EHAAT qualifies to use the Carbon Footprint Standard branding

Demonstrating its carbon management achievements, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance has qualified to use the Carbon Footprint Standard branding on all of its marketing materials, including its website and customer tender documents.

Important for the life-saving charity is its commitment, to make the very best choices for the environment, its people and the community. And for the last five years, EHAAT has been working to assess sustainability across the whole organisation, identifying new opportunities to further reduce its environmental impact.

This work has been carried out in conjunction with Carbon Footprint Ltd who has concluded that the charity has achieved a reduction of 21.2% in absolute emissions, using the baseline scope. This means that EHAAT has qualified to use the international recognised, Carbon Footprint Standard branding to demonstrate its carbon management achievements.

A pivotal part of the reduction attained is down to EHAAT’s airbase at North Weald. Built in 2020/21, it was designed with environmental considerations as a priority and achieved an energy performance certificate (EPC) grading of A, the highest possible.

The results with regard to electricity costs for the new 24/7 building are impressive. This is put down to the fact that the new airbase went above and beyond the required building regulations, with additional initiatives incorporated that included the installation of photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof, motion sensor lighting inside the building, and an all-electric heating and cooling system.

Yet for EHAAT, sustainability is not just isolated to North Weald, it is also being carried across to its sister airbase at Earls Colne, as well as spreading out through its clinical and retail operations.

For instance, having taken delivery of a further two Volvo XC90 Recharge plug-in hybrid SUVs in November, the fleet of EHAAT rapid response vehicles are now totally hybrid.

Also, EHAAT’s nine charity shops across the region, as well as its donation centre in Stevenage provide a sustainable and ethical option when people dispose of unwanted goods, promoting reuse and recycling to reduce landfill and make a positive difference to the UK’s carbon footprint.

As well as electric vehicle charging points at both airbases and charity headquarters at Earls Colne, additional steps have been implemented to improve waste segregation and recycling. The Earls Colne airbase is also benefiting from PV panels on the roof, and a new electric eco boiler heating system.

Carbon Footprint Ltd is first choice for blue-chip and mid-market companies through to SMEs and public sector organisations. They share a common responsible goal to track and reduce carbon emissions ‘at source’ as much as possible and to compensate for unavoidable emissions – via carbon offsetting – to render their activities to be net zero carbon/carbon neutral. With this action, they protect both environment and their own businesses. Better sustainability credentials allow them to maximise commercial opportunities (from both sales tender and operational savings), enhance their brands, engage stakeholders and make theirs better businesses to work at.