Our Sustainable Future PARt TWO
Exploring sustainability in business and opportunities for a better tomorrow
Our Sustainable Future
PARt TWO
Exploring sustainability in business and opportunities for a better tomorrow
Our Sustainable Future PARt TWO
Exploring sustainability in business and opportunities for a better tomorrow
In the second of our two-part blog Lindsay Richards, Collingwood’s Director, shares her thoughts around sustainability in business, our current achievements, challenges and opportunities.
In the second of our two-part blog Lindsay Richards, Collingwood’s Director, shares her thoughts around sustainability in business, our current achievements, challenges and opportunities.
In the second of our two-part blog Lindsay Richards, Collingwood’s Director, shares her thoughts around sustainability in business, our current achievements, challenges and opportunities.
How can we transform challenges into opportunities?
In order to further educate ourselves on the environmental impact of our business, in November 2024 we attended a series of sustainability peer networking events at Dark Woods Coffee organized by West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Yorkshire Leadership Group.
These have been informative in raising our awareness of available support and networking with other local businesses to find out how they’ve been tackling it. We were signposted towards a fully funded opportunity to put someone forward for a Green Ambassador course with Quantam Vantage. Our colleague Meg took part and has now become the official Collingwood Green Ambassador, taking a lead on sustainability in the business and actioning research, projects and campaigns such as our new office recycling scheme and our reverse advent campaign, through which staff have collected items for the local food bank to donated December 2024.

“These are the things we can achieve as a business without asking too much in regards time and money from our staff. All schemes are entirely voluntary, and staff can choose to opt out if they prefer. “

Commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and supporting sustainable practices
Meg is also currently working with Sustainablex to look at a carbon reduction plan for the business and how we might reduce our carbon footprint and wasteful practice. We already know, for example, that our biggest current output is in travel and vehicles, but we’re not in a position to change that anytime soon. Taking live education programmes into schools is a huge part of what we do. Electric vehicles are not yet fit for purpose for this style of work and not financially viable for a small business such as ours, and despite moving some projects online so that they’re accessible without the need for an in-person visit, delivering live programmes is still the most impactful way to engage with our audiences, so we need to come up with alternative solutions for reducing our travel requirements and subsequent emissions. We’re keen to do this – and will hopefully find some tangible goals to work towards.
How can we transform challenges into opportunities?
In order to further educate ourselves on the environmental impact of our business, in November 2024 we attended a series of sustainability peer networking events at Dark Woods Coffee organized by West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Yorkshire Leadership Group.
These have been informative in raising our awareness of available support and networking with other local businesses to find out how they’ve been tackling it. We were signposted towards a fully funded opportunity to put someone forward for a Green Ambassador course with Quantam Vantage. Our colleague Meg took part and has now become the official Collingwood Green Ambassador, taking a lead on sustainability in the business and actioning research, projects and campaigns such as our new office recycling scheme and our reverse advent campaign, through which staff have collected items for the local food bank to donated in December 2024.

“These are the things we can achieve as a business without asking too much in regards time and money from our staff. All schemes are entirely voluntary, and staff can choose to opt out if they prefer. “
Commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and supporting sustainable practices
Meg is also currently working with Sustainablex to look at a carbon reduction plan for the business and how we might reduce our carbon footprint and wasteful practice. We already know, for example, that our biggest current output is in travel and vehicles, but we’re not in a position to change that anytime soon. Taking live education programmes into schools is a huge part of what we do. Electric vehicles are not yet fit for purpose for this style of work and not financially viable for a small business such as ours, and despite moving some projects online so that they’re accessible without the need for an in-person visit, delivering live programmes is still the most impactful way to engage with our audiences, so we need to come up with alternative solutions for reducing our travel requirements and subsequent emissions. We’re keen to do this – and will hopefully find some tangible goals to work towards.

How can we transform challenges into opportunities?
In order to further educate ourselves on the environmental impact of our business, in November 2024 we attended a series of sustainability peer networking events at Dark Woods Coffee organized by West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Yorkshire Leadership Group.
These have been informative in raising our awareness of available support and networking with other local businesses to find out how they’ve been tackling it. We were signposted towards a fully funded opportunity to put someone forward for a Green Ambassador course with Quantam Vantage. Our colleague Meg took part and has now become the official Collingwood Green Ambassador, taking a lead on sustainability in the business and actioning research, projects and campaigns such as our new office recycling scheme and our reverse advent campaign, through which staff have collected items for the local food bank to donated in December 2024.

