Our sustainability journey: our progress so far

Kat Wilton, Head of Marketing and Sustainability
| 11th August 2021 | Sustainability

Please note that Bryt Energy is no longer a carbon neutral organisation. Instead we have decided to focus on robust carbon emissions reduction targets, which have been validated by the globally recognised Science Based Target initiative (SBTi). By setting our targets using the most up-to-date climate science, we are ensuring we are playing our part in global action to tackle climate change and are accountable for reducing our emissions alongside a verifiable pathway. To learn more about our targets, you can visit page 16 of our 2023 Bryt by Nature report, here.

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With it being 5 years since we began our Bryt Energy journey last month, and just over half a year since we launched our Bryt by Nature programme, we thought that it would be an ideal time to reflect on the progress we’ve made on all things sustainability.

 

In 2020, we documented all of the actions we took to achieve our carbon neutral* status in our Bryt by Nature report. But that was just the beginning of our journey. We’re aiming to reach net zero by 2025, so we’re not wasting any time in making further progress.

 

Our Bryt by Nature programme for being a better business consists of four key elements, and we’re striving to make continual improvements in all of these areas. Here’s what we’ve done so far in 2021

SUSTAINABLE BY NATURE

We’ve always believed that businesses have a responsibility to minimise their impact on the environment, so we’re constantly working to reduce our emissions wherever possible. Due to the pandemic, most of our staff have been working from home since March 2020, which means our office-based emissions are likely to have fallen – but we know that we’re still responsible for the emissions our employees create while working from home. We’re documenting our employees’ working-from-home emissions (such as the energy they use to power their IT equipment and heat their homes) and are supporting more staff to switch to a renewable electricity supply at home, by providing them with advice and incentives.

 

Now that restrictions are easing, we’re also thinking about how we can address our Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions in areas such as our supply chain and employees’ business travel. Business travel accounted for a significant part of our carbon footprint pre-pandemic, so we’ve been busy introducing new policies to encourage our staff to opt for low carbon travel when it’s safe to return to the office. Our employees can now take out an interest-free season ticket loan (we pay for the travel pass and they pay it back monthly), buy a bike through our tax efficient bike-to-work scheme, or switch to an electric vehicle through our new EV car salary sacrifice scheme.

 

We’ve also appointed a dedicated Sustainability Manager to help us drive our sustainability agenda forwards, as well as taking on a sustainability placement student from a local university, to support and inspire the next generation of sustainability experts.

PASSIONATE BY NATURE

Without our incredible team, we wouldn’t be able to deliver our purpose – so we’re always looking for new ways to make Bryt Energy a positive, diverse and inclusive place to work. Most recently, we’ve done this by becoming an accredited Living Wage employer, which means all our staff are paid at least the Living Wage. That’s currently £9.50 an hour in the UK, with a higher rate of £10.85 in London to reflect the higher costs of living in the capital. We’re also committed to ensuring that all of our third party contracted staff are paid the Living Wage by the end of 2021.

 

As well as this, we know that our employees share our commitment to sustainability, so we’ve recently added ‘Climate Perks’ to our staff benefits. This means that all of our staff members can take up to two paid ‘journey days’ per year if they choose to travel on holiday by train, coach or boat rather than flying – so they can travel sustainably without using up their annual leave.

TRUSTED BY NATURE

As part of our Bryt by Nature programme, we made a promise to our customers to be accurate, reliable, and there when they need us. So, despite the challenges of the pandemic in the past 18 months, our passionate team have continued to support both new and existing customers. In fact, during this time, our average customer satisfaction rating was 4.9/5+, showing that customers trust us to help them on their sustainability journeys.

 

Furthermore, with business decarbonisation critical to meeting the UK’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2050, organisations are increasingly choosing us and our zero carbon, 100% renewable electricity supply to help them meet their carbon reduction targets, resulting in us being the fastest growing business electricity supplier in Britain in 2020^.

PIONEERING BY NATURE

Alongside our own sustainability journey, we’re committed to helping our customers use electricity more intelligently and sustainably for us to reach Net Zero by 2050. As we transition to 100% renewable generation, and with EVs and heat pumps coming on board, balancing our energy system will become more challenging and consumers will need to play their part.

 

We want to empower businesses to be part of the solution, to practice good grid citizenship and to improve their energy efficiency, by providing flexibility to the system. That’s why we’ve developed pioneering optimisation solutions which are accessible to all types of businesses. By combining our expertise in renewables with industry leading technology providers, our solutions seamlessly integrate with customer’s assets and buildings. This enables them to unlock value from their operations and to be rewarded for supporting the clean energy transition – all without impacting their business activities. Find out more from our expert Chris Curry here and join us on the next step of the journey.

JOIN OUR JOURNEY

We’re determined to be totally transparent in our sustainability journey, and as we’re now working towards net zero emissions by 2025, we’ll regularly update you on our progress.

 

If you’re interested in our journey so far, check out our Bryt By Nature report – and if you’d like to join us on the road to net zero, find out how we can support you by calling 0330 053 8620 or emailing heretohelp@brytenergy.co.uk today.

 

* Carbon neutral is defined by Bryt Energy as Scope 1, 2 & 3 for the categories of gas, electricity, water, waste and business travel. The scope 1, 2 & 3 carbon emissions for 2016-2019 were 106.64 tonnes and therefore 110 tonnes of carbon credits from the Bokhol Solar project were retired on behalf of Bryt Energy by EcoAct in August 2020.   

 

+based upon all customer responses to all routine satisfaction surveys undertaken by Bryt Energy between April 2020 – May 2021.

 

^Organic growth only, based on Bryt Energy’s 2020 share of national settled electricity volumes in Great Britain compared to 2019 share, versus other business-only suppliers.

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