Carbon Footprint Report.

We signed up to Business Declares in 2021 and have been measuring our carbon footprint since 2022. We have calculated and published the reports for 2022, 2023 and 2024 - see below.

We calculated our footprint using the Compare Your Footprint software calculator, as part of Let’s Do Net Zero with Bluepatch.

Carbon emissions are divided into three Scopes which help businesses to consider the impact they are having on global warming:

Scope 1 - Consists of direct emissions resulting from the activity of the business.  Generally we are very ‘low carbon’ as our material is local sustainable wood.

Scope 2 - Covers the indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, such as electricity.  Transforming wood into furniture is mostly human power, assisted by powered tools and machines.  For us, this is zero as our electricity is 100% renewable supplied by Octopus Energy

Scope 3 - Relates to all the other indirect emissions which take place during the process of purchasing raw materials, manufacturing goods and delivering those goods to customers. We now also measure multiple spends in these categories: Business Travel; Business Services (accountants, photographers, membership of organisations, computers etc); Gas; Food and Drink; Waste; Employee Commuting by Road; Hotel Stays; Advertising; Delivery; Events; and Freight Haulage by Sub-Contracted Companies.  

The more we measure the higher our carbon footprint appears. As a low carbon micro-business our figures are very susceptible to fluctuations in spend, and insensitivity in the calculator. For example, in attempting to calculate the carbon footprint of our wood (using the methodology of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard: Market -based) we discovered the calculator used a “UK average for a wood merchant”. The way we source timber is very different to a wood merchant purchasing clear-fell non-native timber from all over the world.  Read more… As a result, we decided to take our tonnage of wood out of our carbon footprint calculations.  

As costs increase with inflation, the tool may show higher emissions even where the real-world activity hasn’t increased. In other words, the carbon footprint calculation is driven by spend rather than by the actual lifecycle impact of what we are buying.  Moreover a single atypical spend can have a significant impact. For example, in 2024 our rather ancient Landrover had some major repairs and it added 1.5 tonnes to our TCO2 consumption. Our total for the year was 18.475 tonnes. Our greatly loved Landrover has a low annual mileage (under 5K) but it is vital for winching and moving logs in our woodland, and we hope the repairs will be of benefit for many years to come.

It is hard to tell how we compare with another business (unless they are using the same calculator in the same way) or what 18 tonnes actually looks like. We do know that 1 tonne of CO2 is the equivalent in weight to a walrus, and looks like 500 CO2 fire extinguishers. In order to capture 1 tonne of CO2 emissions 50 trees must grow for one year to absorb the carbon from the air (sequestration). (Source: What exactly is 1 tonne of CO2? We make it tangible. - Climate Neutral Group. We immediately think - what species of tree, what age of tree, and where is it growing?! Our ancient oak trees sequester far more carbon than a young oak. Trees may be grown as a well managed regenerative woodland - or not.

Other businesses may “off-set” their carbon by purchasing carbon sequestration and then claim to be carbon neutral or even carbon negative. This is encouraged in the carbon calculation sector but we feel this is often misleading and it may be unhelpful.  Read more….

Attempting to accurately calculate our Carbon Footprint has helped us think more deeply about all purchasing decisions, however moving forwards there will be a considerable fee to keep publishing the reports and it is very time-consuming. Therefore we will not publish any more reports, and will focus on our actual business, which is transforming local sustainable wood into exquisite furniture for homes, gardens and public places, as part of a precious local circular economy.

Carbon Footprint Report 2022, Carbon Footprint Report 2023, Carbon Footprint 2024