‘Arco’s core purpose is to keep people safe. Our commitment to the climate is a natural extension of this’
Alexandra Berger
Yesterday was World Environment Day, a global platform to inspire change. Alexandra Berger, board member and Marketing and Development Director at Arco, talks about how the Hull-based leading safety supplier is making changes to reduce its carbon emissions and outlines its approach to planning for the medium and long-term to ensure a greener future
Sustainability, the environment, climate change and the need to take action are topics that are never far away from discussion, whether it’s over the breakfast table or the boardroom table.
The COP26 conference, which took place last year in Glasgow, set out clearly what needs to be done to create a greener world for future generations.
It’s the responsibility of all, from heads of state, politicians and governments to businesses and industries, charities and communities. We, as individuals, also need to play our part to reduce carbon emissions and make more sustainable choices in our lives.
As both a family-run business and the UK’s leading safety company, Arco is driven by a core purpose to keep people safe and, as a responsible choice of safety partner, a commitment to the climate is a natural extension of this.
Like many others, we’ve set a goal and it’s our ambition to become net zero by 2045.
Knowing your destination is one thing, the journey to get there is something else.
Ambitious announcements like that we’ve committed to as a business are commonplace, but what do they mean and how does one go about achieving them?
It all starts with understanding and assessing what impact you, or your business or organisation, has on the environment, from the choices you make to the relationships you have with others.
Once you know what you need to change, you need to have a plan in place to achieve it.
Arco is well underway with this and is working closely with a range of experts in areas including sustainability, creating a circular economy and climate change to develop a long-term vision, with identified milestones and actions that need to be taken along the way.
We’ve made a good start. As a company, we’re verified carbon neutral for our direct and indirect emissions from energy use in our UK operations. Achieving this key milestone is an important part of our journey and our wider environmental ambitions, as well as our determination to protect both people and the planet.
The next step for Arco is to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in our ‘absolute’ Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions by 2030. To achieve this, we’ll measure against a baseline taken in 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
To achieve this ‘absolute’ reduction and to continue making good progress towards net zero, we’re embedding sustainability into our day-to-day operational activity across the business, including at our National Distribution Centre (NDC), safety stores, safety centres and safety training centres, offices and vehicle fleet.
We purchase all the electricity for our buildings from renewable sources and we’re investing to replace legacy lighting systems at the NDC and other selected sites with high-efficiency, modern fitments that will save 172 tonnes of carbon. We’re also progressing with plans for 50 per cent of our fleet to be comprised of ultra-low emission vehicles by 2025.
To ensure meaningful change, we know that we cannot do everything on our own. That’s why we’re working with partners, suppliers, government, industry bodies and colleagues to deliver.
Examples of this work include our membership of the Oh Yes! Net Zero campaign. We’ve partnered with other organisations, communities and individuals to achieve a net zero future and a greener Hull and Humber. To find out more and sign up, follow the link here: www.ohyesnetzero.co.uk.
Another example is the innovative approach we’re taking to address the high environmental impact of workwear.
Nearly 90 per cent of the 33 million workwear garments supplied annually end up in landfills or are incinerated.
With a limited product lifetime and little to no infrastructure for recycling and manufacturing in the UK, workwear has a high environmental impact.
As a result of this, we’re working with start-up company Stuff4Life to fund a new polyester recycling trial in the UK.
This partnership is an opportunity to make a real difference to the environmental and social impacts of workwear, reduce the industry’s dependency on fossil fuels and significantly reduce pollution from the manufacturing process.
As a planet, now is the time to act.
The journey to a net zero society will not be easy and will require everyone to work together and make the necessary changes to the way we live. It will require government and private enterprise to invest in new technologies and to innovate and develop new and transformative ideas.
This planet is our home, and, in the spirit of World Environment Day, we must continue to do all we can to inspire the change needed to ensure a greener and more prosperous future for the Earth and for future generations.
Arco is committed to playing its part. Are you?
To find out more about what makes Arco a responsible choice when choosing a safety partner, visit: www.arco.co.uk/about/a-responsible-choice
About the author
Alexandra Berger is a board member and the Marketing and Development Director for Arco, the UK’s leading safety company.
Alexandra joined the company in October 2020 and is leading Arco’s sustainability approach.
Alexandra’s broad experience across an international business-to-business environment has seen her lead strategic and digital transformations, brand and proposition development initiatives and customer experience programmes.
Prior to Arco, Alexandra held senior eCommerce and marketing positions with Unilever, SC Johnson, SealedAir and RS Group.
Alexandra has a Masters in Economics from Erasmus University, Rotterdam.