Cop26 – How Equator Are Working To Make A Difference

100% of our electricity is renewable

One of the implementations we are most proud of is ensuring that all of the electricity that powers our offices is 100% renewable. Energy usage and waste have always been the business’s biggest day to day environmental impacts, so we set several objectives to reduce our carbon footprint. Earlier this year, we achieved our goal of ensuring all our electricity comes from renewable sources. This ensures that the electricity that powers our offices produces no greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and reduces some types of air pollution, reduces dependence on imported fuels, and contributes to green economic development and jobs in manufacturing, installation, and more!

Reclaimed Office Materials

Another area where we have worked to make a positive impact is with our office renovation. Reclaiming materials is a simple and effective way of reducing the environmental footprint of a workspace refresh. We wanted to reclaim everything we could from our existing premises to negate the need to buy new materials. This included upcycling lighting, built-in storage and shelving. We were also able to reclaim floor tiles and light fixtures from a local building that was being demolished and incorporated them into our renovation! We ensured all of these newly installed items were energy-efficient and made from sustainably produced products.

Selecting Office Furniture

Equator are committed to implementing change in every area of what we do and how we run our offices. Another example of a small change that has provided a significant impact comes from our selection of furnishings. Having functional offices, we need to think about everything from desks to chairs and much more to ensure our team are comfortable and well equipped. We take this a stage further and only choose suppliers aligned with our stringent policy, ensuring our impact on the environment is as low as possible when equipping our premises with furniture. We favour suppliers that are committed to environmental improvement and who offer goods that contain high amounts of recycled content.

Electric Vehicles

One of the most significant changes to our lives that will become apparent over the next decade will be the mass adoption of electric vehicles or EVs. The UK government announced plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and Equator realised that we needed to be ahead of the curve in this regard. Over the last three years, we have worked to make 50% of our fleet of company vehicles electric. We’ve also installed charge points in the Glasgow office car park where EV owners can recharge their vehicles. This might seem like a small development, but in the context of encouraging habitual changes, we believe that accommodating our team with support in using EVs is vital.

Equator is ISO 14001 compliant

The International Organisation for Standardisation is world-renowned in its scope for creating standard practices across a number of different business functions. Their environmental standards policy holds businesses to a high grade, and we’re proud to say that we are compliant with the environmental practices required by the ISO. In the words of the ISO, their environmental standard policy helps “[Equator] achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provides value for the environment, the organisation itself and interested parties.”