Dodds & Shute Commits to Net Zero Carbon by 2035

Dodds & Shute is serious about the climate emergency and playing our part to help meet global climate goals. This is why we are committing to net zero carbon by 2035, with an interim target to halve emissions by 2030. We are making this commitment because we believe it is the only way forward for any business and net zero by 2050 just isn’t good enough.

As a young team, most of us will not have reached retirement age in 2050, so addressing the climate emergency will be central to all our working (and personal) lives and global success is critical to us.

Our aim is to supply the most sustainable products. We think good furniture should be beautiful inside and out. As a middleman, we rely on the manufacturing of our suppliers on one side and the design decisions of our clients on the other. Committing to net zero is a huge undertaking, and will require collaboration and tough decisions on our client and supplier profile.

Science-based targets

The Paris Agreement pledged to keep the world within a 1.5 degrees C temperature increase, to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change. We have aligned our net zero target with science (called a science-based target) to ensure we are adequately contributing to this global goal.

In practice, our science-based net zero target means reducing our scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions 90% by 2035. By including scope 3, we are taking responsibility for all carbon emissions within our value chain, upstream and downstream from our business. In fact, our scope 3 emissions are about 95% of our carbon footprint, primarily from the furniture products that we source on behalf of our clients. Emissions scopes are how sources of carbon emissions that a company creates in its operations and wider value chain are categorised.

Our targets:

We have mapped out how, where and when our carbon emissions reductions will come from as part of building a robust net zero roadmap.

• Scope 1 & 2: Reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 100% by 2030 from a 2021/2022 baseline.
• Scope 3: Reduce absolute scope 3 carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and by more than 85% by 2035 from a 2021/2022 baseline.

In our scope 3 emissions, we include calculations for:

• Employee commuting
• Business travel
• Deliveries of FF&E
• Footprint of FF&E products that we source for clients

To be confident that our actions are in line with climate science and mitigate the risk of following a pathway that may not be consistent with addressing the climate crisis, we have reviewed our net-zero targets against the SBTi’s Net-Zero Standard.

How we will achieve net zero

Practically, to achieve our ambitious targets through to 2035 we will focus on the specific actions below:

• Source 100% renewable electricity for our office
• Move to 90% of sales with sustainable furniture manufacturers, including increasing the vintage/second hand and remanufactured products that we supply. Read about how we assess manufacturers practices here.
• Move to a delivery and logistics partner that provides a 100% electrified fleet
• Develop a responsible business travel strategy, to manage foreign travel
• Compensate for all residual operational and value chain emissions through natural climate solutions projects, such as forest restoration projects
• Beyond value chain mitigation of +10%: in the transition to net zero, we will continue to offset 110% of our emissions to be climate positive. Read about our climate positive approach here.

This graph shows our net zero targets from between our baseline year of 2021/2022 and target year 2034/2035, and our continuing commitment to finance forest conservation while we work towards net zero.

How you can take climate action

As of 2020, the UK had 6 million businesses registered with less than 49 employees. That’s 99% of all UK businesses. Together, we can make a difference, and, in fact, the UK will not be able to meet our climate goals if we do not take action.

Are you thinking about committing to net zero but don’t know where to start? There are tons of resources out there to help you. The B Climate Tools Base is an excellent set of tools and resources to help companies on their net zero journey, and is a great place to begin.

Join Interior Design Declares to make a pledge to support address the climate and biodiversity emergency.