Sustainability Policy
We are committed to making Skylark Media as sustainable as possible. We believe we have a responsibility to make life better for our people, our customers, the local community and our planet. We want our company to be open, accountable and pleasant to work with. For these reasons, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance.
To mark our commitment, in 2022, we achieved B-Corp Certification with a score of 94.4. We are now working to improve on this score for our external assessment for re-certification in 2025.
We are taking the following steps to reduce our negative environmental impacts and promote sustainability through our work. We will encourage our clients, suppliers and those we work with to do the same.
Responsibility and accountability
Skylark is responsible for ensuring that this environmental policy is implemented. This includes keeping track of our carbon usage across the operational running of the business and across all productions. We will offset any carbon that cannot be reduced by a change of policy or behaviour. We have assigned an Environmental Champion, Jo Haywood, who will ensure that the aims of this policy are met.
Our Mission
- We will incorporate sustainability considerations in every facet of our business decisions.
- We will continually improve our own environmental performance.
- We will promote environmental awareness among our colleagues, clients and wider network.
- We will continue to communicate and raise awareness of environmental solutions.
Environmental management certification schemes
- We are a certified B Corp company and have been externally assessed
- We have completed the Cabinet Office Carbon Reduction Plan to measure current position and our target for annual reductions in carbon emissions
- Staff complete an annual carbon footprint assessment via a Giki Score
Our actions to continue our progress to achieving Net Zero
- We have a hybrid working model.
- We encourage staff to use green energy suppliers for home offices.
- We have hot desk space in a sustainable business centre.
- We have reduced our business travel by adopting Teams for meetings.
- We select both suppliers and clients according to their ESG policies.
- We do not fly crews overseas, but work collaboratively with local crews.
- Whenever possible, we travel by public transport or use an e-car service to client shoots and meetings. If travelling by car, we use electric or hybrid options and car share when possible.
- We own a basic kit for filming but then hire in equipment from an approved supplier for shoots. This means that we don’t create obsolescence and share resources by hiring in kit. Our kit supplier’s Environment Management system is checked and monitored.
- We only purchase recycled paper and select suppliers against environmental criteria, aiming to use local suppliers where possible.
- We aim to keep waste to a minimum by doing everything we can reasonably to prevent, reuse, recycle and recover waste.
- We avoid buying new ICT by keeping our computers clean, deleting old files and maintaining the hard drives. We keep any mobile devices for at least 3 years.
- We power our productions with renewable energy where possible, and all energy use will be offset in line with our target to be carbon zero.
In the future we aim to:
- Continue to work with local crews rather than fly ours overseas.
- Increase the amount of kit we hire so we are not buying new.
- Renew our B Corp certificate and improve upon our score.
- Update this policy at least once annually in consultation with staff and stakeholders where applicable.
- Provide staff with relevant environmental training.
- Continue to work with our suppliers to improve their environmental performance.