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Coffee
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Everything Else
Counting carbon has taken a bit longer than expected this time around but I'm pleased to let you all know that we have just renewed our ongoing commitment to operate on a carbon neutral basis for the second year running.
This time around, as expected, we have seen an increase in our overall greenhouse gas emissions to just over 70 tonnes CO2e for the period between April 1st 2021 and 31st March 2022 (compared to just over 53 tonnes CO2e for the previous period).
There are a few obvious reasons for the increase in emissions this year:
Our coffee shop and most of the building that we operate from was closed for much of the first audit period (2020-2021), so this alone meant that we were emitting a lot less back then.
Since our first audit, we have re-opened our coffee shop and we've been fortunate to see continuing, steady growth on the roastery side of things too. Inevitably though, more business activity leads to more emissions.
In essence, this period is a more accurate reflection of our impact in 'normal' times. Despite seeing an increase in emissions, we are confident in our ability to continue to make improvements in how we operate and we're committed to reducing waste and use of plastics even further.
On a related note, we are now pleased to be sourcing our plastic packaging from a carbon neutral packaging company, which has reduced our obligations in an area that previously accounted for a big chunk of our emissions.
This year, we are continuing to offset the emissions we can't eliminate by extending our support for the same biogas installation project in India that we supported last year. We're very happy to fund access to sustainable biogas cooking facilities for another 26 households.
We love this project. The carbon savings come about through helping families to stop burning wood, which is commonly used for cooking in rural areas. Obviously this works by preserving trees, which capture carbon. It's the other social and health benefits though which really impressed us about this particular project, and those are the reasons that we continue to support this work.
Please take a look at the project for further details (see here). Of course, by buying our beans, you're supporting this brilliant project too, so well done you!
Here is our current credits certificate:
We continue to learn a lot about the impact of what we do through conducting this work, and as always we'd be happy to answer any questions you might have over on our Discord server.
We are also happy to consider consulting for other small independent businesses who are looking to take responsibility for their own emissions, just get in touch if you need help.
