Zenith reports publicly on 2007 carbon footprint
Specialist food and drink consultancy Zenith International found that business air travel accounted for 70% of its carbon emissions in 2007, while magazine printing and distribution was responsible for 48% of emissions at its sister company Zenith International Publishing. Overall carbon emissions for the two businesses totalled 261 tonnes, equivalent to the average output of 44 UK households.
"It was a very revealing exercise," commented Zenith Chairman Richard Hall. "We brought in a firm of experts to analyse all our use of energy, water, print and travel. We included employee commuting to give as full a picture as possible."
"The most important point is what we do with the information now we have it," added project manager Philip Coverdale. "Our travel to work impact is very low and the publishing business is already switching over to paper from sustainable managed forests. Air travel is bound to be important for a global business, but we shall seriously consider a number of recommendations such as the purchase of video conferencing facilities."
Zenith also revealed that the analysis cost around £3,500 and took just four weeks to complete. It was undertaken by local firm MAS Carbon Services and resulted in a 40 page report including charts comparing the commuting and business travel for each individual member of staff.
Zenith has also decided to neutralise all its carbon use since January 2007 through a donation to The Converging World, a new local scheme which uses the money to generate renewable energy using wind turbines in Southern India as well as supporting community education projects.
"The Converging World has created the most virtuous circle we could find," continued Richard Hall. "Paying for wind power in India helps their economy and means they use less fossil fuels. Users then buy this power and that extra money is reinvested in more renewable energy. On top of this, some of the money is put into environmental projects in Britain as well as India.
"For our 261 tonnes at £15 per tonne, we should have paid £3,915 for a 100% offset, but we were conscious of the extra impact of some recent conferences we organised and decided to give £5,000 to Converging World so we could cover everything," Richard Hall concluded.
Notes for Editors
1. For further information, please contact:
Richard Hall or Philip Coverdale, Zenith International Ltd
7 Kingsmead Square, Bath BA1 2AB, United Kingdom
t +44 (0)1225 327900, f +44 (0)1225 327901
zenithinternational.com