Verified Carbon Footprint
Sustainable Signs & Branding
We have measured our carbon footprint to the GHG Protocol every year since 2021, and Carbon Footprint Ltd has verified every year. We reduce first, then offset what remains at more than twice the verified total. Figures to July 2024, verified February 2025.
Carbon Neutral Plus, 2023-24. Scope: factory energy, fleet, refrigerants, business travel and homeworking.
We Reduce Before We Offset
MEASURED AND VERIFIED EVERY YEAR SINCE 2021
We reduce before we offset, and we do it in this order. Reduce, reuse, recycle inside the factory: hand-sorted waste, offcut reuse, substrate choices that recycle in practice, not just in theory. Specify better: we show clients the modern alternatives to plastic-forward specs, and we say when a spec they inherited is out of date. Refit the factory: between 2018 and 2021 we replaced the lighting and environmental conditioning with modern, controlled systems, before we started measuring, and every circuit is monitored so we can see what changed. Electrify the fleet: petrol use fell from 4,376 litres to 187 in one year as electric vehicles arrived. Source clean power: renewable-source, half-hourly metered electricity since August 2022. Then, and only then, offset what remains at more than twice the verified total. The ratio is deliberate. It costs us more than a one-to-one offset would, and that cost is our own incentive to keep cutting.
We refitted the factory between 2018 and 2021, before we started measuring. Our first verified footprint, for 2020-21, already reflects the new lighting and environmental systems. That is why our factory electricity has been steady since: the cut came first, the measuring came second.
GET IN TOUCH TO LEARN MOREWhat does Brand Consortia measure?
Measured first
We have calculated our carbon footprint every year since 2021 to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, using UK Government conversion factors. Carbon Footprint Ltd has independently verified each year. Figures reviewed: FY2023-24, verified February 2025.
What we count
Our footprint covers everything we burn or buy for the factory and the fleet: vehicle fuel, powder-coating gas, refrigerants, electricity, business travel and homeworking, including well-to-tank emissions since 2022. We do not yet count the materials we buy or the power our signs use in service. We are working on both.
Where the carbon is
Around six tonnes in ten come from our vans and cars, figures to July 2024, verified February 2025. Electricity and the powder-coating oven make up most of the rest. We publish the split each year so you can see what we are working on.
Boundary decision, stated
We exclude HIAB lifting equipment from our reduction work because safe handling of heavy signage comes first. Its fuel still appears in our totals.
What has changed since 2020?
What has changed
Since our 2020-21 baseline we have cut emissions per £1M of turnover by 44% and our absolute footprint by 8%, while turnover grew by two-thirds, figures to July 2024, verified February 2025. Factory electricity has come from a renewable-source contract since August 2022. Electric vehicles joined the fleet in late 2022.
Fleet and electricity
Vehicles are six tonnes in ten of our footprint, so that is where we started. Electric vehicles joined the fleet in late 2022. Between our 2022-23 and 2023-24 years petrol use fell from 4,376 litres to 187 and diesel fell by a quarter. Factory electricity has come from renewable-source, half-hourly metered contracts since August 2022. Factory energy use itself is flat; the powder-coating oven is next.
What has not changed yet
We use about the same kWh in the factory as we did in 2020 and our vans still run mostly on diesel, figures to July 2024, verified February 2025. Those are the next two problems, in that order.
What do you offset and through whom?
Offsetting last
We offset at least twice our verified footprint every year through Verified Carbon Standard and Gold Standard projects, 953 tonnes against 393 tonnes emitted, figures to July 2024, verified February 2025. We treat offsetting as the bill for what we have not yet removed, not as the plan.
What carbon neutral means here
Carbon neutral, in our case, means this. We measure our footprint every year to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard: factory electricity and gas, every vehicle, refrigerants, business travel and homeworking, with well-to-tank emissions since 2022. Carbon Footprint Ltd verifies the figures. We then buy Verified Carbon Standard or Gold Standard credits for at least twice the verified total. Since 2021 that is 953 tonnes offset against 393 tonnes emitted, figures to July 2024, verified February 2025. We do not yet count the materials we buy or the power our signs use in service; we are working on both. Offsetting is the bill for what we have not removed yet, not the plan. The plan is the fleet, then the oven.
Dated, not live
Every figure on this page carries the year it covers and the date it was verified. If a number is more than 18 months old we say so. The figures above cover the year to 31 July 2024 and were verified in February 2025; they are more than 18 months old, and the next assessment is in hand.
Our Quality System
Efficient. Effective. Our ingrained commitment to quality & service starts with you. As a partner working with us, you will have your own Project Manager to make sure everything runs smoothly, with only ever one number to call to answer any questions and get any updates.
We have developed a detailed Workflow Process, and it is the backbone of how we work. It helps us maintain control and oversight so everything goes smoothly, while also acknowledging the rare occasions where something needs to be put right, and transparently detailing how we do this.
We want to work with you, and we want to wow you.
World Class Manufacturing
The 7 key principles of World Class Manufacturing form the discipline that we follow. It focusses on out-competing, out-delivering and out-performing in the eyes of the customer. By doing this in the most efficient and effective ways possible it allows us to be in complete control of how and where we focus our efforts for the best result. We would urge every growing business to study this guide for a fresh perspective on the importance of the quality of service provided.
Download link
Sustainable Sign Scheme
Our Sustainable Sign Scheme has offered per-site offset certificates since 2008. The scheme offsets the carbon footprint created in the manufacture of your signage by purchasing the equivalent in carbon credits through Carbon Footprint Ltd, with an option for each applicable site to receive a certificate. We launched it in collaboration with our most forward-thinking customers.
The scheme sits on top of our own verified footprint, which we have measured every year since 2021 and offset at more than twice the total after reducing first. From audit to offset, the process has been an education, drilling right down into the details for full visibility of where we can continue to improve. We also wrote about why 'recyclable' and 'recycled' mean very different things when it comes to signage materials.
Download Environment Policy Visit Sustainable Sign Scheme MicrositeThe Bread & Butter Thing
We're always pleased when can provide support to those who help others who share similar ideals and TBBT embodies so many great ideals, taking products that might otherwise go to waste and transformer into a highly-valued community support project, helping those on low incomes. TBBT is close to our hearts, also starting life in the NW and bit-by-bit spreading their good work nationally.
Visit The Bread & Butter Thing
Hope House Children's Hospice
We are proud to work with GM Fundraising for Hope House Children’s Hospice and over several years we’ve helped raise more than £1,000,000! We have participated in many fund-raising drives including supporting the bike ride from the Eiffel Tower to Blackpool Tower – although Alan's support was provided from 4 wheels rather than 2!
See our certificateSee Hope House's great work
Rastrick Juniors Football Club
We sponsor our local sports team’s, admittedly rather fetching, uniforms, and our Director, Bradley, also volunteers his time to coach them.
See the kitVisit RJFC's site
