The Green Plan

We’re committed to reducing our energy use from travel, purchasing our products from sustainable sources, reducing the waste that we send to landfill and protecting our wonderful waterways for all to enjoy.

From searching out responsibly sourced timber for our lock gates, to encouraging our staff to use public transport where possible, our Green Plan covers almost every facet of what we do. We are always seeking to do better.

Carbon Trust certification 

As a recognition of our sustainability work, we are delighted to announce our re-certification to the Carbon Trust Standard.

This re-certification acknowledges our on-going efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, as demonstrated by the further 6.7% reduction achieved between 2014 and 2016. This progress has been achieved through a number of initiatives, including:

• investment in energy efficient LED lighting
• fuel management software and internal speed limits on our commercial vehicles
• increasing our travel by train, rather than by car
• increased energy awareness leading to positive change
• introduction of electric vehicles and charge points

Responsible timber procurement

We use a considerable amount of timber and paper products in our work. Timber is used in a wide variety of applications from lock gate construction to towpath repairs and fencing works.

We are fully committed to the use of credibly sourced timber and our policy is to purchase Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved or verified recycled forestry products. 97% of our purchases met this standard in 2016.

See our 2017 report to WWF for details of our performance over many years and to learn of our commitment to improve further.