Sustainability

Volunteering

Throughout 2024 only ten volunteering days were used by our staff, representing just 4% of the available allocation. Whilst volunteering is just one aspect of a more diverse social value portfolio at Amaro, we wanted to strive to do better. We revised the volunteering policy to simplify its use, to actively promote the social, environmental, and personal health benefits volunteering can bring not only to our staff, but to the local and wider communities in which we operate. Our ambitions for increased uptake were regularly shared with the team via our weekly Safety Stand Down meetings, and by the end of April 2025, 29 volunteering days were already recorded, significantly improving on our achievements made in the previous year. During 2025 we continue to review volunteering opportunities, encourage employee uptake, and aim to utilise at least one third of the volunteering allocation as we continue this journey.

You can read more about just some of our recent volunteering events here.

Working with prisons and former offenders

Learn more about our work within prisons, providing opportunities for work and rehabilitation here.

STEM outreach

Learn more about our work promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the community here.

Women in Amaro

Learn more about Amaro’s trailblazing diversity programme, Women in Amaro, direct from our apprentice Laura Howes here.

Energy usage and emissions

In May 2023 we relocated our Head Office from Strood in Kent, an ageing and inefficient building supplied by both electricity and natural gas (Energy Performance Certificate – EPC G), to brand new premises located at LOC8 Business Park in Maidstone, Kent (EPC A), which operates entirely on 100% green electricity supplied by Octopus Energy.

With our Stevenage office, which relies on both electricity and natural gas supplies, we upgraded the boiler to an A rated Ideal 30kW combi boiler for heating and hot water supplies. This realised a 35% year on year reduction in natural gas consumption as summarised below.

These investment decisions reduced our immediate Scope 1 & 2 emissions, laid the foundations for more ambitious mid-term emission reduction targets, and underscored the need to establish a formal sustainability strategy to advance the business to the next level. We continue to decarbonise our tool inventory from fossil fuel-based to battery powered equivalents; an ongoing and continuously evolving process as the battery technology continues to improve, offering more power in smaller packages.

• Our move from Strood to Maidstone reduced electricity use by 4,628.10 kWh, gas usage by 14,925.44 kWh, and saved approximately 3,682.59 kg CO2e emissions*.
• Whilst our Stevenage facility increased electricity consumption by 1,048.00 kWh, our natural gas initiatives reduced consumption by 8,418.37 kWh, saving approximately 3,465.60 kg CO2e emissions*.
• In total, electricity consumption reduced by 3,580.10 kWh and natural gas consumption reduced by 23,343.81 kWh, saving approximately 7,148.19 kg CO2e emissions*.

* In comparable years.  CO₂e savings are indicative and used for illustrative purposes only.

A strategic sustainability appointment

In recognition of the growing importance, complexity, and growing regulatory compliance issues related to environmental impact, Amaro created a Head of Sustainability position in October 2024 at a senior position that reports direct to the Managing Director and board of investors; an appointment and investment that reflects the desire to formalise, enhance, and improve our sustainability performance throughout the business with direct support from the highest level.

Accreditations and supply chain management

Throughout the remainder of 2024 Amaro focused on improving our Supply Chain Sustainability School rating, raising this from bronze to silver level through a blend of internal training and formal assessment on existing sustainability policies and procedures.

The board were also keen for Amaro to join Ecovadis, a globally recognised cloud-based platform that provides sustainability ratings for companies, to assess the status of sustainability within the business. Significant work was required to collate all the evidence needed to complete the initial baseline questionnaire, which was submitted in December 2024, and in February 2025, Amaro was awarded an Ecovadis bronze medal in recognition of the excellent sustainability processes already embedded within the business.  It was a significant achievement to receive this at the first submission and the actions and recommendations made have meaningfully supported our Sustainability strategy.

Sustainability governance

In 2025, Amaro is reviewing processes and procedures, performing data mapping exercises, gap analysis, risk analysis, to implement a formal Sustainability Governance framework so that sustainability is considered at every level throughout our business management systems.

