Science Based Targets Initiative
Zebra MTD Ltd and its subsidiaries, Carousel Calendars, Otter House Ltd and Calendar Club Ltd, have signed up to SBTi (Science Based Targets Initiative).
Science-based targets provide companies with a clearly defined pathway specifying how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, in the context of their longer-term business growth. The Science Based Targets Initiative champions fact-based target setting in the transition to the low-carbon economy. It is a collaboration between CDP, World Resources Institute (WRI), the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).
Definition of Science-based Targets
Targets adopted by companies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are considered “science-based” if they are in line with the level of decarbonisation required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius, and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, compared to pre-industrial temperatures.
Why Have Carousel, Otter House and Calendar Club Committed to SBTi?
We have been working on improving our overall environmental performance for several years, mainly by identifying key environmental issues and setting targets to reduce our impact.
We then moved on to measuring our carbon footprint, and had to decide if we should follow an offsetting route or an SBTi route; the latter focuses on cutting emissions and doesn’t allow offsetting.
SBTi seemed more direct and structured, and we believed we couldn’t just pay to offset our carbon emissions — we had to take action to reduce those emissions, setting and following science-based targets and making real changes to our processes.
“Zebra MTD Limited commits to reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions 46% by 2030 from a 2019 base year, and to measure and reduce its Scope 3 emissions. Our commitment is in line with a 1.5-degree pathway. Further to this we also aim to encourage 50% of our key product suppliers to sign up to SBTi by 2025.”
Our Published Commitment with SBTi
All companies that are signed up to SBTi have their targets published on the SBTi website .
Why is Taking Climate Action Important to Us and Our Sector?
Our primary drive, when we formed our environmental steering team, was a genuine one to improve environmental performance. As shareholders, we believed it was the right thing to do.
We believe it is vitally important to every business and every employee, in every sector. We also believe we have a corporate responsibility to act now and not wait.
How Long Has it Taken Us to Get to This Point?
Our environmental steering team has been formed for three years. In that time, we have identified all our environmental impacts, large and small, and set targets and acted to reduce our carbon footprint.
Most of the actions happened quite quickly but it took another year to understand and measure our carbon footprint in terms of Scope 1, 2 & 3 and in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Our baseline measurement was completed during 2020 for the previous year.
We selected Clearlead Consulting Ltd, in August 2021, to validate our methodology and calculations, and then spent a year reviewing different offsetting schemes and understanding the pros and cons of offsetting before heading down the SBTi route.
During the last few years, we have made a number of large changes:
- Changed our power sources to renewable electricity, and biogas
- Changed our small fleet of cars to electric or hybrid.
- Added electric vehicle (EV) charging points in our car park.
- Cut plastics in products and packaging
- Encouraged the use of sustainable materials in our supply chain
- Implemented energy savings on our premises, from LED lighting to changing thermostat temperatures, or just simply making sure the lights are off and doors are closed.
Future Challenges
As well as continuing the work to cut our emissions in line with our SBTi plan, we also will be engaging with our key product suppliers, which are mostly publishers and printers. Our aim is to strongly encourage them, and help them, to sign up to SBTi in line with our commitment.
As a group, Carousel, Otter House and Calendar Club will continue to make efforts to reduce plastic in both our products and packaging. 65% of Carousel’s dated-product range and 100% of cards and jigsaws manufactured by Otter House are now packaged without the use of plastic. Calendar Club is also working closely with its key external suppliers to affect change across the wider industry.
We also have a number of smaller tasks still to complete, including a re-wilding project on our premises that will be run by a team of volunteers.