We all know about the environmental threats to our planet. We read about melting ice caps, rising sea levels and most recently severe droughts. This is a familiar story. But what is actually being done about it?
Fortunately, the 10:10 campaign is leading the way. They’ve been telling us exactly how our business can reduce our carbon footprint by 10% year on year and it's working.
Specifically, 10:10 aims to cut operational emissions in four key areas; electricity, on-site fuel use, road transport and air travel.
10:10 originated as a simple solution to a big problem. Franny Armstrong founded the campaign in response to the vague targets set by the Climate Safety report, which called for an 80% cut in developed world emissions by 2050. Instead, Franny recognised the value of the more realistic target of a 10% cut by the end of 2010. And so, in September 2009, 10:10 was born with this explicit aim.
The 10:10 proposal has resonated with such a wide range of people on a global scale because it is simple and appealing, and yet offers tangible means to achieving lower carbon emissions.
Signing up is easy and once you’re on board, 10:10 pledge to:
- Provide you with the means to measure your own progress by entering your figures into an emissions reporting tool
- Explore alternative methods to help reduce your harder-to-measure emissions
- Encourage you to ensure that your staff, customers and suppliers are all involved
- Save your business money by using less energy and thus increasing your profits
At its core, 10:10 is a movement. It aims to expand support for the campaign in every direction possible from businesses and hospitals to schools and families. Consequently, 10:10 boasts over 115,000 participants in 186 countries, which is an incredible achievement for a movement that began under 2 years ago.
10:10’s 'How to cut carbon emissions' campaign is a shocking but incredibly effective way of demonstrating the urgency for action. The use of the words ‘no pressure’ is a sardonic way of emphasising that we must all act on climate change now.
Bloom signed up to the 10:10 initiative at the beginning of 2009. It is due to the tireless pursuit of our own Jemma Golby that we’ve already made some great progress. These are some of the small steps we’ve made along the way:
All our foam board is now made from recycled materials and is biodegradable
All our stationery is now supplied by the environmental stationary company Wiles Greenworld
We use FSC approved paper throughout the office.
We operate and support the ride to work scheme.
We’ve installed centralised bins in each office to discourage needless waste (inconvenient but very effective).
We have a strict policy to turn off lights, computers and office machinery each night.
Bloom still has some way to go but we are committed to reducing our carbon emisions by 10% each year. It's not about saving the planet overnight more the incremental steps that we can all sign up to that will ultimately make a difference.