Blue Sky’s Investment Strategy strongly supports investments which focus on sustainability and also recognises that as a company itself, it has responsibility for the environment beyond legal and regulatory requirements.

We are therefore committed to reducing our negative environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our business strategy and operating methods. All employees have a responsibility in their area to ensure that the aims and objectives of the policy are met. We will also try to encourage customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to do the same.

Culture

Creating a culture of sustainability can be challenging, but with Blue Sky’s passion and ethos of encouraging clients to invest in sustainability, team members see how important this is to the company. With Blue Sky now an Employee Ownership Trust, this ethos is at the very heart of ‘Who we are’.

Sustainability is discussed amongst the team who have bought into the changes that have been made and any reductions in consumption and decisions that have been made, have always been shared with the team and this will continue to be the case.

Policy Aims

We aim to encourage each other as team members to be more aware and make steps to lessen our negative environmental impact, both as a company and as individuals within our everyday lives.

Blue Sky endeavours to:

• Comply with and exceed all relevant regulatory requirements
• Continually improve and monitor environmental performance
• Continually improve and reduce negative environmental impacts
• Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions
• Be innovative in new ideas that will lessen our negative environmental impact
• Develop our ‘Sustainability Culture’ by informing and creating awareness amongst all Blue Sky Team members

How will we accomplish these aims?

Energy

We will seek to reduce the amount of energy used as much as possible.

Since February 2023, we have reduced the office’s annual electrical consumption by over 2,000 kWh (10%) from 20,000 kWh to under 18,000 kWh.

This has been achieved by:

• Reducing the use of individual fan heaters within the offices
• Replacing a constant hot water urn in the kitchen with an instant hot water tap for drinks.
• Opening doors and windows rather than switching on air conditioning.
• Replacing some of the lighting with low wattage lamps

In addition, from November 2019 Blue Sky switched energy supplier to ensure that 100% of our electricity supply is from renewable sources.

Paper

Over the past 3 to 4 years the office has reduced paper consumption by moving towards a paperless office by:

• Communicating internally, entirely electronically
• Switching to electronic notifications from outside organisations such as invoices, statements, customer communications etc
• Reducing the number of letters (especially valuations), sent to clients in hard copy. The development of the Online Client Portal has saved lengthy documents (in many cases over 50 pages), being sent through the post
• Mailshots of brochures and booklets have been very effectively replaced with electronic newsletters, blogs and market updates
• Reducing post which has saved on the purchase of envelopes

Water

The offices harvest rainwater and grey water is used to flush the toilets and urinals.

Packaging and Recycling

We endeavour to create a culture where we firstly purchase those items with limited packaging and then packaging which can be recycled.

Where possible, recycled products are purchased and also those that are plastic free. Liquids for the kitchen are purchased from ‘Plastic Free’ retail outlets, and other products are ethically sourced.

We source ethical products. For instance, the company that provides the kitchen roll donates half its profits to fund projects that fund sanitation improvements in developing countries.

Disposable cups have now been removed from the offices for both clients and staff.

Apart from the usual recycling of paper, plastic and metal that goes into the business park recycling bins, additional recycling of coffee pods, old pens, as well as food waste are collected and recycled separately and taken to specialist recycling centres. Those larger items such as electrical and IT equipment are also recycled rather than thrown into waste containers.

All items no longer required by the company but still usable, are recycled through online recycling sites, or donated to charitable causes.

Office Supplies

We have looked seriously at our office purchases over recent years and significantly reduced the volume of purchases. Rather than purchasing equipment outright, we have looked where possible at the renting option and much of our larger ‘ticket items’ have been procured in this way.

Products that are more environmentally friendly are also chosen.

Maintenance and Cleaning

Although cleaning of the offices and toilet areas has been put out to an external cleaning company, we will challenge to make sure that products used are environmentally friendly.

The Future

We will continue to monitor our environmental performance and also seek ways to lessen our negative environmental impact still further. This will include:

• Reducing consumption further and sourcing more sustainable products
• Encouraging each individual team member to be more aware of their own impact on the environment
• Continuing to reinforce the Sustainable agenda in our communications with clients