Our Footprint

How We’re Making Positive Change

Unity5 is committed to minimising our impact on the environment and being ethical in our business choices. We are on our journey to support, enhance and safeguard our communities and environments. We also support our clients, stakeholders, and partners to achieve their own environmental protection and social responsibility targets.

Our leadership team and employees are delivering these commitments across our organisation. Reducing our environmental impact and supporting the health and economic growth of our communities are our aims at Unity5.

On this page:

• Corporate social responsibility in technology
• Choosing responsible suppliers and providers
• Corporate charity programmes
• Corporate environmental strategy
• Business sustainability programmes
• Business environmental standards
• Plastic-free workplace strategy
• B-Corp accreditation in technology
• Net-Zero carbon reduction strategy

We must all work hard to improve our resilience, health and economic strength and protect the environment for future generations.

Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes

Unity5 is committed to developing community support programmes to help UK local authorities to achieve social impact improvements in their communities. 

We are working to develop

• Educational resources for children and adults
• Career advice programmes
• Volunteering and financial support programmes

Responsible Providers

Unity5 enrol our staff on our pension plan provided by the responsible investment company Royal London. Royal London works actively with the companies they invest in to influence their carbon reduction plans. 

Royal London supports initiatives that progress in the fight against climate change and are committed to achieving net zero by 2050 across their investments. 

Charity Support

Unity5 supports national and local charities by fundraising or joining fundraising campaigns. In 2022 Unity5 supported The Alzheimer’s Society. For 2023, we’ll be selecting and supporting our new Charities of the Year.

Cots 4 Tots is a Bristol neonatal intensive care charity that works to save the lives of children and supports their families. Cots for Tots was one of the charities we supported in 2022. Read more…

Environmental Programmes

Unity5 has committed to 

• Monitor, measure and take appropriate action to reduce our carbon footprint 
• Communicate our environmental commitments to our customers, clients and employees 
• Maintaining the ISO 14001 standard and certification 
• Meet or exceed all the environmental legislation that relates to Unity5 
• Manage waste generated by our business operations, actively encouraging reuse and recycling 
• Manage our business operations to reduce the amount of pollution created 
• Encourage similar standards from all customers, suppliers, and contractors on environmental matters 
• Creating a positive impact on our local environment where we can.

As part of our Environmental and Sustainability objectives for 2023 we have partnered with Tree App to help in our aid of reducing our carbon footprint.
By planting a specific amount of trees per month we are helping to save 36 species of animals and we are planting in 12 countries.

ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard

Unity5’s compliance team and the wider organisation have worked hard to obtain our ISO 9001 certification and our ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) certification. 

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The ISO 14001 EMS is a management framework enabling organisations to implement their commitment to take responsibility for the effects on the environment and any legal requirements. ISO 14001 is a globally recognised EMS standard. 

ISO 14001 defines the requirements for our environmental management system that we use to enhance our environmental performance. We use this system to manage our environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to our environmental sustainability.

To ensure we meet our commitment, we 

• Review our environmental policy regularly 
• Monitor and periodically review our environmental objectives 
• Communicate the importance of environmental issues to our people 
• Work cohesively with our suppliers, facility managers, and staff to promote and improve environmental performance. 

Our measurable objectives for maintaining this standard include controls for

• Waste management
• Company travel
• Paper usage
• Sourcing responsible suppliers
• Energy usage
• Green initiatives.

Plastic-free Workplace

Unity5 has gained plastic-free accreditation from the Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) Plastic-Free Communities program.

• We switched from plastic to paper water cooler cups.
• We don’t buy drinks in plastic bottles.
• We don’t buy plastic food containers or plastic cutlery.
• We buy milk in recyclable bottles.
• We switched to plastic-free tea bags.
• We purchase reusable products for marketing, including pens, glass travel mugs and tote bags.
• We switched to branded clothing products made of 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton.
• We switched to buying higher quality pens that will last longer.
• We switched to glass drink cups with recycled cork surround, designed to look great, are long-lasting, and can be reused. We also decided to buy better quality tote bags that last longer, can be reused and eventually be recycled.
• We support #PlasticFreeJuly
• We won’t stop there…

and to follow…

B Corp

Unity5 is committed to gaining B Corp certification. Certified B Corporations lead the global movement for creating an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. B Corp certification will measure our company’s entire social and environmental impact.

Net Zero

We are committing to supporting the UK Government’s Net Zero decarbonisation strategy. The Net Zero strategy sets out policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet the UK’s net zero target by 2050. 

As part of our ISO 14001 environmental management certification, Unity5 has created a strategy to reduce our carbon usage to zero.