A business based in Corby that specialises in the distribution and fabrication of wood veneer and decorative laminate panels has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030.
See Limited, which is named after its ethical and sustainability ambitions (Supporting Ethical Enterprise), operates as a holding company for three businesses in the built environment industry sector – Inspired Surfaces, Performance Panels and Bousfields.
The company believes in leading by example and has already made great strides on its journey to net zero, which began in 2019 when it appointed EcoAct as its environmental consultant.
Under the leadership of CEO Robert Thompson, See Limited has established a range of initiatives that will drive its green agenda and achieve the ambitious net zero goal.
- Annual carbon footprint report: working with external environmental consultants EcoAct, See Limited commissions an Annual Carbon Footprint Report every year. The report records the CO2 impact of all three businesses in the group. This report is then circulated to staff and shareholders, not only for transparency, but to identify areas of improvement to drive down carbon emissions event further.
- Net zero team: a group of internal stakeholders representing all aspects of the company, have formed a Net Zero Team. The team meets bimonthly and is tasked with using the findings of the Annual Carbon Footprint Report to implement initiatives that will reduce CO2 emissions year-on-year. This has led to the implementation of a range of new activities undertaken to drive down carbon generated through the group’s day-to-day operations including purchasing new machinery, switching to a greener energy provider and introducing an electric company vehicle policy. A more recent initiative is investing in solar PV (solar photovoltaics) for its site in Corby. Since June 2022, 316 panels have been installed. This will reduce the group’s energy consumption by 90,616 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year with an annual saving of 32 tonnes of carbon emissions.
- Tree planting: See Limited has partnered with More Trees to plant trees all over the world. For every order of Pura® NFC – Performance Panels’ cladding solution for home exteriors – the company plants 20 trees. This tree planting initiative helps sequester carbon dioxide in the future while providing benefits such as water filtration, shelter, food sources, poverty alleviation and biodiversity in developing countries where tree felling is an issue. Since launching this initiative, See Limited have planted 1,080 trees with a target to plant 2,500 within the next two years. Due to the positive response from customers, it is planned to roll out this initiative across multiple product lines in the future.
- Science-based targets: in September 2021, See Limited signed up to the initiative (SBTi), demonstrating its commitment to adopting best practice to become net zero by 2030. Typically, large corporates sign up to SBTi and See Limited believes it was one of the first SMEs to enrol on the programme. A science- based target has been set and validated by SBTi to reduce absolute scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2030 from a 2020 base year, and to measure and reduce scope 3 emissions. This is in line with the Paris Agreement goals of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C.
- Robert Thompson said: “As a group we are passionate about sustainability and it’s important that this core value is at the heart of our employee culture. With employees in our Net Zero Team responsible for driving sustainability and implementing new initiatives, sustainability is a daily topic of conversation, increasing awareness of our actions, as well as generating new ideas as part of our journey to achieve net zero by 2030.”
To find out more about See Limited, visit www.see-limited.com
