'It's important to be brave': Commercial CEO on tackling sustainability

Managed print, IT and office supplies outfit Commercial is one of the few Top VARs with a net zero strategy. Its CEO Simone Hindmarch talks CRN through its plans

This interview was carried out as part of CRN's Channel Net Zero Report, which is available exclusively to CRN Essential subscribers

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You said in the SECR section of your recent accounts that Commercial has achieved a 90 per cent emissions reduction since 2006. How have you achieved this?

SH: Primarily it's been around fuel. We measured our carbon footprint, and 80 per cent of it was around fuel. Initially, in 2007, we went down the route of biodiesel. Next, we were part of two government funded projects around hydrogen. And now we've moved to electric. Over 35 per cent of our fleet is electric and, as of the beginning of this year, we're no longer buying any diesel cars at all. We've got an oil heating system in Cheltenham and a gas heating system in London, so they both need to be changed.

We've calculated and offset our carbon footprint since 2006. But more importantly, we have lowered our carbon emissions every single year. And if you look at our carbon emissions per £1m of turnover, in 2006 it was 69 cubic tonnes and in the Covid year it was under five cubic tonnes, and it's now under 16 cubic tonnes. Our plan is to be carbon net zero on scope 1 and 2 by 2028.

We have a solar array above our roof in Cheltenham and the same in London. This generated, up until the beginning of last year, 294,000 kilowatts. It's generating a lot, but not all of our needs. What we need to do is be able to store it, so that we can use it when we need to, as opposed to it being collected by the grid.

To what extent is sustainable technology part of your customer proposition now?

SH: We've just been awarded a £300,000 contract for installing the whole project management and installing of electric charging points for one of our customers. We started our smart technology division four years ago, and a lot of that is around helping our clients go carbon net zero.

We started our smart technology division four years ago, and a lot of that is around helping our clients go carbon net zero

This is not included in our scope 1 and 2, but it would be included in our clients' scope 1 and 2. Because we've been doing this for 16 years, we are comfortable and confident with investing in green technology. And then we have a network operating centre that looks after devices at the end of networks, and green technologies is no different - it makes perfect sense.

How many electric charging point rollouts have you performed to date?

SH: Probably about 10. We won the biggest one this week. They're all somewhere between four charging points and 100 charging points.

How are you tackling scope 3?

SH: If everybody gets their own their own house in order, and we all focus on scope 1 and 2, we don't have an issue. However, that isn't the case. Our plan is to reduce our scope 3 by 50 per cent by 2028. We're doing that by supporting our staff to be far more sustainable at home and in terms of how they come into the office (or don't come into the office).

What does your ‘change champions' programme entail?

SH: Our change champions programme is primarily around changing people's behaviours in a really positive way. So whilst we have two specialists in our sustainability team, sustainability isn't owned by them. Being sustainable is part of everybody's job in the company. It's about people thinking emotionally about what they're doing, as well as intelligently and putting those two things together.

Our change champions programme is a little bit like The Apprentice. We select teams across the company, of all age groups - the more mixed up the better. We have 10 commitments. They select one or two or three of those commitments to run a project that will transform our business for the better. Then they present their ideas to the board and obtain sign off.

What advice would you have for peers that are just embarking on their sustainability journeys?

SH: It's important to be brave. This is the decisive decade. It's also important to be positive. I'm absolutely 100 per cent convinced that we have everything we need to resolve the issue. And I think there's far too much negativity out there. We've been able to do it, and we're not a green technology company. This should be something that is taken into the heart of the organisation, and not owned by a group of people - it should be something that easily moves around through an organisation.

Measure everything, manage it and celebrate everything that you're doing on the way down to that brave target.

When I set out, I felt that [becoming more sustainable] would make us more competitive and get us a seat at the table against some of our much larger competitors. I didn't expect a lot of the massive benefits that there were that ran alongside it.