Earth Day 2022

At Barnett Waddingham we share Earth Day’s vision and want to contribute to the transformational change required to solve the environmental crisis. Whether it’s by being more energy efficient, making ‘greener’ purchases or reducing waste, we have an important role to play. 

"The urgent need for action is not about a single day but about making changes to the way we live now and in the future. At BW, we are continuing to learn and evolve as we make our own journey towards sustainability."

Scott Eason, Lead Sustainability Partner, said: "Earth Day is a fantastic opportunity for raising awareness about the environmental challenges we are facing. It serves to remind us that we all have a part to play when it comes to working together to find and implement solutions to the threats posed by things like pollution and deforestation.

“Of course, the urgent need for action is not about a single day but about making changes to the way we live now and in the future. At BW, we are continuing to learn and evolve as we make our own journey towards sustainability. We have adopted many initiatives designed to significantly reduce our carbon footprint by 2025. 

“We believe we should lead by example, whether through our net zero pledge our role as co-founding signatory of the Net Zero Investment Consultants Initiative or our membership of the Pensions Climate Risk Industry Group (PCRIG).

“By sharing our experiences and our own plans for a sustainable future, we hope that we can have a positive impact alongside the billions of other voices calling for change.” 

How we are playing our part

We care about reducing the impact our operations have on the planet and we are committed to green initiatives and activities. These are some current examples:

Energy efficiency

We regularly maintain our facilities to ensure they provide optimum performance and power efficiency. We also encourage our landlords to improve energy efficiencies in communal areas.

We have installed large solar panels at our Amersham and Birmingham offices and we have installed LED controlled by passive infrared sensors.

These sensors help to reduce energy consumption by turning the lights off when they are not needed. LED lamps also last 20 times longer and are 100% more recyclable than other lamps.

Green procurement

When it comes to purchasing energy, we are mindful about selecting green energy options. In fact, we are in the process of reviewing all of our suppliers to encourage others to share our goals.

The electricity we buy is fully traceable to specific renewable generators and fully certified by UK Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs).

Through our partnership with the Office Coffee Company who provide our coffee machines, we help protect the Amazon! Last year, we helped protect over 22 acres of 'at risk' rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon by purchasing Cool Earth Coffee. As a result this has also allowed us to store 5,600 tonnes of carbon through avoided deforestation. 

Planting seeds

We ensure sustainable sourcing and recycling of all our planting materials and we have peat free planting to help preserve ecological peatlands. This has the added benefit of helping to clean the air in our offices and offsetting Volatile Organic Compounds and CO2 emissions.

Recently we partnered with My Carbon Plan through making a donation to offset 1,684 tonnes of CO2e. The project involves the planting of 120,000 willow trees in the Lake District which can be harvested as a biofuel every three or four years.

Waste not, want not

We have effective waste management processes that have reduced our waste to landfill to under 2% of our total waste. This means we recycle 98% of our waste including items such as cardboard, plastics, batteries, and other mixed materials.

We recycle our IT equipment through responsible Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) programmes or by donating it to education centres. We also donate our preloved furniture and small equipment to charities wherever possible.