Environmental Management Statement

Our environmental statement was reviewed and updated February 2025.

Announcement: 2025

Blue Patch is in the process on becoming a charity. Impact reports will be accessed from this page in due course.

In December 2020 Blue Patch made a formal commitment to reach Net Zero by 2030, supporting the Race to Zero!

Logo of the United Nations Race to Zero campaign

Goals

We focus on five key areas

  • Reducing the carbon footprint of the bluepatch.org website. Our developers installed a new plugin in 2024 that will reduce the carbon footprint by 70%. We are testing the success of the plugin in 2025 and will review next steps in March 2026.
  • Providing free training for business members to understand and reduce their carbon emissions and waste. Our revised programme LET’S DO NET ZERO and our new online interactive sustainability workshops ‘Solving & Sharing Challenges Together’ Led by Chartered Environmentalist Alice Doyle, launched in February 2025.
  • Supporting collaboration and resource sharing between business members. Ten micro-businesses and an SME benefitted from free materials and one achieved a successful funding bid to establish a new circular materials factory in the UK through our partnership with a national ballet and opera charity.
  • Providing consumers and businesses free access to sustainable products, services and information.
  • Using 100% of Blue Patch’s revenue to benefit society and the environment. See investments so far below. Note, the charity will revise this investing strategy in accordance with our mission and the rules of the Charity Commission. Pending 2025.

Carbon auditing and impact reporting

In 2022 Blue Patch introduced LET’S DO NET ZERO, a free programme to help members to audit and reduce carbon emissions, using Compare Your Footprint, a carbon calculator. The programme relaunched in 2025, with a new approach to reflect the needs of our core beneficiaries.

Environmental and Social impact buttons, activated from Blue Patch microsites, link directly to members’ impact reports, hosted on their own websites. We are working with members to activate these links.

Website hosting with Green Geeks

The bluepatch.org website is hosted on Green Geeks. The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) in Portland, Oregon offset Green Geek’s carbon footprint. Then BEF purchase 3 times more renewable energy certificates (REC) than the company has consumed in a single year. This energy is put back into the grid.

Green web button

Business Declares


Bluepatch.org is proud to have joined Business Declares the fast-growing network of businesses who acknowledge the Climate and Ecological Emergency. Concern for both people and the planet are not new to us and we look forward to continuing to share our journey and ensuring our voice is part of the collective, resounding call for change. We are certainly not claiming to be perfect, neither are we judging others, instead we are part of a coalition of the willing looking to collaborate and accelerate action while continuing to highlight the challenges and uncomfortable truths.

Marketing 

Blue Patch’s sustainable mini-guide Positive Shopping is printed in the UK on FSC Mix accredited paper. Our product swing tags are plastic-free on FSC recycled paper using eco-print and are printed in the UK. We encourage low carbon logistics and public transport. We use plastic-free plant-based paint, reusable and plastic free signage and recycled plinths for exhibitions.

Office 

Blue Patch’s office runs on Good Energy, which is 100% renewable energy. We use LED lighting and a recycling policy is in place. The team that work at Blue Patch HQ walk, take public transport or cycle to work. The non-local team connect via zoom.

Banking

We bank with the Cooperative Bank, which does not invest in fossil fuel.

To-do

  • Retrofit Blue Patch HQ – in progress. Aim EPC C.
  • 2024 Elite Renewables commissioned to insulate and provide renewable energy, in the form of solar and ASHP to Blue Patch’s home-office. The project will be well documented as the property is a typical Victorian property. We hope to produce a blueprint for others to follow.

Investments

To help the UK become a net zero nation 100% of our surplus income is invested into community owned renewable energy projects. Pending revision (see above)

people walking down a country path, with trees and a giant wind turbine, showing our commitment to sustainable and renewable energy
Thrive Renewables

Our members

We select our members based on their commitment to supporting the environment. We showcase members’ achievements in reducing emissions.

Consumer awareness

We help customers to source and shop locally and sustainably through our sustainable business directory.

Our Journal shares tips on all aspects of sustainability from how to retrofit to plastic-free shopping guides.

community energy projects
community energy projects

Our network of partners and affiliations