Bournes are proud to offer all clients the opportunity to incorporate sustainability into their household goods removal by offsetting the carbon emissions generated.
Why are Bournes offering Carbon Offsetting?
We know sustainability is as important to many of our customers as it is to us, and that those customers would prefer to have an option for their household goods move that helped them achieve their ethical values.
A major United Nations (UN) scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently warned that Human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented ways. The UN chief warned that this report is a “code red” for humanity.
Whilst we implore our global government leaders and ‘big business’ to act now to effect meaningful change to address global warming, there is also a part that we as smaller companies and individuals play. The transportation industry is one of the leading contributors to global manmade greenhouse gas emissions so we believe we must take individual action too.
We’re already taking significant steps at Bournes to reduce our carbon footprint, but it’s going to take time and collective innovation in our whole industry to drive change at the scale that is needed to create significantly ‘greener’ moving services. That’s why we have partnered with ecolegIT to offer all customers the option to offset the carbon generated by their move in the meantime.
How are the carbon emissions of my move calculated?
ecolegIT is an independent sustainability programme created for the moving industry. They used "big data" from thousands of moves to create a smart algorithm to automatically calculate emissions into a model that allows us to offer carbon offsetting for a single flat fee per move, depending on if your move is transported by road, sea or air.
How are carbon emissions compensated?
ecolegIT works with sustainable forestry partners to plant new trees in developing countries. By building these projects in developing countries they can contribute to better living conditions for the local population.
All partners must:
- Have certification or validation, recognising them as a reliable charity organization, through an independent, governmental institute
- Operate projects that add value to local society and climate, indicated by acknowledged programs such as the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) as defined by the United Nations and the CCB program.
- Be able to demonstrate accountable CO2 reduction through an internationally acknowledged credit standard such as VCS or Gold Standard credits
Why Carbon offsetting and not reduction?
We know Carbon Offsetting isn’t enough, and that long term meaningful action means reducing those emissions in the first place.
At Bournes, we’re working hard on the longer-term initiatives too. Our ISO 14001 environmental management seeks to reduce our carbon footprint in all areas of our operation: sourcing the most sustainable packing materials and operating a comprehensive recycle/reuse programme; embedding sustainability into our vehicle replacement programme to ensure the vehicles we do have to operate are as environmentally friendly as possible; working with trade partners to combine shipments to reduce vehicle movements and utilising multi-modal transport options.
But we also know that whilst important, these actions can only create a small impact. The big things, the things that create huge reductions in carbon footprint - innovation that brings new technologies, greener transport, and methods of packing - take time and require a huge step-change from the transportation industry as a whole.
Offsetting allows us to reduce impact TODAY.
Want to offset your carbon emissions when you move?
Just contact us to get a quote, and let our team know you'd like to offset your emissions and we'll add this in for you.
