Monday 18 October 2021

Cutting our carbon footprint was ‘driven by our clients’

“It was probably driven by our clients.”

That’s where Andy Preston, Managing Director at VIDA, said his company’s desire to make a difference through its carbon footprint came from.

How did the future Net Zero Standard with CBN Expert help them to understand this?

“When we’re asked to tender for major pieces of recruitment, we’re asked quite in-depth questions about our business and our approach.

“A couple of big questions have come up in the last two years. One’s been around diversity and inclusion, which has been a big agenda within all businesses. But the second one that’s become more prevalent is around sustainability and what our policies are.”

VIDA is a Global Recruiter within the Medtech and Biotech space.

“We work and support businesses that change people’s lives, so therefore we kind of had an internal look into our own business and said actually what can we do? What are we doing? Do we understand it?

“As much as I could’ve done my desk research, I actually need the advice from a bit more of a professional to guide me on that journey, which has been really eye-opening.

“It’s really transformed our thinking around not only our existing business but our solution that we provide to our global clients, which is quite an interesting follow on from being carbon-neutral.”

On helping VIDA get on their net zero journey, James Staniforth, Founder & Director of Sustainable Business Services, said: “We’ve looked at VIDA as an entity and we’ve gone through the future Net Zero programme, we’ve created their benchmark. They’ve quickly adapted and make some good changes to the business to reduce their own carbon in the first instance.

“Until you’ve got the data that the benchmark allows us to create, it’s difficult to shape policy that then affects how you look forward as a business – and that’s kind of where we’re at now.

“We’ve got the data, we understand what the hotspots are and we’re now able to shape policy with VIDA looking forward, to enable them to reduce their carbon emissions over the short, medium and long term. But very importantly, it’s about bedding that policy within the culture of the organisation so it stands the test of time.”

Watch the full interview to learn more on VIDA’s story and their journey to becoming carbon-neutral.