Environmental impact and Earth Day 2023 at Form3

The first step of this process is to understand our emissions. To do this we’re currently in the process of calculating our carbon footprint with the help of Furthr. Once these calculations are finalised, we’ll work with Furthr to help us reduce our emissions as much as possible by setting science-based targets, developing low carbon business models, and offsetting the balance.

In addition, we’re proud to have a number of initiatives already in place that reduce our environmental impact. These include:

Data centres and cloud data:

• As a tech company, the energy consumption of our data centres is a significant contributor to our carbon footprint. We already have a number of energy-efficient measures in place to reduce our energy consumption, including 100% renewable energy, evaporative cooling, cold aisle containment, LED lighting and a number of other sustainable technologies!
• Our use of cloud data may reduce emissions as it uses less greenhouse gases than traditional on-site data centres (however there is some debate on the extent of emissions potentially being ‘hidden’ within the cloud).

Remote working:

• We are a remote-first company, which means homeworking is the norm. By allowing our colleagues to work from home, we can reduce the energy consumption of our offices and minimise commuting emissions which decreases our carbon footprint. This policy also has the added benefit of offering our team optimal work-life balance!

Renting home office equipment

• All of our colleagues are able to rent and exchange equipment through Hofy. This equipment is shipped from local depots, minimising our carbon emissions. And once the item reaches the end of its commercial life, Hofy donates it to charities to be reused or recycled.

Office spaces:

• In our London office, we use electricity from 100% renewable sources, we also have motion and daylight sensors, low energy lighting, recycling waste streams, energy efficient heating and cooling.

Regular environmental assessments:

• We complete a number of environmental assessments regularly, which helps us identify areas where we can improve our environmental performance. This includes identifying opportunities to reduce greenhouse gases, conserve water and support biodiversity.

Our executive ESG sponsor:

• To show our commitment to prioritising ESG, we appointed our CEO Michael Muller, as our ESG sponsor, to champion our ESG strategy, including our ambition to become a net-zero organisation.

Cycle to work scheme:

• We make use of this scheme in the UK to promote healthier ways of travelling and to reduce environmental pollution.

Environmental awareness training:

• We launched this curated in-house training as part of our Earth Day celebrations at Form3, which took place 17th to 23rd April 2023 – more than 130 team members completed the course!

As reducing our environmental impact and having a positive impact on the earth is such a priority for Form3, we’re also incorporating this into our company culture. So as part as our caledandar of social events (known as the Fun3 Social Calendar) which aligns with our ESG strategy (and which you can find in our dedicated section of our Form3 Culture page here), we’ve begun celebrating some environmental awareness days to boost engagement and create awareness.

The most recent one was Earth Day, which was celebrated worldwide on April 22nd. Earth Day is dedicated to educating people around the globe about the value of protecting the environment and honouring the achievements of the environmental movement!

Each year Earth Day has a different theme; this year, the theme was “Invest in Our Planet.” Based on building sustainability, it highlights the importance of dedicating our time, resources, and energy to solving climate change and other environmental issues, which makes it an especially important one for businesses to take part in!

From the 17th – 23rd of April 2023, we got together to celebrate Earth Day with a 7-day environmental activity challenge, where we set ourselves the target to plant 1,000 trees as a company! Each activity completed was worth points, and for every 5 points Form3 planted a tree!

We created a dedicated internal Slack channel where our team would share the activities they had completed. Here are just some of things that kept them busy, and the points awarded for each:

• Watching our Environmental Awareness training - 5 points
• Litter picking - 5 points
• Completing an upcycling project - 5 points
• Make a compost bin – 5 points
• Donate to a food kitchen, charity shop or make a donation to a sustainability charity in your location – 5 points
• Make a water conservation plan - 4 points
• Plant some wildflowers - 3 points
• Buy some produce from a local market - 2 points
• Share one way you intend to be more environmentally aware in 2023 – 2 points
• Buying a tea/ coffee in a reusable cup - 1 point
• Preparing a plant based or no waste meal - 1 point
• Taking a walk/ going for a bike ride - 1 point

It was great to see so many of our colleagues get involved from all over the world - everyone’s efforts which meant we were able to plant 1,242 trees!

And why did we do this? We wanted to take the time to recognise Earth Day to raise awareness of the need to preserve the environment by reducing our impact in a way that could involve all of our team, wherever they may be – small changes that we can all make add up to make a huge impact!

We know there’s more to be done to reduce our environmental impact and achieving this is a priority for Form3, in line with our ESG strategy. We are committed to being a sustainable company that contributes to a more sustainable future for all, and we want to continue to involve everyone as much as possible.

We look forward to sharing more with you as we continue our journey!