Following the conclusion of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, we’ve been reflecting on how we do things, both internally and externally, and considering the action we can take as a business to minimise our environmental impact. We have recently pledged to halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, with a longer-term view of reaching net-zero by 2050, as part of our partnership with the SME Climate Hub. We’ve also been thinking about how we can help our customers have confidence that they’re working with an organisation that shares their ambitions to do as much as possible to safeguard our planet.
Back in August, we announced that we were one of the very first businesses in the world to join the SME Climate Hub, a groundbreaking new climate action platform for small to medium-sized enterprises to take a leading stance on climate action.
You can read more about our partnership here.
If there’s one thing that has been highlighted by many of the climate activists throughout the last fortnight of COP26, it’s that people expect more than just promises of action. People want to see evidence of progress being made to meet these ambitious targets, which is exactly why we wanted to share with you what we’re already doing, what we’re planning on doing, and things that we’re considering moving forward.
We’re passionate about protecting the environment from all forms of pollution; after all, we’ve helped businesses safeguard against noise pollution for more than five decades. Now, it’s time for us all to work together to minimise our carbon footprint. We want to minimise our own impact, but also help you and your organisation minimise yours by changing the way we do things internally, and some of the things we do directly with you, our customers.
The 15-Year Warranty – Protecting Your Investment; Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
The 15-year warranty offered by Cirrus Research has become one of the stalwarts of our brand, standing us out from our competition in the noise measurement industry. It protects the significant investment you make in your noise measurement equipment from all accidental damage, ensuring that no matter what happens, you’re covered for the lifetime of the product.
Our 15-year warranty offers protection for more than your investment, though. It also helps to protect the planet by reducing the carbon footprints of us, and your business. We believe that every instrument repaired under our warranty scheme is an instrument saved from being thrown away and replaced. And every instrument that isn’t replaced saves on the physical resources and energy required to manufacture it. It’s a simple thing that can have a significant impact and feeds directly into our philosophy of reduce, reuse, repair and recycle.
Internal Behaviours – Changing How We Do Things
The vast majority of us have made small changes to the way we do things at home, whether it’s swapping old filament bulbs for LEDs and motion sensor switches, adding a compost bin to our garden for food waste, or only running the dishwasher every other night. So, it stands to reason that these sorts of behaviours should cross over to the workplace.
As part of the first meeting of our new Sustainability Action Group, we discussed a number of small changes that all Cirrus Research team members should adopt in order to make progress to becoming more sustainable. Some of these changes include:
- Installing LED light fixtures in all areas of the building
- Installing motion sensor light switches
- Enacting a company-wide automatic computer switch-off policy
- Reducing the amount we print
- Using recycled materials wherever possible
- Recyling and/or composting all our waste, wherever possible
Thinking about longer-term changes
In addition to the relatively small changes, we also discussed some bigger picture, longer-term changes that we want to make as a business. Some of the things we discussed were:
- Installing solar panels to make steps to become self-sufficient
- Changing to more sustainable materials, both in terms of product packaging and our products themselves
- Phasing out printed product manuals and datasheets in favour of digital-only copies
- Introducing rechargeable batteries as standard to our equipment
- Re-evaluating internal processes and procedures to minimise waste
As has been highlighted for many years now, we are quickly approaching the point at which it may be too late to stymy the worst effects of global climate change. It falls to everyone and every business to play their part in ensuring that absolutely everything that can be done, is done to ensure that the planet is protected. It is our ambition to be a leading light in our industry, and our action starts today.
