How we're greening Concept Smoke Screen

We've written a fair bit in Connected about the direction we think the security industry - and all industries, really - should be headed. A core component of that is in moving decisively towards a green business approach. In fact, we said in our Connected initiative launch article:

    •    We think all technology should be green technology.
    •    We think all businesses need to be green businesses.
    •    We think we should act before we are compelled to do so by legislation, standards or regulation.
    •    We think we should actively and continuously look to improve our environmental practices, and work with others who do the same.

But we want to be clear: at Concept, we are only really beginning our journey in transforming our business and products. And part of Connected will be us sharing our progress as we do so. So here are some of the things we have started to do, or are planning to do, to venture further down the green business path.

We have a commitment to reducing our environmental impact.

This is important: not just saying that we have made a commitment to reduce our environmental impact, but restating it. Affirming it. Ensuring our whole team is on board and backing us. It's the first of the first steps for us, but unless this commitment is reflected in all that we do, it's just a slogan. It has to be an imperative.

Our company fleet is now 80% fully EV or hybrid.

We don't operate a lot of vehicles, but we are moving towards a fully hybrid or EV fleet as upgrades or replacements are required.

We are an ISO 14001 accredited company.

You often see these sorts of ISO accreditations bandied about, but what do they actually mean? In the case of ISO 14001, it "is an internationally agreed standard that sets out the requirements for an environmental management system. It helps organizations improve their environmental performance through more efficient use of resources and reduction of waste". In other words, it's a standardised means of ensuring environmental impacts are considered and managed throughout the organisation, allowing us to make informed decisions and providing guidance to our suppliers about the way we operate.

We are developing fog generators that can be powered by 100% renewable energy.

We'll have more on this for another time, but it's an exciting development for us and an industry first.

We have set a company goal of measuring our carbon footprint by the end of this year. The following year, the goal is to reduce this by 20%.

To make improvements, first we need to know where we stand now. So we're in the process of calculating our overall carbon footprint and then in 2022, starting the process of reducing that in a measurable way.