You have a craving for chocolate so you walk into a newsagent and start browsing the shelves. Being mindful about how you buy, you look for a label, or badge, something to indicate that the chocolate bar you’re about to buy has been produced in line with your social & environmental values. You narrow it down to three choices: one with a Fairtrade logo, another with the Organic label and a third with the Rainforest Alliance emblem on the wrapper. Which do you choose? Herein lies part of the problem. There are too many ecolabels and certifications and they all have different assessment crit ..read more

As expert advisors to the travel industry on measuring and reducing carbon emissions, we understand that businesses often need a hand achieving their environmental goals. Minimising contributions to climate change – and ideally achieving Net Zero – is a key component of these commitments. But business impacts on nature are much broader than this, and requirements to monitor and report on all of them are steadily increasing. So, where can travel businesses turn for help with their overall biodiversity or ‘nature positive’ strategy? Our answer is ANIMONDIAL, ecollective’s partner for Nature Pos ..read more

Emission reduction targets are essential if we’re to keep global temperature rise to a minimum. Teams with targets are more likely to achieve emissions reduction, mainly because it makes decision-making clearer. But what type of targets to set? There are two types: Absolute Emissions and Carbon Intensity targets. They can be very different whilst sounding quite similar. Both are relevant, useful and have their shortcomings too, so let's dive in... 1. Absolute Emissions (nothing to do with vodka) Absolute emissions are your total emissions. They usually grow as your company grows. An absolute ..read more

SECR stands for Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting. It is a relatively new UK regulation aimed to make business emissions reporting more transparent and comparable. It requires large companies and charities to report their energy usage and their Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions. The reason for SECR reporting is to steer companies into making energy efficiencies and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The reporting is particularly useful for encouraging ownership and making more companies measure their carbon emissions.  In this article we’ll look at the companies concerned by ..read more

It’s no secret that flights are the hardest element of any trip to decarbonise. Where flights are included in a trip or an event, they can represent 70-85% of the total carbon footprint. Several of our clients are starting to ask us how they can take action on customer flight emissions and, having spent some time on this, we’re happy to say we have some ideas to share. What factors affect the emissions of a flight? Once you understand the elements of a flight that lead to a higher or lower carbon footprint, you can start to make more informed choices. 1. Aircraft type and age The type of air ..read more

We talk about transport emissions A LOT, but with good reason. Transport emissions generally make up 70%+ of both holiday and event emissions. Business travel emissions are often a significant proportion of a company’s staff-related emissions too and make up roughly a quarter of a UK citizen’s personal carbon footprint. In this article, we look at our top nine ways to reduce transport emissions that you can apply to your business and your personal life. 1. Incentivise green travel The first one is for businesses. Offering incentives is a positive way to shape the way your workforce commute an ..read more

Our previous article on the future of holidays (read it here) caused quite a stir. Having received several requests to showcase more holiday options that are compatible with the 1.5°C temperature rise limit set out in the Paris Agreement we rose to the challenge. Transport is the largest proportion of emissions of any holiday. Even if sustainable aviation fuel takes off, long haul remains a high carbon option. But don’t despair. Brits aren’t just limited to staycations to keep their carbon footprint in check. We’ve discovered that it is possible to book holidays catering for all tastes, parti ..read more

It won’t surprise you to know that not all holidays are equal when it comes to their carbon footprint. That said, you may not be aware of how much they differ or which holidays create the most (and least) carbon emissions. In this article, we carbon label and categorise 10 types of holidays into high, medium and low carbon emissions and explain where the emission hotspots generally are. Then we’ll put forward our vision for how holiday companies can start to influence customer choice towards lower carbon options. With tourism responsible for roughly 8% of carbon emissions, it’s clear we need ..read more

The voluntary carbon credit (aka. offset) market emerged around 2005. It has grown rapidly as companies have looked to claim carbon neutrality and/or included them in their Net Zero strategies. A carbon credit is a certificate confirming the removal or avoidance of a tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2e).  In recent years, carbon credits and offsets have been highly criticised for not removing or preventing the amount of emissions advertised (here’s just one example). But they have an important part to play if we are to keep global warming to a minimum. Carbon credits are a way for organisation ..read more

To limit global warming to 1.5℃ and help prevent the catastrophic effects of climate change (wildfires, drought, flooding, food shortages, mass migration etc) we all need to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions we are producing. This is often easier said than done, even if you have set a Net Zero target. But what if you could manage your organisation’s emissions like you would a financial budget? This would keep you bang on target for Net Zero, increase the efficiency and resilience of your company, and, in the process, make it more attractive to investors and talent. The way to ..read more