Historical data from our previous sustainability activities will be captured and used to formulate a baseline year for the business against which, formal targets on future Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions will be set. To date, Amaro has two Associate members of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (AISEP) plus three PISEP (Practitioner) certified employees within the business.

Sustainability training

Our sustainability training programme for 2025 includes fundamental training on sustainability for all employees with targeted training for specific departments, for example, in supply chain and waste management for procurement and facilities management. An additional six employees, all site-based, are identified for AIEMA training during 2025 to support the environmental sustainability requirements on our work sites and will provide all site personnel with a permanently available on-site sustainability professional.

Third party auditing and verification

During 2026 we will engage with an independent third party to audit and verify our data sources and reporting to provide assurance that our results are demonstrable and accurate and work will commence on scope 3 GHG emission reporting.

Sustainability goals

Carbon emissions

Our first environmental sustainability goal, established in late 2023, was to transition our fleet towards decarbonisation and ensure all new company vehicles are either battery electric vehicles (BEVs) or hybrid electric vehicles. The combustion of fossil fuels contributes to climate change by emitting CO₂ and causes air pollution through Nitrogen oxides (Nox) and Particulate matter (PM) emissions. Whilst our end-goal is to achieve a zero-emission fleet over the medium term, we acknowledge that commercial BEV technology is still relatively new in the UK market.  As a result, careful vehicle selection is crucial to maintain operational efficiency.

Currently, our fleet of twenty-three vehicles includes two BEVs and two mild hybrid diesel-electric vehicles (MHEVs). The two BEVs have saved 5,980 kg CO₂e during their first year of operation when compared to a diesel equivalent and provide zero emissions operation, reduced running costs, and no noise pollution whilst stationary. The two MHEVs are more fuel efficient with data showing they have consumed 24% less fuel than their predecessors (versus equivalent mileage), saving 5,420 kg CO₂e. This decarbonisation continues within our standard working practices as we plan to replace another two diesel vans with BEV equivalents this year. Our driver pool is consistently analysed to identify those who can have home chargers installed to support our vehicle decarbonisation strategy. Furthermore, planning and routing are now key aspects of all work planning to ensure we factor in the distances being covered, and the time required to charge vehicles between shifts.

Waste minimisation

Our second target was to eliminate hi-vis orange Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) being sent to landfill and reduce or eliminate the embedded carbon contained within each garment. Work started in September 2022 to analyse data whilst searching for a new PPE supplier. The initial assessment identified approximately 417kg of PPE being disposed of each year which would ultimately end up in landfill. A new supplier was established to supply rail certified carbon neutral PPE that conforms to ISO14067 and is independently verified and certified by Climate Partner. In addition, waste PPE would be collected for onward processing. Since implementing these changes, we have purchased 1,014 certified carbon-neutral hi-vis orange garments, glasses, boots, and gloves from Signal and collected 824kg of end-of-life PPE, saving 17,760 kg CO2e. Since implementation, none of our PPE has been sent to landfill, achieving the target we set out to achieve. Working practices have been changed to meet this objective; all replacement PPE is issued on a like-for-like basis, with the old PPE being returned to our warehouse before any replacement PPE is issued.

Increasing biodiversity

Amaro is committed to enhancing and increasing biodiversity within our community. A key factor in our decision to relocate to our new premises in Maidstone was the sustainability aspect of the project, from the highly energy efficient buildings that use the latest technology to minimise material, energy, and water use, through to the extensive planting and creation of several protected areas for nature to thrive, increasing biodiversity, and creating an extensive ecology. The site provides a biodiversity net gain of 10% with 12 acres of new wildlife habitat including nearly 28,000 new trees and shrubs planted, and three wildlife ponds created. Our staff have also been making good use of the five volunteering days each receive per year. A team of seven volunteers from Amaro spent the day at Hayle Park Nature Reserve on the 28^th of February this year, located just five miles from our Maidstone depot, engaged with bush clearing, tree planting, and creating wildlife corridors through hedgerow creation using recovered branches and vegetation.