Climate Challenge Hub aims to raise awareness, educate, and inspire Lincolnshire businesses

A key strand to the Hub is to use local business case studies who are working towards net zero and implementing changes in their business to support the UK pledge and inspire other businesses to do the same.

Ruddocks, Lincoln-based integrated print and design agency have announced they will be carbon neutral by 2030.

Explaining how they’ll get there and what initiatives they currently have in place is manging director, Paul Banton.

“Our passion for sustainability has been growing for 15 years now and our journey started with a realisation that we were already doing things to minimise our impact, so we formalised this practice by achieving the ISO 14001 certification and something we have retained since 2008,” he said.

“Other practices included replacing light systems, moving our fleet to hybrid cars, and swapped out plastic-based packaging to name a few.

“Ramping up our commitment, in 2021 we pledged to Carbon Capturing all of our core materials, which means that for every tonne of paper we buy, we pay into two schemes to plant trees and protect natural woodland here in the UK and across the world.

“Another part of the work we are doing to reach the big zero is to support others to do things differently and as such we have created a guide called ‘The Paper’ and this aims to provide practical hits, tips, articles and stories to making marketing and communications more sustainable, hoping we’ll bring value during their own journeys.”

Another local business doing great things to work towards a low carbon future is Stokes Tea & Coffee.

After reports show that around 52 million tonnes of waste go to landfill in the UK every year and much of this is food, drink, and associated packaging, the family-owned business recognised the growing concern and the impacts this waste has on our environment and has since implemented a scheme to help tackle climate change.

Managing director Nick Peel explained: “Our business has been around for over a century however we know how important it is to stay relevant and innovative, particularly in our approach to modern day problems which is why we implemented the Zero Waste scheme.

“The scheme cuts down on packaging waste by delivering coffee and tea to our customers in reusable buckets which can be used repeatedly, whilst keeping the products fresh and in peak condition – so far we have managed to save the use of over 2,000 boxes.

“On top of this we have also implemented the use of local produce, investing in recyclable packaging, planting trees, using upcycled materials to refurbish our premises, and our eco-friendly coffee roaster which helps to cut the use of natural gas and CO2 emissions.

“Climate change is everyone’s responsibility, whether in business or an individual and I think sometimes the simplest ideas can be the best.”