News and Views

Carbon Neutral Since our Inception: One Year On

Written by Admin | Feb 17, 2023 12:00:00 AM

It has been one year since we proudly announced that Little Dot Studios has been verified as Carbon Neutral to Future Net Zero Standard. To mark this occasion we caught up with our Sustainability Ambassador, Saunders Carmichael Brown who told us all about what it took to achieve this certification, what Little Dot Studios have been doing since becoming certified and gave a glimpse into our future Sustainability Strategy.

What did Little Dot Studios need to do to achieve this certification?

"There was a great desire to reach for the stars right away, however once we started gathering the data from across the business we soon realised how important it was to calculate correctly and accurately, so we had a true measurement of the companies impact on the planet. This was the only way we’d be able to know exactly where to reduce emissions and how to strategise on the next steps.

To reach carbon neutrality, we had to undergo a holistic company-wide data gathering exercise, sourcing and calculating data across Scopes 1, 2 & 3. From office related emissions like electricity sources and use, operational and production emissions such as all transport from taxis, couriers, hire vehicles and air travel and much more. All with as much detail as possible, types of car and fuel, cabin class and distance for air travel and who was proving our electricity for example. We started by doing this for one baseline year and then worked backwards with the historical data available, all the way back to day dot.

This data then had to be verified by a third party and assessment body before we could be left with a total number of emissions that would need to be offset. Once this was complete we then were able to offset this number by investing in UN and SDG approved offsetting projects that were actively helping to avoid and reduce emissions around the world, balancing our total emissions with the same amount that these projects would help avoid or reduce being put into the atmosphere. After supplying our offsetting certificate we were then verified and certified carbon neutral from inception to Future Net-Zero standard." 

 

 

What have we done in terms of sustainability since being certified?
 
"This was just the start, an exercise to see where we were, and from here on it all was all about gathering more data, learning more about how companies like ours impact the environment in a rapidly changing industry. In the year that followed I worked more closely with teams around the company including international offices to help them to understand our emissions and bring in reduction measures. For example, using the data we had captured to learn that by switching taxi/courier providers to one with a cleaner fleet we could significantly reduce emissions or how catering to order on productions would help eliminate waste and so on. Educating staff on what they can do via the company alongside working with ALL3 as a group to help scale our learnings to other companies. We also conducted a number of interviews and press activations as well as meetings with other companies to share learnings to help them on their own sustainability journeys. 
 
With the huge rise in remote and home working we also had to factor in emissions that would come from staff working at home which was factored into the end of 2021 emissions audit and then verified to the same level of certification to maintain carbon neutrality. Further to this we also decided to look much deeper into the impact of LDS data that was stored in the cloud, a huge part of the way the company operates, and with more and more studies being published on the impact of data centres, we furthered our scope of emissions coverage to include how much data we have stored in the cloud and it’s impact. This included looking at data centre energy use, the hardware used and the energy mix powering the centres. This was part of our end of 2021 report and was verified to achieve certification." 

So what's next for Little Dot Studios?

"Since the end of 2021 audit and certification we’ve worked with a third party to create a net-zero strategy with targeted reductions based on emissions data and science based targets. Net-Zero being Carbon Neutral plus a dedicated strategy and commitment to reduce emissions year on year in line with science based targets and switch offsetting to projects that focus on actual carbon removal rather than avoidance and reduction.

This is more expensive per unit of CO2 hence why people have a target so it allows time to properly reduce to the point where any remaining emissions are only offset this way. The strategy that we’ve put together is to hit net-zero by 2025 although this isn’t public yet but hopefully will be soon." 

And finally, a quick quote from you about our sustainability journey?

"I’m immensely proud of the work we have done so far at LDS. The level of data we’ve captured in the attempt to leave no stone unturned says a lot about the company’s ambition and commitment to be accountable and reduce our environmental impact. This is just the start though, there’s still a lot of areas we can reduce and with that there will be operational challenges, but for me this is a super important part of the job. Proving the case of why we need to be acting and reducing and educating others on why that doesn’t necessarily mean making things harder or more expensive and how,  more often than not, it can mean the complete opposite. As we now have a much better picture of our impact my goal now is to get us to net-zero on target, ideally ahead of target, and share those learnings with others so more can do the same quickly and more efficiently. The issue of climate change isn’t something that can be solved by one company it’s going to take as many as possible to alter the ways we work, reduce environmental impact and operate more sustainably. "