Waverley signs SME Climate Commitment as it acts against climate change 

Waverley is intimately bound up with environmental improvements. Our curtains and blinds shade buildings and people from the effects of solar gain and retain heat in winter. These reduce the need for artificial cooling and heating of the spaces we use and will become more important than ever as temperatures rise. 

But being involved in mitigation is not enough.  We are determined to improve the environmental performance of our own operations. That is why, in the run up to Earth Day 2022 (Friday 22 April), we have signed the SME Climate Commitment. 

This is the commitment Waverley has made: 

Recognising that climate change poses a threat to the economy, nature and society-at-large, our company commits to take action immediately in order to:

1. Halve our greenhouse gas emissions before 2030
2. Achieve net zero emissions before 2050
3. Disclose our progress on a yearly basis

In doing so, we are proud to be recognised by the United Nations Race to Zero campaign, and join governments, businesses, cities, regions, and universities around the world that share the same mission.

Making a start

We have started to make changes to our business right away. 

• Our MD, Daniel James, has taken on board-level responsibility for meeting our goals and driving improvement throughout the business and up and down our supply chain 
• We have installed LED lighting throughout our head office at Rowan House 
• We have ordered electric vehicles as replacement to petrol-powered vehicles as the start of our transition to a fully electric fleet 
• We are installing EV chargers at both Rowan House and our Farnborough site 
• We are assessing the installation of solar panels on our buildings 

Like many SMEs, we are starting simply to create a solid foundation on which to build upon. Our next step is to work with specialist sustainability consultants who will assist us in creating a realistic and impactful programme. In the meantime, we are adopting ideas from the ‘1.5C Business Playbook’ available through the government’s SME Climate Hub. 

Reducing the carbon footprint of the products we specify

Our customers, particularly the larger corporations and architects, are increasingly aware of the effects of construction on climate change. We are working with them to encourage: 

• Greater specification of sustainable blind fabrics – made of recycled material and/or recyclable themselves 
• The specification of materials with HPDs and EPDs 
• More closed loop systems

High performance fabrics reduce energy loads in buildings (with less requirement for HVAC). We offer RIBA-accredited CPD to architects and specifiers which focuses on ‘Improving sustainability through performance solar shading’; register for the free training. 

Cutting emissions in our production process

We make much of what we install in our own factory. This provides a source of emissions which we are determined to address. We have taken these steps – there are far more to come: 

• We are constantly using more sustainable fabrics on our roller blinds – we are especially keen on fabrics made from recycled PET bottles and plastic recovered from the oceans  
• We recycle all aluminium off-cuts and all our timber and cardboard packaging 
• We have started replacing plastic packaging over to tissue paper, brown packing paper and paper packing tape. 

Scope 3 emissions and future actions

We recognise this commitment and the actions we have taken are just the start. This will be a long journey, but we are determined to reduce our contribution to environmental degradation until we reach net zero. 

We cannot do this on our own. We need the support of our entire supply and installation chain. We are already working on a scheme to encourage our sub-contract installers to convert to electric vans, following our own lead. 

We will also engage all members of our own staff in this effort. We know many of the best ideas will come from our people themselves; they are ideally placed to identify the problems and opportunities to improve. There is huge enthusiasm in our teams to reduce our impact and we can all benefit from this commitment to stand up against climate change. 

If you would like to know more about Waverley’s journey to net zero, please get in touch. You can e-mail [email protected].