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Home Care Franchise Leads Care Industry In Combating Carbon Emissions

By: Good Oaks Home Care Franchising |  1,014 Shares     222 Reads

Good Oaks Home Care awarded Carbon Footprint accreditation after offsetting its carbon emissions.

September 11, 2019 // Franchising.com // Good Oaks Home Care has become one of the first home care franchises in the UK to become entirely carbon neutral. The company has gained the Carbon Footprint Standard accreditation following an audit of its carbon emissions.

The care franchise worked with the team at Carbon Footprint to calculate its carbon emissions across all four of its offices based in Dorset, Hampshire, Reading and Mid Sussex. Carbon Footprint evaluated the emissions that Good Oaks recorded and identified recommendations for reducing these.

The majority of the company’s emissions were generated by carers travelling by car to provide care at clients’ homes. The other significant source of emissions was electricity consumption across the four sites.

Good Oaks chose to offset all unavoidable carbon emissions by investing in Carbon Footprint Ltd.’s carbon offset projects and funded this centrally. Good Oaks Poole, the company’s largest office with over 100 employees, was responsible for the majority of carbon emissions. These will be offset via a tree-planting scheme in the South West, which plants trees at schools and other bio-diversity sites. The planting will take place in the Autumn.

Co-Founder of Good Oaks, Ben Ashton, said: “Becoming carbon neutral was an important investment for us to make. We didn’t want to wait for legislation to make this compulsory for smaller businesses. It is essential that other home care companies across the UK follow our lead to calculate, reduce and offset their carbon emissions. As far as we know, we’re the only home care franchise to have this accreditation and this needs to change.

“Due to the nature of the service we provide, helping support vulnerable people in their own homes, our carers currently need to use their cars to get between visits. Electric vehicles aren’t an affordable option yet and we needed to take action to reduce the impact of our carbon emissions now. Offsetting is just part of our long-term environmental strategy which will see us work hard to reduce our impact on the environment wherever we can. When our contract ends with our current energy supplier, we will also ensure our electricity is provided by 100% renewable energy.”

Carbon Footprint’s tree-planting project ensures that all trees planted are native, broad leaf species that help to preserve the UK’s biodiversity. For every tree that is planted, Good Oaks’ investment will also save one tree from being cut down in the Brazilian Amazon via Carbon Footprint’s avoided deforestation programme in South America.

The carbon emissions from Good Oaks’ three franchisees will be offset by investment in wind power in one of Carbon Footprint’s projects in the state of Maharashtra in India. This project generates power using renewable wind energy and sells the power generated to the state grid.

Dr. Wendy Buckley, Client Director at Carbon Footprint Ltd, said: “Good Oaks has taken a leading position by assessing the carbon impact of its business – even though there is no legislative requirement for them to do this. By offsetting unavoidable emissions, they are assuring that the service they deliver to their customers is sustainable and projects support communities both near and far.”

The Good Oaks team used Carbon Footprint’s online carbon calculator to calculate the company’s carbon footprint, for the period 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019. The calculation uses the 2018 metrics developed by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for reporting GHG emissions.

The carbon footprint assessment includes:

• Building electricity consumption
• Car travel
• Bus and rail travel

A Carbon offset is a way to compensate for emissions by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere. Everyday actions consume energy and produce carbon emissions, such as driving, flying and heating buildings. Carbon offsetting is used to balance out these emissions by helping to pay for emission savings in other parts of the world.

Planting trees removes carbon emissions when trees absorb carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and wood by photosynthesis.

About Good Oaks Home Care

Established in 2011, Good Oaks Home Care is a provider of high-quality visiting care and live-in care. The company is based in Poole, Dorset, and has franchises in Mid Sussex, the New Forest and Reading. Good Oaks helps people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, enabling them to remain independent with dignified, compassionate care. For more information visit goodoakshomecare.co.uk.

Media Enquiries:

Steph Ashton
07964153667
marketing@goodoakshomecare.co.uk

SOURCE Good Oaks Home Care

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