Obart Pumps and sister company Tsurumi UK have accomplished their goal of becoming Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon neutral by 2023.
The sister companies were already in an enviable position from initiatives started as far back as 2012, such as installing solar panels on their 20,000sq ft head office building in Maidstone, Kent, meaning they generate more energy than the businesses use for their operations. Additional carbon saving improvements include LED lighting throughout offices, low energy automated lighting in warehouses, use of fully biodegradable starch chips and shredding cardboard for recycling in packaging orders.
Another major factor was to become WEEE registered, a producer compliance scheme to take back, re-use and treat recycled electrical waste from products.
However, even with all these initiatives Obart Pumps and Tsurumi UK recognised they needed to enlist and work with carbon consultant specialists to achieve their ambitions. Therefore, they sought the advice of leading companies Square Gain, Redshaw Advisors and Plannet Zero to assist them in their journey.
Pete McMutrie Sales Director of Obart Pumps said: “Working closely with these reputable companies who are leaders in their field not only helped the business calculate our Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon footprint, but also provide a strategy for our Scope 3 carbon reduction ambitions going forward.
“Part of the brief was to carry out product lifecycle assessments reporting on the carbon saving benefits to businesses using longer lasting Tsurumi Pumps as opposed to lower quality pumps with a shorter ‘in use’ shelf life. We now have data that shows how this can help customers save money whilst improving their own carbon reduction strategies.
“Once we had our carbon footprint results, our carbon consultant specialists helped us to find the right projects to invest in. We have subsequently invested in a ‘Gold Standard’ clean water borehole project in Mozambique. Being a water pump company, this seemed a great fit. In fact, it was such a fantastic initiative, we decided to go beyond Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon neutrality and invest five times this amount to be in a carbon positive position whilst helping fund the amazing work being carried out.”
The clean water project in Mozambique provides clean, safe drinking water to over 3000 people, reducing waterborne diseases and the need to boil water, replacing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases by approx. 10,000t CO2e per year.
Pete added: “We will be looking to keep working with these companies in the future because we still want to continue our journey of continued improvement.”
