On this Earth Day, we are taking the time to reflect on some of things we've done so far this year to play our part in tackling the environmental crisis facing our planet and ask ourselves... is it enough?
Put simply, no. We have a lot more to do as a business, however we recognise this is a journey and we've come a long way since founding Sherrington eight years ago. As the years have rolled on, the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis have grown in both risk and scale and we've been eager to develop the business in such a way that we can have a positive impact. Here's some of the things we've done so far in 2022....
- 2022 was the year Sherrington stepped up its’ responsible business game and in March we began our journey towards B-Corp certification. Supported by Donna Okell of Cheshire for Good who we joined in 2021, this year we embarked on a B-Corp accelerator programme led by Joanne, with the aim of holding ourselves to account in every area of the business when it comes to responsible business practice. Joanne is currently completing the rigorous B-Corp Impact Assessment, a process that scrutinises our entire operating model before the submission later this year.
- In March Sherrington Associates donated £5,000 to Chester Zoo’s Race for the Rainforest campaign, money that will directly fund a major reforestation project in Borneo, protecting the habitats of numerous endangered species. This donation was further enhanced with another £900 raised by Joe who ascended the UK’s three highest peaks in under 24 hours for the cause.
- In April we were proud to become an official signatory of the Better Business Act. The act is a business-led campaign, supported by over 1,000 UK businesses to force UK government to mandate responsible business practice via an amendment to Section 172 of the Companies Act, aligning People, Planet and Profit as equal pillars of organizational purpose. On March 20th Sherrington’s Managing Director Rob McKay and Executive Resourcer Joe Onions attended parliament along with representatives from other signatory businesses for talks with MPs and to encourage government to endorse the act in the forthcoming Queen’s speech.
- April was also the month Sherrington officially became a carbon positive! In other words we are now removing more carbon from the atmosphere than we are emitting. This thanks to Joanne's work with Ecologi, a new carbon-offsetting initiative that helps businesses like Sherrington to calculate their carbon footprint and take action to reduce it, whilst offsetting emissions through tree-planting projects across the globe.
We recognise this is a journey, but we're determined to make a lasting positive impact and have some even more exciting news to announce about our work in this area later this year.... watch this space!
