To get the ball rolling with our Buzz Does Sustainability strategy, we first needed to understand the impact of our marketing activities and day-to-day operations.  

Now we might be a brainy bunch at Buzz, but our expertise lies more in the realm of education marketing – not climate change mitigation. We needed industry expertise and insight, and thanks to Eco-I NW, we found it. 

The Eco-Innovation North West Programme is (or was as it’s now complete) a £14 million research project, part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and set up to help SMEs in the North West develop sustainable business solutions. Six universities were involved in running the programme (see the list below) each offering a unique low carbon project.  

After speaking with a few of the partner universities, we decided to progress with the University of Liverpool as their project most closely aligned with our goals.

They were offering a Clean Growth Project where an environmental researcher would spend 140 hours investigating and researching our carbon footprint, before compiling their findings into a detailed report. 

We were delighted to work with Katy Lock, our dedicated Environmental Researcher, and Adam Sanderson, our Project Manager. Katy’s academic background in business, management and environmental science made her the perfect researcher for our project.   

“When Jen initially approached us about completing a funded research project on Eco-I NW, I could tell straight away that Buzz Education were an ideal candidate for the project. The team at Buzz are in the early stages of their journey towards sustainability but I could see straight away that there was clear intent to operate in a more sustainable way.” Adam Sanderson, Industrial Liaison Manger, University of Liverpool.

Katy first carried out an on-site assessment to identify our scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions. She then used the information from her visit and device stats gathered from our team to calculate an estimation of our carbon footprint as a business. She then researched the most suitable methods for offsetting our emissions. At the end of the project, we received a detailed, bespoke report with lots of useful information including: 

• An explanation of the scopes used to categorise emissions.  
  
• Short, medium, and long-term recommendations on how to make our day-to-day operations greener. 
  
• Recommended accreditation schemes. 
  
• Recommended offsetting projects. 
  
• Useful links for further information. 

Working with Adam and Katy on our Clean Growth Project has been an educational and eye-opening experience. The project has really enabled me to understand the complexity of carbon accounting and the factors to consider when calculating our emissions. They were incredibly supportive throughout the process, going above and beyond to share their expertise and insights with us (and answer my many, many questions!).  

We now have a tailored sustainability framework to inform our next steps as a business and guide the environmental pillar of our wider Buzz Does strategy. 

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“In completing a Clean Growth Project with us on Eco-I NW, Buzz have been able to take their first steps to understanding their carbon output and initial areas for improvement and adaptation. This report will help to inform the decision-making process for the SME going forward and enable them to make great strides to becoming a low carbon business.

The team at Buzz were fantastic to work with throughout the project and we look forward to seeing the changes they make and recommendations they take on board in the short, medium and long term.“

Adam Sanderson Industrial Liaison Manager, University of Liverpool

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What’s next?

When I’m not busy copywriting, I’ll be delving deeper into our Clean Growth Project report to see which plans and recommendations we can implement over the next 6 months.

Can you help? If you can support our strategy in any way, please get in touch! Simply drop me an email at jen@buzz-education.com and I’ll be in touch.