It’s that time of year – we’re reviewing our business as you may also be doing. Here’s a quick recap of what we got up to this year:
Naturesave funded Blue Patch’s online workshops this year. The lively zoom sessions were led by Chartered Environmentalist Alice C Doyle. Alice’s informal and creative drop-ins enabled members to explore topics presented as real life scenarios, for instance a music festival and single-use plastics, a glamping site and water conservation, fashion marketing without greenwash, ethical supply chains and forced labour, and the ‘genuine’ circular economy. In addition the team at Bankers For Net Zero joined a call with Alice to update members and guests on the UK SME Voluntary Emissions Standard.
Blue Patch was 10 this year and we celebrated the hard work our founder Jane Langley has done over the last decade to help sustainably-minded businesses. She has also only travelled a total of 6 (unavoidable) hours by plane in 15 years, having committed to take the train as part of her 10:10 pledge to help protect the environment.
Team Blue Patch are actively involved in the task force ‘Bankers For Net Zero‘ (B4NZ) a coalition of banks, companies, NGOs and government observers. The mission is to streamline and simplify carbon auditing for SMEs in the UK to support access to green finance. The aim of the task force is to make using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to report emissions ‘do-able’ for all.
Team member Margy Newens, Mark Harris, a member of Blue Patch’s voluntary board and Jane attended the meeting at the House of Commons to launch The SME Data Taskforce Inaugural Report from B4NZ ‘From Burden to Benefit’.
Blue Patch became an institutional investor member of Low Carbon Hub and other community-energy projects across the UK. This year we ploughed money from our investments back into funding our Carbon Reduction course, demonstrating how money can continue to have a positive impact.
We continued to host our website and directory on a green hosting platform with Green Geeks who match the energy used by their servers and triple it with renewable energy that is fed back into the grid.
We welcomed three new patrons this year; sustainability consultants Silverfish.Fr, Ranjit Paul (a member of Blue Patch’s Advisory Council) and UK flood experts, Watertight International. Thrive Renewables PLC and the Naturesave Trust remain staunch supporters of our environmentally-focused social enterprise.
This year saw many extraordinary products created with the materials donated by the Royal Ballet & Opera – just one of many projects co-ordinated by Blue Patch with arts venues – a skirt for pianist Nurry Lee to perform in by Chloe Haywood London, and marbled jewellery by Rachel at Rocworx made from ballet slippers – which gained Rachel spotlight feature on the BBC.
We published an expanded digital edition of our Positive Shopping magazine and in it, we featured interior designer opinions on the state of sustainability. It was fascinating to get an inside look on how ethical choices are shaping the world of interiors.
Blue Patch rebranded as we looked towards a transition we had planned this year. Our ‘patch’ has remained as a consistent theme across our materials, depicting the land and our rooted place in it. The blue symbolises our aspiration for clean, safe, renewable energy – a blue sky. This is important to remember as we look to make changes to reduce our emissions.
In 2025, volunteers have provided crucial support during this period and we are lucky enough to have had pro bono legal advice for our new structure from top class lawyers at A & O Shearman and Baker McKenzie. This is all due to the brilliant work of Prime Advocates!
In October we took part in Decorex with three of our members; Ava Innes cashmere bedding, Edward Bulmer Natural Paint, and Flooring by Nature. We held an informal coffee morning and formed new connections and Positive Shopping was distributed at every entrance and exit thanks to Decorex supporting Blue Patch’s mission.
Also in October, Jane attended the launch of the national flood bus at Westminster, an event that highlighted the increasing danger of localised flooding and the damage caused to local communities. The people’s flood champion Mary Long-Dhonau OBE (fondly known as Flood Mary), the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Emma Hardy MP and Watertight International attended and spoke. The floodmobile will tour the UK and has resources to help us all to plan for and recover from flooding.
Jane attended the first Net Zero Census launch at the House of Lords, hosted by Green Peer Nathalie Bennett – net zero is now established as both measurable and attainable!
Jane along with Blue Patch board members Mark Harris and Alice C Doyle attended the inaugural National Emergency Briefing where ten leading experts in climate, finance, security, biodiversity and more were invited to speak to an invite-only audience of politicians and media. Sign the petition if you would like to see the Government and all public service broadcasters hold an urgent televised national emergency briefing for the public, and to run a comprehensive public engagement campaign so that everyone understands the profound risks this crisis poses to themselves and their families.
Blue Patch continues to grow, welcoming in new members and training more businesses through our carbon reduction course. We can’t wait for 2026.
Look out for more online interactive workshops and educational resources, from flood preparedness to how to save on your energy bills, and panel discussions with experts from interior designers to gardeners and retail buyers. We will also introduce Blue Patch’s own carbon calculator and expand our online support with our student ‘Buddies’ programme, to ensure every small business can get help and join the mission to decarbonise the UK – leading us toward energy security, climate stability and cheap,abundant energy. – we’re ready to make change happen.
Sign up for our newsletter to hear about future training events and projects.
