Sustainability Policy

cbec Sustainability Policy

cbec is committed to promoting sustainability in both our professional and personal lives. Concern for the environment and promoting a broader sustainability agenda are integral to cbec’s professional activities and the management of the organization. Our goal is to follow and to promote good sustainability practices, to reduce the environmental impacts of all our activities and to help our clients and partners to do the same.

Principles

To comply with and exceed, where practicable, all applicable legislation, regulations and codes of practice.
To integrate sustainability considerations into all our business decisions.
To ensure that staff is fully aware of our Sustainability Policy and are committed to implementing and improving it.
To minimize the impact on sustainability of all office and transportation activities.
To make clients and suppliers aware of our Sustainability Policy and encourage them to adopt sound sustainable management practices.
To review and to strive to improve our sustainability performance.

We operate our professional activities and the management of our organization in a way that enables all people to realize their potential and improve their quality of life while protecting and enhancing the earth’s natural capital. This aspiration is operationalized for our purposes by our sustainability objectives, targets and indicators. We are therefore committed to continually improve the integration of sustainability into our working environment and business processes. Our aim is to play a proactive role in contributing to achieving sustainability where we have influence. We are committed to accountability and transparency in our sustainability performance.

To put these principles into practice we:

Travel and meetings

Walk, cycle and/or use public transport to attend meetings, site visits etc., apart from in circumstances where the alternatives are impractical and/or cost prohibitive.
Share transport if possible.
Avoid or reduce physically traveling to meetings etc where alternatives are available and practical, such as using teleconferencing or video conferencing, and efficient timing of meetings to avoid multiple trips. These options are also often more time efficient, while not sacrificing the benefits of regular contact with clients and partners.
Reduce annual car mileage and purchase appropriate offsets for all staff business and personal mileage.
Reduce the need for our staff to travel by supporting alternative working arrangements, including home working etc, and promote the use of public transport by locating our offices in accessible locations.
To reduce the need to travel to meetings and elsewhere, and facilitate regular client contact, we will use webcams for client meetings where appropriate.
Replace company cars with more efficient models as they become due for replacement.
Include the full costs of more sustainable forms of transport in our financial proposals, rather than the least cost option which may involve traveling by car or plane.

Purchase of equipment and consumption of resources

Minimize our use of paper and other office consumables, for example by reusing and duplexing all paper used, and identifying opportunities to reduce waste.
Issue documents electronically wherever possible.
As far as possible arrange for the reuse or recycling of office waste, including paper, computer and printer supplies and redundant equipment.
Reduce the energy consumption of office equipment by purchasing energy efficient equipment and by good housekeeping.
Wherever possible use rechargeable batteries
Investigate the opportunity for energy generation from renewable resources
Purchase electricity from a supplier committed to renewable energy. Seek to maximize the proportion from renewable energy sources, whilst also supporting investment in new renewable energy schemes.
Ensure that timber furniture and any other timber products are recycled or are from well-managed, sustainable sources and are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.
Purchase Fair Trade and/or organic beverages wherever possible.
Minimize office fuel and energy consumption.