To celebrate the 50^th anniversary of World Environment Day (5^th June 2023), we’ve been finding out how Chesterfield Champions are helping to reduce their carbon footprint, to support the town’s net-zero targets.

Chesterfield understands it has a long journey ahead. But our businesses appreciate the level of commitment needed to achieve our long-term goals and agree on the value of our collective change.

Every improvement we make benefits the health of our people and our environment, and strengthens our local economy.

Chesterfield Borough Council recently set out the groundwork for the borough to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, by adopting a new climate change strategy.

The new strategy is based on six central themes, focusing on where the council can have the biggest impact. These themes influence the further reduction of Chesterfield Borough Council’s own emissions*, while supporting others to do the same.

So, how are local organisations playing their part?

Emma Knight-Strong – Green Arch Consulting

“I am a Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. Furthermore, I have over a decade’s experience in environmental and sustainability consulting, environmental service design, environmental assessment of projects and sustainability training and coaching.

“Green Arch Consulting supports businesses to embed environmental and social considerations into their business as usual, making them more resilient to a changing climate and changing public and investor opinions. This helps businesses to make sense of the rapid rise in environmental issues in the media and with investors, customers and clients, and the impact that this rise will have on income.

“In addition, we provide a broad range of support including executive and staff training workshops, sustainability reporting and development of policies and processes, all the way through to the design of a full net zero strategy. Our approach focuses on supporting and upskilling our clients to develop a business-led, tailored approach to sustainability.”

Josh Hodgkinson – Matlock Farm Park

“As a business, we tend to source products locally. Not only is this a great step in the right direction from a sustainability point of view, but we’re supporting local businesses that deliver high-quality products and services.

“We also encourage our employees to be mindful of their electricity usage, reduce waste where possible and ensure we use biodegradable packaging.”

Nigel Mallender – Addooco IT

“Addooco is tremendously focused on the environment and sustainability. We’ve had our ISO14001 for Environmental Management Systems in place for several years now. In addition, by the end of 2023, we will be PAS2060 certified for carbon neutral.

“There are many other initiatives that feed into this too, including our EV charging points at our offices. All our company cars are electric, and all the energy we procure is renewable.”

Theresa Goldsmith – The Goldsmith Clinic

“At The Goldsmith Clinic, we are not just dedicated to enhancing your wellbeing, but also to preserving our planet. As a team that genuinely cares about sustainability, we constantly educate ourselves and embrace eco-friendly practices. We pride ourselves on using eco-conscious products throughout our clinic and embracing a zero-waste mindset.

“We also opt for reusable items and energy-saving practices. Even the little things, like switching off lights and washing dishes by hand, make a big difference to us.”

Will Moroney – Lightmain

“All our steel products are produced from recycled steel, and sourced from within the UK. Offering a 25-year guarantee on a lot of our products, we like to live by the saying “Fit & Forget.”

“We accept that steel might not sound like the most sustainable material. However, with plenty of examples of installations that have lasted many years, and still look as good as new, installing once in a generation is better than needing to go back to replace time and again. That is all down to the quality of our products.”

Jane Taylor – Dronfield Wine World

“We banished plastic bags about 5 years ago, choosing to recycle cardboard wine boxes instead. We focus on organic wines which have less impact on the environment, as well as preferring winemakers who have Fairtrade credentials.

“Two years ago, we invested in an electric cargo bike and trailer for local deliveries. In some cases when the weather is awful, we use an electric plugin car. Additionally, all our hamper and gift packaging is reusable and biodegradable.”

Ben Couch – Banner Jones Solicitors

“As a law firm that used to rely heavily on paper, Banner Jones has made huge improvements over the last 2 years. Most of our departments are now classed as ‘paper light’.

“Consequently, most client communications are now done via email and via a secure online portal. In addition, it benefits the speeding up of transactions for the client, as they are no longer waiting for letters to arrive in the post.

“We have also had recycling bins in our offices for several years, helping to reduce general waste.”

Will Sissons – iTrack GPS Trackers

“Like many businesses, we are striving to become net zero. We have made changes to our packaging to use 100% recyclable materials. Another step we have taken to help the environment includes the introduction of fully electric company vehicles.

“We also try to work with local companies where possible, not only minimising transport but in turn helping other local businesses thrive.”

Chris Dwan – Woodall Homes

“We are always looking at ways of improving our housing product from a sustainability perspective. Our latest development (The Shrubberies on Newbold Road, Chesterfield) uses the Wondrwall technology system within each dwelling.

