Environmental management system

EMS

Aether has a rigorous environmental management system (EMS) with the aim of increasing employee awareness and engagement, reducing our carbon footprint, and offsetting our emissions where we cannot minimise our impact. We have an Environmental Champion who calculates, analyses, and disseminates our carbon footprint, and sets actions within the company to reduce our emissions.

Aether is committed to providing a quality service in a manner that ensures a safe and healthy workplace for our employees and minimises our potential impact on the environment. We will operate in compliance with all relevant environmental legislation and we will strive to use pollution prevention and environmental best practices in all we do.

Aether is a certified carbon neutral company, annually offsetting emissions from the work space, national/international travel, and commuting, which are calculated using a tool that meets the criteria set by the Quality Assurance Scheme. We reward staff for making sustainable travel choices through our Low Carbon Travel Reward Scheme which we have utilised since September 2011. It covers business travel and commuting. If a member of staff choses a less convenient mode of transport that is carbon saving, they will receive a financial reward for doing so. This is calculated by allocating a monetary value to the carbon saving between the chosen mode and the most convenient option.  We review the scheme regularly to ensure it is current and impactful.

Aether signed the Low Carbon Oxford Charter in February 2014, which commits us to working together to create a low-carbon, sustainable Oxford, and to collaborate to reduce our carbon footprints across our sites in Oxford by at least 3% each year. View the charter here.

SME Climate Hub

In 2021 Aether joined the SME Climate Hub, an initiative founded by the International Chamber of Commerce, the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, the We Mean Business coalition and the UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign. The aim is to support small and medium-sized businesses to build business resilience. We have signed the SME Climate Commitment, therefore committing to halve our greenhouse gas emissions before 2030, achieve net zero emissions before 2050 and disclose progress on a yearly basis. These targets include scope 1 and scope 2 emissions and a limit on offsetting of up to 10% of base year emissions. In the meantime, we will continue to offset residual emissions as we make efforts to reduce our total GHG emissions, to operate as a carbon neutral company.

Offsetting

We offset the following carbon emissions :

  • Work space energy use
  • National travel
  • International travel
  • Staff commuting

These emissions were most recently offset through Climate Care’s Climate+Care portfolio. Climate Care is a member of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance, as well as the International Emissions Trading Association, producing good quality carbon credits in the form of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs). These are verified by a tool that meets the criteria set by the Quality Assurance Scheme. This ensures the accurate calculation of emissions; use of high-quality carbon credits, and cancellation of carbon credits used to offset at the end of each calendar year.

Our sustainability policy statement can be downloaded here