How Unifrog is committing to net zero

We at Unifrog have committed to reaching net zero by 2040. Here’s what we’re doing to get there.
 

What is net zero?

Achieving ‘net zero’ means the amount of greenhouse gases we emit into the atmosphere is balanced by the amount being removed. Scientists say that we need to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and get to net zero by 2040 to avoid the worst impacts on the environment. 

To achieve net zero as a business, Unifrog plans to:

• measure the footprint of our operations
• reduce carbon emissions wherever possible
• remove (not offset) the remaining emissions from the atmosphere

To begin our journey, we’ve joined the Tech Zero community to unite with like-minded tech companies that are committed to fighting the climate crisis. Others in the community include Too Good to Go, Dezeen, and Confused.com.

Being a part of Tech Zero means we’re committed to measuring our emissions and putting reduction strategies in place to reach net zero. We’ll be taking responsibility for publishing our targets for the next 12 months, two–three years, and up to 2030, and reporting regularly on how we’re doing.
 

How are we doing so far?

The average carbon footprint for a person in the UK is 12.7 tonnes per year, and the average footprint of an employee in a tech company is roughly 3.5–5.5 tonnes.

In the period from September 2021 to September 2022, Unifrog emitted 184 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of powering 58 homes. This means our total footprint equated to a lower-than-average 3.18 tonnes CO2 per employee.

We’re keen to keep working to reduce this, and to destroy what remains using carbon removal methods.

In 2022, we partnered with Ecologi to offset flights and miles driven for work using carbon offset programmes. You can see our impact here. 

We’ve also recently partnered with Supercritical, which helps companies measure their carbon emissions and buy carbon removal offsets. This small company with 20 employees currently handles 25% of the planet’s carbon removal. Its methodology is aligned with the GHG Protocol standard, the standard developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and used by governments and cities all over the world.
 

What is carbon removal?

Carbon removal is when existing carbon in the atmosphere is captured and permanently stored outside of the atmosphere. The effect of carbon removal is immediate (as opposed to carbon offset, which reduces or compensates for future emissions). 

We recognise reducing emissions is better than carbon removal. However, carbon removal schemes can still have a huge impact on removing the 10 billion tonnes of CO2 required annually for us to reach net zero by 2040. 

Since partnering with Supercritical, we’ve removed 29 tonnes of CO2 by investing in companies using methods like afforestation (planting trees to create new forests) and enhanced rock weathering (naturally locking CO2 away for hundreds of thousands of years). 
 

What are our next steps to reach net zero?

Our goal is to reach net zero emissions as a business by the year 2040, and if we can get there sooner, we will.

The majority of our emissions come from:

• business travel (43.4%)
• employee remote working (16.9%)
• developing our platform (11.3%)

Across the business, we’re taking steps to reduce these emissions. 

‘One thing we’re keen to start providing is ecological work-from-home improvement support. This might look like dedicating some of our funding towards things like draught excluders and radiator reflectors. On the same lines, we want to invest in repairing and sharing our hardware rather than buying new, reducing our waste and our carbon emissions as a result.’ 

Param Patel, Unifrog's People Team

We’re also reviewing our business travel policy to make it smarter — for example, by combining meetings into a single trip and using trains over flights.
 

Want to learn more? Read about Unifrog’s policies here.