Measuring Today. Reducing Tomorrow.
HallMark Veterinary & Compliance Services has published its first Carbon Reduction Plans, marking an important step in how we measure, understand and reduce the environmental impact of our work.
The plans cover Hall Mark Meat Hygiene Limited and HallMark Official Controls Limited, both trading as HallMark Veterinary & Compliance Services.
From commitment to measurement
Sustainability has been part of our approach for some time, from reducing unnecessary travel and introducing more digital ways of working to supporting electric and lower-carbon vehicles, improving resource efficiency and reducing waste.
Our first Carbon Reduction Plans take this further by putting measurement behind those commitments.
We have assessed greenhouse gas emissions across our operations, including Scope 1, Scope 2 and relevant Scope 3 emissions, giving us a clearer evidence base from which to identify priorities, measure progress and make informed decisions.
For an organisation whose people work across the UK, travel is inevitably an important part of our environmental footprint. Our plans therefore recognise the need to balance essential operational delivery with smarter travel planning, route optimisation, digital working and the continuing transition towards lower-carbon transport.
Our targets
HallMark is committed to achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with Carbon Neutrality by 2030 as an interim milestone on that journey.
Getting there will require continued improvement rather than a single initiative.
Our current and planned measures include:
optimising travel and fieldwork routes to reduce unnecessary mileage;
supporting electric vehicles through our employee Electric Car Scheme;
increasing the use of lower-carbon vehicles;
using Teams, digital systems and remote working to reduce unnecessary journeys;
improving energy and resource efficiency;
reducing waste and increasing reuse and recycling;
considering environmental impact when purchasing equipment, PPE and other goods; and
continuing to measure our emissions so that progress can be tracked over time.
Everyone has a part to play
Carbon reduction is not something that sits with one department.
With colleagues working across offices, food establishments, farms, retail sampling programmes and other locations throughout the UK, small decisions made every day can collectively make a difference.
Planning journeys efficiently, avoiding unnecessary travel, switching equipment off when it is not needed, reducing printing, reusing equipment where appropriate and thinking before something becomes waste are all simple ways we can contribute.
We will continue to build sustainability awareness into our training and internal communications and encourage colleagues to share ideas for reducing our environmental impact.
Publishing our progress
Our Carbon Reduction Plans provide a baseline against which we can monitor future performance. They will be reviewed as our emissions data develops and as we introduce further carbon reduction measures.
Publishing them also supports transparency with our clients, colleagues, suppliers and partners about where we are today and where we intend to go next.
This is our first published Carbon Reduction Plan, not the end of the process. Measure, improve, measure again.
Our Carbon Reduction Plans and further information about HallMark's sustainability commitments are available on our new Sustainability and Carbon Reduction page.
