Sustainability Strategy & Vision
Minimising our impact on the planet sits at the heart of our sustainability strategy, and we have ambitions of becoming an exemplar of best practice in sustainable hospitality.
As a growing business, as well as focusing on reducing our carbon emissions, we’re also committing to lessening our carbon intensity. This is calculated based on the amount of carbon dioxide we emit and are accountable for as a business per pound we spend.
We know from our 2022 carbon audit that the majority of our carbon emissions come from our Food & Beverage (F&B) supply chain and more specifically from the meat we source and serve. Our strategy focuses closely, therefore, on how we reduce the impact of our F&B offering.
-min.jpg)
-min.jpg)
Our supply chain
We’ve got to look beyond our own front door if we want to have serious discussions about sustainability and our business. That means auditing our suppliers against our own Responsible Supply Chain Standards to ensure that they are all mission and value aligned. Beyond these minimum standards, we’re proud to say that at least 25% of our suppliers meet our hallmarks of excellence, meaning that they meet one or more of the following five criteria:
By opting to work with organisations that embody our values wherever possible, we hope to contribute to a wider values shift across the entrepreneurial landscape, and society as a whole. We are proud to work with mission-aligned suppliers like NEMI teas, 58 and Co, Natoora, Old Spike and The Glasshouse to help us embody those values.
The Glasshouse
It’s been a pleasure to work with our friends at The Glasshouse this year, not only because our plants are thriving but also because of the incredible mission they’re on as an organisation.
The Glasshouse are not an ordinary team of gardeners, they’re part of a social enterprise dedicated to offering second chances to women prisoners reaching the end of their sentences, aiming to reduce reoffending through horticultural training and employment.
We’ve enjoyed welcoming the women into our space in London, and our partnership has resulted in over 200 hours of paid living-wage employment to two women who have been released from custody. We’ve also provided eight days of training to 10 current serving prisoners who are working hard to learn new skills to prepare for their upcoming release.
Old Spike
Old Spike Roastery was formed as a social enterprise on a mission to use coffee as a vehicle for social change. Determined to reduce homelessness, Old Spike has been offering workshops, barista training and employment, helping those experiencing homelessness get back on their feet since opening their first site in 2015.
As a business, they are dedicated to doing better and we are delighted to have served their coffee at The Conduit since we opened. So far, 93 people have attended workshops, 47 have attended the full course and 27 have got onward employment or education.
Reducing Waste
Exploring and implementing ways to reduce the waste we produce is both significant in terms of our carbon footprint and in terms of wider environmental impact.
A ‘Zero Waste Mentality’ starts at purchasing and in 2024 we are committing to purchasing 10% of our fresh produce from Angry Monk, who divert fresh but surplus or ‘wonky’ produce from landfill, often after it has travelled many miles to reach UK markets. This brings diversity to our ingredient range and also prevents food wastage.
We’ve committed to removing all single use, non-recyclable plastic in 2024. We’re also proud to operate a kitchen free from single-use plastics in London, and we’re working to replicate this model at The Conduit in Oslo.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Our Environmental Footprint
We’ve put a lot of thought into the way we’re using energy at The Conduit. OAK Network benchmark us against the wider hospitality sector and in 2023 we had 52% less emissions than is typical of hospitality businesses. We’re proud to share that we were awarded an energy efficiency score of 88 by Oak Network, a figure calculated based on metrics such as leakage, efficiency, power factor, and voltage. Over the past year, we managed to save 9,115 kWh through clever optimisations which is enough to power three entire households for a whole year. We will continue to work with OAK with a view to increasing this to 90 during 2024.
A huge part of that has been achieved through ensuring we expend as little energy as possible during out-of-house periods. In 2023, only 21% of The Conduit’s energy use occurred during non-trading hours compared to 40% which is the average for the hospitality sector as a whole. Of course, we can and will always look to do better and embrace constant improvement when it comes to shrinking the environmental impact of our business and the energy it uses.
Our 2023 Carbon Emissions
We are proud to have worked with Our Carbon for the second year in a row to externally audit our carbon footprint. Our emissions have increased in 2023 compared to our baseline year of 2022, as we have welcomed more members and guests, more frequently, to our London club and as we have begun to expand into new markets. Despite this overall growth in emissions, there is significant good news to celebrate.
Our combined scope 1 and 2 emissions fell by 5.43 tCO2e during 2023, in large part due to our success in continually reducing our electricity usage. Despite the growth of our operations, The Conduit consumed 36,305 kWh less in electricity in 2023 than in 2022.
During 2023 we have been able to monitor our waste and recycling in far more detail than the previous year. As a result of this more detailed reporting and of actual behaviour change, this is an area where our carbon emissions have significantly declined. In 2023, total emissions from waste are just 0.01 tco2e, whereas in 2022 they were 9.71 tco2e. This is a reduction of 9.70 tco2e.
Our Food and Beverage supply chain continues to comprise the bulk of our emissions (45.2% compared to 44.36% in 2022). However, both the percentage and actual volume of emissions that result from meat and fish combined have decreased – by 20.71% or 28.74 tco2e compared to 2022 - as we have moved to a more plant-based menu. We spent seven times more on fresh fruit and vegetables during 2023 than the previous year, with an increase in emissions from these foods of 15.17%.
We are pleased that our efforts to reduce our electricity usage and waste and to source more sustainable ingredients for our restaurant are having a positive impact on our carbon footprint. However, the audit also revealed where we have more work to do. The most significant point is that, as we expanded from one club in London in 2022 to operating in Oslo and exploring additional new markets during 2023, we saw our business travel significantly increase. Whereas in 2022 business travel only resulted in 0.11 tco2e, this rose to 28.12 tco2e in 2023, becoming 3.87% of our overall footprint. As we continue to expand globally, this is an area of our footprint we will continue to monitor in detail.
.svg)