Our clients

Our clients are businesses, not-for-profits and public sector organisations that want to make a difference. Some examples of our clients, and the support we have given them, are below. Contact us if you want a full client list or more case studies.

As an independent body set up to advise the UK government on carbon budgets, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is responsible for advising Government on setting climate change targets and reducing emissions to meet these. The CCC takes this responsibility just as seriously when looking at its own practices.  Action is being taken to manage down carbon emissions in all aspects of the Committee’s business, from travel to waste to procurement, and the Committee has offset all unavoidable emissions using Carbon Retirement, which means they can be 100% certain that the reductions they are paying for will happen, and happen here in Europe.

David Kennedy, Chief Executive of the CCC, said, “Adopting sustainable business practices and reducing our carbon emissions is central to the way we work.  Key components of our sustainability strategy are accurately monitoring, reducing and offsetting our carbon emissions to ensure we comply with the Government's definition of carbon neutrality.  Our main priority is to reduce our business emissions as much as we possibly can, but as well as this, we were keen to offset our unavoidable emissions.”

The Church of England believes that environmental responsibility and tackling climate change are not optional extras, and is leading by example in making care for the environment central to what it does. The aim of the ‘Shrinking the Footprint’ campaign is to encourage the 16,000 churches in England and Wales to reduce their carbon footprint by at least 80% by 2050, compared to 2005. Churches are taking action to reduce energy consumption, switch to green energy suppliers and install on-site energy generation.   

 Moreover, the Diocese of London – with 480 of the nation’s churches – has set up a scheme of ‘Climate Action Plans’, as part of which churches are encouraged to use money they save through energy efficiency to purchase EU Allowances through Carbon Retirement. Brian Cuthbertson, the Diocese’s Head of Environmental Challenge, comments “We shouldn’t go on leaving our carbon costs till the never-never, falling into debt with the future! Far better to pay these costs now. It's wrong to leave the planet in a worse state than we found it. We’re proud to work with Carbon Retirement, who use a government approved approach, to pay the cost of carbon emissions.” 

FTSE 100 private equity firm 3i is committed to taking a leadership position on corporate social responsibility. They were the first in their sector to launch a dedicated CSR website and commit to being carbon neutral by 2010. Kevin Dunn, 3i’s Group Company Secretary and General Counsel believes that “It’s in hard times, not easy ones, that strong companies can pull ahead of the competition. By increasing our connectivity to the rest of the world, and by taking a sensible and authentic approach to corporate responsibility, 3i can enhance further its reputation as the private equity firm of choice.” Following on from an 11% reduction in emissions in 2008-09, the company expects to report further reductions in 2009-10, and have taken full responsibility for their remaining carbon footprint by retiring EU Allowances with Carbon Retirement.

Arcola is one of the most respected arts venues in the UK and also the leading light of environmental best practice in the theatre industry. Their far-reaching sustainability programme, ‘Future Arcola’, will transform the theatre into a hub for art, science, community and business, delivering practical approaches to sustainable living. The vision includes creating an incubator for the development of sustainable technologies, organising ‘Green Sunday’ events for the local community, and notably constructing a new eco-theatre, expanding on the existing venue. By employing sustainable construction techniques, and with plans to install on-site renewable power generation, Future Arcola with be an ultra-low carbon venue and an example of sustainable management. To compensate for unavoidable travel emissions during the build, Arcola Theatre have chosen to offset their emissions with Carbon Retirement.  Ben Todd, Executive Director of Arcola, said, “The debate around carbon offsetting has taken a step forward with the introduction of Carbon Retirement...If you really can’t eliminate it, retire it.”

Julie’s Bicycle is a not-for-profit committed to greening the music and theatre industries. Working closely with the Oxford University Environmental Change Institute, they have developed a framework for benchmarking and managing emissions in all aspects of the creative industries: from venues to touring, and audience travel to CD packaging. They support a ‘reduce and then offset’ approach to carbon management, and recommend the use of EUA cancellation for offsetting. They have chosen to offset their travel emissions in this manner with Carbon Retirement.

Fallon, the ad agency behind Sony’s bouncing balls and Cadburys’ drumming gorilla, are working towards a comprehensive strategy on sustainability and developing a position as a thought leader within the communications industry. They chose Carbon Retirement to offset their unavoidable organisational emissions because the unquestionable nature of the reduction reflects this commitment to thought leadership. We are actively involved in the further development of Fallon’s sustainability strategy, with a focus on reducing emissions relating to ad production.

As well as being responsible for ensuring UK elections are fair and transparent, The Electoral Commission is taking responsibility for lowering its carbon footprint. They asked Carbon Retirement to validate and offset their remaining emissions in order to comply with the Department for Energy and Climate Change Quality Assurance Standard, the UK Government's accreditation for responsible voluntary carbon offsetting.

Green film-makers Nice and Serious ensure every decision the company makes – from who they bank with to the way they distribute their films – has the minimum possible impact on the environment. Carbon Retirement worked with Nice and Serious to develop the pioneering ‘Buy a film, save a tonne’ programme, which takes one EU allowance permanently out of circulation for every film they make.

London Remade Solutions (LRS) was established to develop resource efficiency solutions for the capital, and advises a range of organisations across London, including the capital’s 33 local authorities. Their expertise lies with waste management, from developing recycling schemes to sustainable procurement for products and services. Carbon Retirement was able to complement this knowledge with an in-house training day on Climate Change, supporting LRS to analyse the implications of future adaptation and mitigation scenarios for their sector. Carbon Retirement continues to provide in-house training through quarterly climate change updates, keeping the team updated on key developments in science and policy.

Brighton based search engine optimiser iCrossing hoped to inspire its staff and clients by becoming environmentally responsible. Having already taken steps to hire local recycling services, and to reduce business travel by using teleconferences with international offices where possible instead of flying, they also created a scheme to encourage staff to cycle.  Carbon Retirement measured the carbon footprint of iCrossing’s UK operations, and iCrossing chose to become carbon neutral by offsetting all unavoidable emissions.  They used Carbon Retirement because of the transparent pricing of our offsetting services. 

The Funding Network (TFN) is a group of socially-minded people who come together to support charities and social enterprises. TFN events bring these two groups together to catalyse social and environmental change. We made an impression when successfully pitching for funding at one of their events, and the network organisers decided to offset their emissions with us.

Wiles Greenworld office supplies, one of the Sunday Times’ Best Green Companies 2009, reduced emissions by 23% last year and is committed to at least a further 10% reduction in 2010. Rather than relying on annual footprint audits by a third party, Wiles Greenworld wanted to be able to measure and monitor emissions more regularly in-house. Carbon Retirement developed an easy-to-use bespoke carbon calculator, tailored to the Wiles Greenworld business. Staff now use readily-available data to report on quarterly emissions, giving more frequent feedback on the impact of carbon reduction projects and saving time and money come the annual footprint audit.