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25th September 2023

Introducing our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

For much of this year, we have been planning our first Corporate Social Responsibility Policy! We know, it sounds a bit corporate, but actually it’s a small but significant start to a long journey towards sustainability and achieving carbon net zero by 2050, a target set by the UK Government for all UK businesses..

Where do we start?

That was one of the first questions posed by Gill Rixon, when tasked by Ray with developing a road map to become a carbon net zero business back in January of this year. As a service industry company, we are not involved in traditional manufacturing or the logistics of raw material transportation. In fact, the solutions we create for customers, whilst technologically cutting edge, inhabit entirely virtual, screen-centric environments. Surely we couldn’t be contributing much to global warming, could we?

It turns out that we are. We are part of the digital sector that, almost innocuously, emits up to 3.7% of global CO2 emissions and consumes 4.2% of global primary energy. Compare this to the much-maligned commercial aviation industry which actually only accounts for 2-3% of global carbon dioxide emissions and you can see that the digital industry, of which we are part, has a great challenge to face regarding its impact on carbon dioxide emissions around the world. The Internet consumes a lot of electricity, from the data centres and transmission networks, to the devices that we use to connect to websites. All that mouse clicking and screen tapping adds up.

The Highworth team at Reuben Digital
Sunset on the Wiltshire-Berkshire border - Reuben Digital

 

Learning on the job

So we’ve started learning about, measuring and recording our carbon emissions. It’s a complicated subject for the service industry – climate experts have quite rightly given priority to the heavily polluting industries first – and it’s often difficult to have confidence in the emission calculation methodology out there for small businesses. However, small and medium-sized businesses have a crucial role to play. That’s because smaller firms make up over 99% of all the UK’s 5.9 million enterprises – and they are responsible for half of business-related GHG emissions.

Looking at the way we run the business from a sustainability angle has also allowed us to review what other ethics make up the Reuben brand. And putting all of this into our very first Corporate Social Responsibility Policy seemed like a good place to start. It sets out our principles and values, as well as establishes four “Programmes of Action” for which we shall be setting measurable targets on which we will annually report. These are:

  • The Environment
  • Technological innovation
  • Investment in employees
  • Community and charitable work

 

Passing on the benefits to you

As we continue to get stuck into this exciting carbon net zero project, there will be very real benefits that we will be able to bring to our clients. As we shine a light on all areas of our business, pushing for greater sustainability, greener suppliers and more carbon-efficient technology and design, we shall be passing this intentionally into our design and build protocol to make your site perform better, giving your customers a faster, more user-friendly experience – with less mouse clicks – for an agile solution that doesn’t cost the earth.

Please stay tuned for our next update on our CSR Policy. And if you would like to learn more about how you can make a start on this carbon net zero journey, please do reach out to Ray and the team. We would be delighted to share with you our experience and knowledge gained so far.

Read our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy >

Organic farming on the Berkshire Downs - Reuben Digital
Ecologi Impact Shop - wind turbines

 

We've joined Ecologi!

As part of our climate positive journey, we are pleased to announce that we are now working with Ecologi, a B-Corp certified environmental organisation that helps companies and individuals measure their carbon emissions and facilitates the funding of carbon offset projects and tree planting around the world.

To this end, we have just purchased our first carbon credits, 12 tonnes of Co2e in fact, to offset Ray and Mark's forthcoming flights to meet our Indonesian work colleagues out in Jakarta this Autumn. The benefits of meeting our Indonesian development team annually are undeniable and the trip will be very productive, but it contributes significantly to our carbon emissions for the year. Hence we have invested in Ecologi's renewable energy projects by purchasing carbon credits and are excited to see some fantastic Indonesian projects in the portfolio. These reputable and independently-certified projects include solar power installations and geothermal power plant projects, all helping to divert Indonesia away from investment in fossil fuel projects to meet their future energy needs.