Tusker has reduced its carbon footprint by almost 10% through a series of green initiatives including greener company cars, more car sharing and increased video conferencing.

The Salary sacrifice specialist saw a 9.4% improvement in its carbon footprint last year through greater use of greener company cars, increased car sharing and web conferencing and more efficient use of energy at its head office, as it maintained the carbon neutral status it first achieved in 2010.

Tusker worked with leading carbon management consultants, Carbon Footprint, to show that its carbon emissions over the 12-month period from April 2011 to March 2012 had fallen to 93.95 tonnes of carbon dioxide from 103.67 tonnes in the previous year.

The reduction achieved meant that Tusker’s carbon footprint expressed as a proportion of its turnover fell from 4.71 tonnes per million pounds of turnover to 2.54 tonnes per million, a fall of 66%.

Company car journeys contributed 35.53 tonnes of the company’s carbon emissions in 2011/12, down from 35.94 tonnes the previous year, despite a significant increase in employees, as the company introduced greener company cars for employees.  

At the same time, it made greater use of car sharing and web conferencing, while more energy-efficient practices at the Watford head office saw its carbon output fall to 50.46 tonnes, a 15% improvement on the previous year.

To ensure it retained the carbon neutral status it had achieved the year before, Tusker offset its reduced carbon footprint by investing in 95 tonnes of Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Carbon Reduction Projects around the world.

Rebecca Honey, senior environmental consultant at Carbon Footprint, said: ‘Tusker has once again demonstrated its commitment to the environment. The organisation has also put in place programmes to continuously improve its performance and services that make it a leader in its field.’

Tusker now plans to reduce its carbon footprint still further for the current year with a series of initiatives, including promoting car sharing wherever possible, using trains instead of planes wherever practical and further increasing the use of web conferencing for internal and sales meetings.

Tusker head of marketing, Vicky Anderson, said the company was pleased by the improvement in its carbon footprint but wanted to make further improvements in 2012/13, despite the fact that it was continuing to expand at a rapid rate.

‘We are delighted to preserve our carbon neutral status again, but know we have to work harder to retain it this year, especially as the company is expanding so rapidly and taking on new staff on an almost daily basis,’ she said.