Small decisions can have a big impact!

This week we earned our three year badge from the UK’s leading all-in-one climate platform, Ecologi. That means it was a little over three years ago that the two of us sat down and had a proper conversation about what we wanted Nutshell to be.

We were through the first year+ of officially working together as Nutshell, with all the instability that COVID brought, and knew that we were on the right footing to build a business we would be proud of. At which point, we needed to be clear what that actually was. As well as serving us, and obviously our clients, we wanted the business to be a small but solid force for doing business right. We developed three core principles based on business changing results for our clients, excellent communication and transparency and, finally, for Nutshell to tread as lightly as possible on the planet. 

The latter lead us to:

1. Better understand the environmental impact of the business, where our weak spots were and make improvements. We took advice from two sustainability consultants and reviewed our output. 

As a result we took the following actions:

• Recorded the energy output in both of our houses (we both work from home) to measure our carbon footprint. Making our output visible motivated us to make small changes to bring it down (helped by taking on a new client later that year who has a fabulous line in wooly jumpers!). 

• Ensured our electricity continues to be supplied by renewables. It’s a mental note to stay mindful of this when switching to cheaper deals.

• When it comes to transport and commuting our output is really low. Pre Covid we’d typically meet up every six weeks to two months. Now we meet up when the agenda’s pressing and requires some face to face time. We’ve learned that we can actually go months without seeing each other in person, and whilst that may not always be the best for the soul, it not only saves on carbon emissions but also hours of time on platforms and in traffic jams.

• We’ve previously looked into more energy aware web hosting, but have never found a solution we were happy with. If you have any recommendations, we’d love to hear them.

2. Actively seek out clients who are also working to tread more lightly

Not everyone is aiming to be a B-Corp, but most leaders in any business have the power to make positive changes to lower emissions and waste (the latter being a key one in e-comm). The brands who see the opportunity for positive change, and act on it, are the ones we love to work with.

3. And finally, Ecologi

Three years ago we reviewed the options for carbon offset, for the elements above which we couldn’t change, and Ecologi seemed to be the best answer. We signed up to a monthly plan, and pledged to add extra trees every time we took on a new client.

What we didn’t expect was that three years later we’d be looking at a ‘forest’ of 1295 trees… in addition to 40 carbon avoidance projects. We like the breadth in our Ecologi profile; trees and projects are spread across the world, supporting different communities, ultimately benefiting all of us.

We’d love you to check out our Ecologi profile, and if you think it’s an initiative that you’d like to bring into your business, you can find our referral link here (= more trees for everyone).

Looking back to the decisions we made three years ago has served as a valuable reminder of the importance of looking forward and setting the next destination point you want to reach. We talk a lot to clients about setting targets and the work we all do to reach them, so it’s been good to recognise that we practice a little of what we preach!

With more energy, expertise and passion in Nutshell than ever before, it’s onwards to the next three years and plenty more carbon balancing!