ESG

Many people have described working at VMI as feeling a bit like being in a family (without the seasonal discord bit at Christmas…). Well, we think that this is quite descriptive and thought that a picture of the team saying goodbye to Henderson (front second on right) tells the story well.

Henderson has been commuting daily from Bexley in Kent to Acton and after 18 months, has found himself somewhere closer to work but as you can see from the team’s faces, he will be missed!

There has been a lot of research demonstrating the positive impact that pets can have on staff, just by being in the workplace. 

So if you visit VMI in Acton, you might just see Paula’s dog – here sporting a VMI cap – doing his thing to keep VMI a happy place!.

VMI’s solar panels in London and Bristol generated 1.05MWh in June 2022, saving an estimated 4.46T of CO2.

This is the equivalent of 2 people flying return from London to Las Vegas!

(We use a 100% green electricity tariff anyway but it is great to know that our solar panels are already making a measurable difference).

We have been travelling to visit the IBC TV convention in Amsterdam for decades and other than the Superheroes campaign (2017-2019) when we travelled by bicycle, we have always travelled by aeroplane.

VMI’s net-zero sustainability policy required us to replace air travel with more sustainable methods of transport, so for the first time, VMI will be travelling to IBC in 2022 with Eurostar!

Our second annual carbon audit of 2021 is complete and demonstrates that VMI has reduced its total carbon emissions, according to the Science-Based Target Initiative from 234TCO2e to 213TCO2e, a reduction of 8.9% compared to the 2019 baseline, on target with our net-zero by 2030 strategy.

We only started our formal net-zero journey mid 2021, so this is a terrific result since many of our initiatives had yet to be completed.

The breakdown of each Scope emissions are as follows

• Scope 1 emissions had reduced from 54TCO2e to 37.6TCO2e
• Scope 2 emissions also reduced from 13TCO2e to nil, as all electricity for 2021 was using exclusively green tariffs.
• Scope 3 (excluding CapEx purchases), increased from 167TCO2e to 175TCO2e

Some of the increase in scope 3 emissions can be attributed to a greater detail of measurement, such as a detailed analysis of employees commuting, which was not undertaken in 2019.

Our commitment is to publish our results every year, so view the full report and our roadmap as to how we plan to achieve net-zero by 2030 on the link here.

VMI’s Bristol building has been fitted with a 10.6KW Solar PV array, to provide the majority of it’s power requirements.

As part of this initiative, we have also replaced all lighting in Bristol facility with known Lumens/Watts-rated LED lights, to match Acton. This has reduced light-caused energy consumption by up to 90%.

Even with EVs, 10.6KW is a lot more power than the Bristol branch is likely to use except at peak times and since our surplus is now being sold to the grid, we will in some small way help fortify Britain’s green power generation.

Click here to see before and after pictures!

Amazingly, Bristol’s Sola PV installation has cut their power use by more than half (56%), though the pictures tell the full story though!
(Data from Octopus energy readings taken 25-April – 22 May but excluding 13 May when the installation was in progress). Previous daily average (18.92KWh. After installation, daily average reduced to 8.31KWh. Reduction of 10.61KWh per day of electricity use from grid or 56.1%)

In May 2022, in spite of having a 100% green electricity tariff since 2018, VMI installed 10KW of solar panels to its London HQ to generate most of its own power.

With rising energy prices and fleet of electric vans coming, this looks like a good move to make.

50% Funding for environmental improvements to Bristol was sought and approved from the West of England Combined Authority and European Regional Development Fund.

They helped to fund improvements to Bristol’s building for:
• replacing existing fluorescent lighting with LED equivalents;
• applying insulation above false ceiling.
• replacing single-glazed rooflights with triple-glazed equivalents;
• and a solar photovoltaic (PV) array.

Website Link

VMI held a BLIKE open day in April for our staff to try out the full range of E-Bikes available to lease from BLIKE. The scheme has been set up as an alternative to the existing Cycle-to-Work scheme, to personally lease E-Bikes as a healthier and cost-effective way of commuting and which is also very tax-efficient.

I can personally attest to these bikes also being a LOT of fun!

We replaced the single-glazed roof lights with triple glazed (U-value 1.6) and sprayed foam insulation to the underside of the steel roof of our Bristol building to improve its thermal efficiency..

These two initiatives are predicted to save 6.6T CO2 per year.

We updated our Environmental and Sustainability Policy and uploaded it here. We strongly believe in the power of community and continues to share ideas and solutions that inspire wider industry action and in June 2021, we committed to becoming a net zero organisation by 2030 and to halve its carbon emissions by 2025 using 2019 as the baseline year.

These aren’t just words, so we have backed them up with a commitment to promote a plant-based diet and giving staff an additional annual day’s leave, if they haven’t used an aeroplane in the previous year for personal use.

Download VMI Environmental and Sustainability Policy Document

Polyboards are horribly unsustainable and their size makes them difficult to dispose of, so we have found a practical sustainable alternative and have stopped supplying the originals.

The new Lastolite Rapids are even more versatile than the original, as we supply them with a variety of covers including black, white, silver and diffusion and can be easily assembled in 60 seconds.
They can be reused over and over and even fit into a car – try that with an 8×8 poly!

The new Apprenticeship Standard for Camera Prep Technicians is looking to expand after a successful first season launch. Last summer, nine trainees became the first cohort of apprentices to participate … Read more

What kind of company polls their staff to see what food they would like to eat for catered events? We do!

In February 2022, we polled the entire VMI staff and overwhelmingly, people asked us to provide them with predominantly vegetarian food.

Interestingly, only one person voted for a 100% meat diet, though they admitted that this had been a mistake (they were vegetarian!)

We have now adopted the results of the poll so all food supplied by VMI from now on will be in the proportions of 70% vegetarian, 30% meat, in line with staff wishes.

Since 2019, as part of our annual carbon audit, we audit our waste every year to confirm that our waste reduction plan is working.

For the entire 2021, just as in 2019, we were able to divert everything we didn’t need any more to be fully recycled or composted, making us 100% landfill-free!!

Click here to read the 2021 reports.