“These are the things we can achieve as a business without asking too much in regards time and money from our staff. All schemes are entirely voluntary, and staff can choose to opt out if they prefer. “
Commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and supporting sustainable practices
Meg is also currently working with Sustainablex to look at a carbon reduction plan for the business and how we might reduce our carbon footprint and wasteful practice. We already know, for example, that our biggest current output is in travel and vehicles, but we’re not in a position to change that anytime soon. Taking live education programmes into schools is a huge part of what we do. Electric vehicles are not yet fit for purpose for this style of work and not financially viable for a small business such as ours, and despite moving some projects online so that they’re accessible without the need for an in-person visit, delivering live programmes is still the most impactful way to engage with our audiences, so we need to come up with alternative solutions for reducing our travel requirements and subsequent emissions. We’re keen to do this – and will hopefully find some tangible goals to work towards.

What’s next for Collingwood?
Our first step is to create a Baseline Impact Report so that we have something on which to measure our progress year on year. This has encouraged us to take a long hard look at ourselves, where we are now, and helped us to form goals and strategies as a company for the next year and beyond. We are keen to consider alternative solutions, such as off-setting our carbon emissions and are currently looking at sustainable ways to do this too.
In the long term, we’ve already made the pledge to ‘Net Zero’, working towards science-based environmental targets to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and help accelerate the transition to a net zero carbon economy. We’d also love to work towards B-Corp certification, meeting the high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability that recognition requires.
As a small business renting an office in an old, shared building, some of the goals towards reducing our carbon emissions are more challenging, but we’re doing our best to familiarize ourselves with what these are, measure our own impact and encourage others to do the same.

Our first step is to create a Baseline Impact Report so that we have something on which to measure our progress year on year. This has encouraged us to take a long hard look at ourselves, where we are now, and helped us to form goals and strategies as a company for the next year and beyond. We are keen to consider alternative solutions, such as off-setting our carbon emissions and are currently looking at sustainable ways to do this too.
In the long term, we’ve already made the pledge to ‘Net Zero’, working towards science-based environmental targets to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and help accelerate the transition to a net zero carbon economy. We’d also love to work towards B-Corp certification, meeting the high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability that recognition requires.
As a small business renting an office in an old, shared building, some of the goals towards reducing our carbon emissions are more challenging, but we’re doing our best to familiarize ourselves with what these are, measure our own impact and encourage others to do the same.

“We are committed to positively impact all our stakeholders – workers, communities, customers, and our planet. “
Conclusion
We are proud of Collingwood and want all who work with us to feel that way.
That’s why we are making the commitment, taking time to reflect on our current successes and challenges to shape a more positive and sustainable future for Collingwood, our employees, customers, end-users and beyond.

What’s next for Collingwood?
Our first step is to create a Baseline Impact Report so that we have something on which to measure our progress year on year. This has encouraged us to take a long hard look at ourselves, where we are now, and helped us to form goals and strategies as a company for the next year and beyond. We are keen to consider alternative solutions, such as off-setting our carbon emissions and are currently looking at sustainable ways to do this too.
In the long term, we’ve already made the pledge to ‘Net Zero’, working towards science-based environmental targets to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and help accelerate the transition to a net zero carbon economy. We’d also love to work towards B-Corp certification, meeting the high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability that recognition requires.
As a small business renting an office in an old, shared building, some of the goals towards reducing our carbon emissions are more challenging, but we’re doing our best to familiarize ourselves with what these are, measure our own impact and encourage others to do the same.
“We are committed to positively impact all our stakeholders – workers, communities, customers, and our planet”
“We are committed to positively impact all our stakeholders – workers, communities, customers, and our planet.”
Conclusion
We are proud of Collingwood and want all who work with us to feel that way.
That’s why we are making the commitment, taking time to reflect on our current successes and challenges to shape a more positive and sustainable future for Collingwood, our employees, customers, end-users and beyond.
Conclusion
We are proud of Collingwood and want all who work with us to feel that way.
That’s why we are making the commitment, taking time to reflect on our current successes and challenges to shape a more positive and sustainable future for Collingwood, our employees, customers, end-users and beyond.
Speak to Katy May at Collingwood Learning


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