Highgate are delighted to announce that we have been listed as finalists for the Green Shoots Award in the CRN Sustainability in Tech Awards 2024!

The Green Shoots award aims to recognise companies who are only just starting out or in the early stages of their sustainability journey, but who have also made great progress or having implemented an impressive initiative which has generated solid results.

Highgate’s sustainability journey began in December 2021 when Jenny Latimer joined the business as Head of Alliances and Operations, but also the Sustainability Lead. Jenny has a personal passion for sustainability, which was supported by the rest of the management team, and this joint belief led to Highgate taking their first steps to become a more sustainable business.

In the past 2 years, we have run a few company initiatives to promote sustainability amongst employees.

The Highgate team were all sent litter pickers and given time away from desks to go litter picking. Some employees met up and did this in groups, others did this with their families and some even held a business meeting and did a litter pick with a partner!

We sent wildflower seeds to all employees and encouraged everyone to plant these and ran a friendly competition as to who could grow the best crop.

Being fully remote, Highgate already have a considerably smaller carbon footprint than we would have if we were to have a premises (as we produce no emissions in Scope 1 or 2). When it came to setting sustainability targets and goals, we had to think outside the box. Some of the steps we have taken are to measure two Scope 3 categories – Homeworking and Business Travel, and also developed a process which tracks all travel emissions through our expenses policy. This allows us to measure our footprint each year and double offset to be Carbon Neutral Plus.

In January 2024, Highgate will also be launching an EV Salary Sacrifice Scheme, to encourage employees to switch to electric vehicles.

Raising awareness for sustainability across the channel is something Highgate have always been dedicated to. Jenny Latimer; our Head of Alliances & Operations; has spoken at a number of industry events and featured in reports, advocating the need for change, and helping others begin their sustainability journey.

February 2023 saw Jenny join Techies Go Green as their Channel Ambassador. Jenny works with channel partners to help Techies Go Green achieve their goal of helping other organisations become carbon net zero by 2030.

Although we are only 2 years into our sustainability journey, it has become a core part of our organisation and extends to our partners and employees.

We can’t wait to see the winners announced at the CRN Sustainability in Tech Summit on the 8th February!

To find out more about the Sustainability in Tech Awards, click here: https://sustainabilityintech.co.uk/summit/en/page/home