BACKGROUND
Climate change affects every country on every continent. It disrupts national economies and affects lives, costing people, communities, and countries. We are witnessing differing weather patterns, reductions in glacial ice and changes to sea levels. The effects of these changes do not respect national borders.
To meet the Paris Climate Change Agreement target of limiting global warning to 1.5 ˚C, global carbon emissions need to fall to 55% of the 2010 levels by 2030 and continue to decline to zero net emissions by 2050. These are ambitious targets, but every company has a role to play in the global response to meet Goal 13 of the UN Sustainability Goals – Combating Climate Change.
Greenhouse gases (GHG) include CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. About 75% of UK GHGs derive from road transport, energy, and industrial production. For Downton Distillery 75% of our CO2 footprint comes from ‘Scope three emissions.’ These are indirect emissions from the supply chain behind the scenes of every business.
MISSON STATEMENT
- At Downton Distillery we recognise that the environment is important to our business and our customers.
- We recognise our responsibility to manage our environmental impacts carefully.
- We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods, with regular review points.
- We will encourage customers, suppliers, and others to do the same.
POLICY PRIORITIES
Metrics
- We set our KPIs for environmental and social outcomes on an annual basis.
Partnerships
- We support various purpose driven enterprises with financial contributions and using our platform to spread awareness of their messages. For example, Eco Tree, Climeworks, rePurpose, SME Climate Hub and Normative.
- Supporting charitable organisations, who in turn are helping improve the environment and local habitats.
Habitat & Education
- We have invested in rewilding Juniper at the Distillery, replanting it on the Wiltshire Downs above the vineyards. These will provide our own Juniper downstream and educates people and helps them to take steps to help reverse climate change.
- We have planted cedar, lemon verbena and bay in front of the distillery, slowly reclaiming scrap agricultural land.
- We have planted Saliva around the distillery to improve the wildlife diversity and support the local bee populations. This has seen Hawk Moths re-establish themselves.
Purchasing of ingredients
- In making decisions about the purchasing of ingredients, we will routinely and systematically consider the environmental impact of those materials and their supply chain.
- All our grape spirits are organic and 100% grown on the Domaine Hugo vineyard.
Production
- We have eliminated all harmful chemicals from our manufacturing process. Our manufacturing process is low impact, chemical free and our botanicals are composted afterwards.
- Pot ale is used on the herb beds and preventing the nettles encroaching into it.
- Strives to be champions of the local economy. We are committed to hiring locally and working with local suppliers and services to support the local community.
Our packaging
- We will continue the rollout of our refill service to minimise packaging use.
- We will continue to avoid the use of plastic and maximise the recycled content in our packaging.
Energy and water
- We will seek to reduce the amount of energy used in our premises and home offices as much as possible.
- We will significantly reduce water use through the introduction of a closed-loop cooling system.
Transportation
- Reducing carbon emissions. Ambition is to become carbon negative as we grow our business. Currently, carbon is a key factor in our strategy going forward and the partnerships we start.
- We will give high priority to environmental performance, and carbon performance, when selecting a courier for shipping.
- We recognise that our supply chain accounts for 75% of our footprint. As we grow, clean logistics will be a key area for us live up to our commitment.
Waste Management
- We have a companywide recycling policy and adhere to local recycling regulations.
- We are implementing a zero-waste commitment, so nothing goes to landfill.
- We use recycled and recyclable materials; have a low impact manufacturing process and we repurpose and reduce waste where possible.
Our Environmental Management System
- We have developed an Environmental Action Plan to ensure we meet the requirements of this policy.
- The Environmental Action Plan, together with this policy, comprises our Environmental Management System (EMS).
- Our EMS is independently certified by Green Small Business.
- Our certification is maintained through an annual audit carried out independently by Green Small Business.
- We will update this policy at annually.