News & insight

bigHead is very pleased to have achieved carbon neutral status for 2019 and 2020!  

We started to focus on sustainability in 2019 and at that point we had no idea what our carbon footprint was. Now we are now measuring it and doing something about it.  bigHead is starting to take responsibility for its part in the climate crisis. 

Finding ways to reduce emissions

In 2019 we emitted 31 tons of CO2. In 2020 that figure had been reduced by 47% to 16 tons, which is hugely encouraging. The biggest factor in reducing emissions was a switch to renewable electricity in May 2020.  The reduction in business travel due to Covid19 from March 2020 onwards has helped as well.   

After an inspiring presentation given by the grandfather of one of our team, an octogenarian who has dedicated the last 25 years to environmental concerns, we produced an ‘ideas wall’ to explore measures through which we can reduce our carbon footprint. We now have biodegradable packaging, sensor and LED lights, better recycling and reduced paper usage, all contributing to our improved sustainability. We only accept publications online and we use the local milkman to avoid plastic bottle waste. Ecosia is our preferred internet browser, and we fully support flexible and remote working to reduce commuting.  

Bio-gas fuel generated by bio-digesters

To achieve carbon neutral status we have opted to offset the 47 tons emitted in 2019 and 2020 in a sustainable project that itself reduces CO2 emissions and we will continue this in the future. The initiative we invest in is a biogas project in Kenya providing bio-digesters to individual households. The benefits of bio-digester installation range from delivering economic fuel and smoke-free kitchens to saving 223,000 tons of wood since 2009, and a reduction of 365,000 tons in CO2 emissions. You can find out more about the biogas project HERE 

To date we have limited our scope to activities at our facility, business travel and commuting. Working out how to measure and tackle emissions associated with our supply chain is a further challenge and one we intend to tackle. In the short term our increased use of UK suppliers will significantly reduce our ‘procurement miles’.