How it works
No items found.
Reporting Boundary: UK Operations – 16 Sites and Group Office
Emission Sources: Electricity, T&D Losses, On-Site Renewables, Natural Gas, Other Fuels, Water, Fleet, Business Travel, Waste, Paper, and Homeworking (not included in total footprint)
Reporting Period: 01 Aug 2021 to 31 Jul 2022
We engage our employees and wider stakeholders to unlock their talent and knowledge to drive year on year progress in sustainability.
We recognise that transparent communication is essential for transformational change and we quantifiably contribute to 8 SDG’s.
Squires Garden Centres, a family owned garden centre group with over 80 years of horticultural experience and 16 locations, has achieved certification to The Planet Mark.
This is Squires Garden Centres’ third year of business carbon footprint reporting and certification to The Planet Mark. They have calculated the carbon footprint of their UK sites for the year ending 31st July 2020.
Squires aims to do the right thing for plants, the planet, and people. As well as the centres’ commitment to cutting carbon, it has a number of other policies. Measures have been taken to integrate specialist compost that is based on peat-alternatives, and where this isn’t possible low-peat solutions. The centres promote wildlife friendly plants that are locally grown to reduce the carbon footprint associated with delivery. The company also monitors and manages water use through a new metering system and rainwater irrigation techniques.
“It is clear how seriously Squires Garden Centres takes its climate responsibility. The measures it has in place to minimise its impact are wide ranging, showing real thought has gone into its sustainability policies. The industry is one where huge gains can be made through innovation and best practice, and Squires is already ahead of the game in this regard. By measuring and reducing its carbon footprint, it can become a pioneer of sustainability in the industry. All of the tools are in place, and I am sure this commitment is the first of many successes in the company’s carbon reduction story.”
“There is no doubt that as individual businesses and an industry we are going to be increasingly, and quite rightly, held to account on our environmental credentials, from plastic to carbon. Progress needs to be thoughtful and measured, as well as measurable, in order to be real and credible. There is no room for window dressing and bandwagons but plenty of opportunity for meaningful and incremental change. Squire’s will work hard to make that change, and becoming a certified holder of Planet Mark is part of that.”
Garden centres and nurseries have a responsibility to conduct business in a sustainable manner. While the wide-ranging environmental, health and social benefits to flora are well known, suppliers and nurseries must remain conscious of their supply chains to make sure they are sustainable and ethically sourced. From sustainable tracing and the use of sustainable peat to the safe and ethical disposal of chemicals, modern consumers demand an increasingly conscious outlook from their suppliers. Garden centres should respond to this change in demand with their own rigorous and accountable approach to sustainability.
To recertify next year Squires must reduce emissions by 2.5%.
A 5% year-on-year reduction is the target reduction recommended by Planet Mark.
