Sustainability policy

Introduction

Increasingly, sustainability is becoming a key issue for businesses and society in general, as people realise that current industrial, economic and social systems are storing up problems for the future. Sustainability is not about moving backwards but about looking forwards to new, better ways of doing things.

We believe in the triple bottom line concept of sustainability

Environmental – reducing environmental damage to levels that can naturally be absorbed by nature

 

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Social – developing a healthy and fair global and local society

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Financial – creating sustainable business models and stable, prosperous economies.

Wholegrain Digital’s sustainability policy

At Wholegrain Digital we aim to do our best to work towards sustainability. We’re not perfect, but it is something that we take very seriously. We have a range of environmental, social and financial strategies to help us reduce our negative impact give something positive back to the world. These include:

Environmental

  • Wholegrain Digital intends to minimise its carbon footprint by operating a virtual business structure, centered around our innovative workspace at Somerset House. This allows our team to work at convenient locations and avoid excess travel. We also use the most efficient, practical mode of transport for each journey
  • Wherever possible our stationery is recycled or recyclable, hence minimising its impact on the Earth. We use wood and paper only from sustainable sources where available. Perhaps more importantly, we try to avoid using physical stationery and printing documents wherever possible
  • We reduce by only buying products that we need, re-use by using second hand products where available and selling our unwanted items, and try to recycle or compost as much of our waste as possible
  • All of our cleaning products are natural, biodegradable and are bulk purchased when possible to minimise packaging
  • We use low energy appliances wherever available
  • We have a no-fly policy, and instead work with international clients, staff and partners using web communications and travelling over land if required
  • We try to keep our carbon emissions to a minimum and in 2020, we moved away from offsetting our carbon emissions, to ‘carbon synching’. This is the idea that we need to not just remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but we need to do it at roughly the same speed (or faster) than we are emitting it
  • We develop services that can be delivered with no physical goods production or transportation.
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Social

  • We value our team. We make sure that our team members enjoy their work by giving them every possible opportunity to express themselves, fulfil their potential and fit their work around the other important aspects of their lives
  • We allow flexible working by allowing our team members to choose their own place and time of work. This helps team members maintain a healthy work-life balance
  • We maintain healthy relationships with our customers and accommodate their needs wherever possible
  • We use local suppliers where possible to reduce our carbon footprint and stimulate the local economy
  • We only deal with ethical organisations, who treat their staff well
  • We try to create opportunities for young talented individuals with strong ethics and help them to develop their careers by getting them involved in our work and helping to promote them
  • We use fairtrade products where appropriate
  • We comply with all equal opportunities laws and regulations
  • We actively promote the benefits of socially responsible business
  • We refuse to work with organisations involved with ethically dubious activities such as military systems, tobacco, junk food, nuclear power, hunting, animal testing and genetically modified crops
  • We bank with Starling Bank, because we consider them to be one of the most environmentally and socially responsible banks in the UK, even though “ethical bank” is a bit of an oxymoron.
Image of some Wholegrain team members sitting around a table in our co-working space

Financial

  • We will build a strong, valuable brand
  • We will keep costs to a minimum by virtual operation of the business using modern communication technologies
  • We will avoid ethical liabilities by implementing our social and environmental sustainability policies.
  • We will minimise debt and other financial liabilities
  • We will invest in sustainable businesses, to help encourage the growth of a sustainable economy, as well as providing the business with a strong long-term investment portfolio
  • We will implement simple and effective business systems so that the business runs efficiently without reliance on the specialist knowledge or skills of any one individual.
Financial
Brave BCorp Trophy

We measure our impact

Our reason for existing is to make a positive impact, which is why we are striving to get better at monitoring and reporting our environmental and social impact.