputting, or review of construction design projects. This business activity can have significant implications on a building’s carbon output over its entire design life. We do not feel that this should be ignored when we measure the impact that we have. We are currently working on what the exact strategy and process for inclusion of this additional element is, and we hope to provide updates in the near future.