“Wondrwall is a home energy management system. It comprises home automation, gas-free heating, renewable energy assets and a machine learning platform to reduce energy bills and wastage.”

Amy McCroray – Rosewood Wealth Management

“At Rosewood, we are proud to be an ISO 14001 accredited company. Protecting our planet for future generations, the certification prompts us to minimise our impact on the environment by actively adopting our working style to become more sustainable.

“In an attempt to reduce our carbon emissions, clients visiting the office are welcome to use our Electric Vehicle Charging (EVC) point. Believing that we have a responsibility to care for the planet, our directors have also invested in electronic equipment to reduce paper usage when signing documents. By making these changes, Rosewood hopes to contribute towards a brighter, greener future.”

Paul Gosney – City Taxis

City Taxis at the Redbrik Foundation Chesterfield 10k

“Our Electric project journey began in 2019 and has now extended to hydrogen. We have set an ambitious target to become a Net Zero business by 2025, with a fully electric and now hydrogen fleet.

“As part of this, we are also working on a charging infrastructure project to host a range of electric charging hubs across various sites. This is to support the local community and our drivers, as people make the transition to Electric.

“We have also trialed three hydrogen cars in partnership with Peak Resort and Toyota. The partnership is working hard to increase the number of cars on the road with a vision of taking emissions out of the environment.”

Joe Grangier – Netcoms IT

“All our company vehicles in the next few months will be hybrid. This will reduce our annual expenditure on fossil fuels, and migrate towards an eco-friendlier business. We research technological advancements and try to integrate these for many of the companies we work with; keeping them at the forefront of technology.

“We have the ability to upcycle, and supply refurbished computers and technology to reduce our overall carbon footprint. We monitor device uptime for the companies we support, letting them know the carbon footprint they leave.”

James Taylor – Roaring Mouse Public Relations

“Roaring Mouse exists to build businesses that make the world smarter, fairer and greener. We work with several cleantech companies, and sustainability is a massive part of who we are.

“We’ve moved to an energy-efficient building and are making use of public transport and the cycle network when commuting.”

Simon Whitaker – Master Debonair

“Master Debonair is working with a charity called Suitability. It provides suits to people who are looking for employment, but don’t have appropriate clothing suitable for an interview.

“This is supporting people in helping them to gain employment. At the same time, people are re-using products instead of letting them go to waste.”

Shiva Sheikholeslami – Belvedere House Care Home

“At Belvedere House we take being as sustainable as possible incredibly seriously. We have energy-saving champions at all our homes, who work hard to promote and maintain ways of working to reduce the amount of energy used.

“We’re keen to reduce our energy use and take weekly meter readings so we can monitor our changes. We try and recruit people within the local area so they are able to walk or cycle to work. In addition, we are looking into investing in an electric car charging point.

“We use recycled paper throughout the home. Our talented chefs work hard to ensure all food waste is kept to a minimum, and work closely with our food supplier regarding eco-friendly packaging as well as returning all used cooking oil to be recycled.”

Luke Hemstock – SDE Group

“Over the last year, SDE Group have expanded on a new sector of the business. We are now responsible for installing and maintaining EV car chargers up and down the electric highway.

“Chargers are now installed at our head office to encourage our staff to switch to hybrid and electric vehicles. We have also recently invested in Solar Panels on our office roof to become more energy efficient.”

Gareth Ward – Superior Wellness

“As a business, we are focused on sustainability and with innovation being one of our brand values. Every time we innovate we think about the environment and what we can do to be more sustainable.

“In our warehouse, we have installed solar panels, have electric forklifts and have reviewed our waste strategy. We also have a couple of charging points for vehicles and over the next few years this number will increase.

“Our latest sustainability initiative was to replace all bulbs with LEDs. This has saved 67% in energy costs which have increased significantly recently.”

More than 200 Chesterfield Champions work closely with Destination Chesterfield to support the local economy- and showcase Chesterfield and North Derbyshire as a destination to live, work, visit and invest. Find out more at: https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/destination-chesterfield/champions/

Do you run a business in Chesterfield and want to raise awareness of your environmental efforts? If your organisation has a sustainable success to shout about, please email josh.marsh@chesterfield.co.uk for consideration.

*Chesterfield Borough Council has reduced its own emissions by 32% from when it declared the climate emergency in 2019 to the end of the financial year 2021/22.