The time has come again to give ourselves a pat on our backs for everything we've done in the last year and get our thinking caps on to how we can keep doing better in the year to come as EllisKnight International releases its sustainability report for 2021.

A massive congratulations to the entire team for surpassing themselves once again as they took on the massive challenge we set ourselves after amending our articles of association in 2020.

As we look back on 2021, we know that last year was another strange year for many people and businesses as we continue to feel the effects of the pandemic.
At EK, we have been excited to continue our journey and were thrilled to become B-Corp Certified in March 2021. We have always positioned ourselves as positive disruptors within our sector, but we are only as good as the exceptionally talented team that we have.

Since we undertook our rejuvenated sustainability journey in 2020, being a purpose led business has been at the underlying theme of everything we've undertaken this last year.

We have become the first recruitment agency to achieve both a Gold CSR Accreditation and receive The Planet Mark. We have also achieved carbon neutral status and re-modelled our business to hold ourselves accountable against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As a team we will continue to learn and grow to ensure that a partnership with EllisKnight is always a partnership for good.

Paul Baker, Director at EllisKnight said "For me, working with "Purpose" is about working with people who truly understand what is important on a human level when you strip all the material distractions and ego away. People can focus on something meaningful. They are happier in their work and personal lives and are motivated to do and be better. They go that extra mile to help others and have a true sense of belonging where they genuinely care about and for other people. They feel trusted and are motivated to do their best each day. Amazing things can happen when you get this right!"

In 2021, some of our greatest impacts we achieved as a business was through our wonderful partnerships. Our giving partnerships through B1G1 and Toilet Twinning allowed us to make impacts in the regions of this planet most in need of help. Our partnership and certification with Planet Mark allowed us to reduce our carbon footprint by a massive 62.4% this year.

What we achieved:

• Continued championing B1G1 by donating a percentage of every invoice received on our client's behalf. We made a total of 349,313 impacts throughout 2021.
• We were honoured to have won the Geographic Giving Award from B1G1 in the Special Recognition Category.
• During 2021 we twinned a further 12 toilets on behalf of our clients and suppliers through Toilet Twinning.
• We are the first recruitment agency globally to be Planet Mark certified. In 2021, we achieved our Second Year Certification and reduced our carbon footprint by 62.4%.
• We won the Planet Mark Best Newcomer Award.
• During 2021, half of our team became Mental Health First Aiders through our partnership with Mental Health Charter.
• We became B-Corp certified in March 2021.
• Our team purchased items to pack 30 Buddy Bags and delivered them to a local women's refuge centre.

We are not going to rest there! There are some many more goals we want to achieve in order to be a truly purpose led, sustainable business that looks out for people, planet and prosperity for all. Looking forward, we want to highlight our hopes and dreams for 2022.

What we still need to do:

• Aim to ensure the whole EK team become Mental Health First Aiders.
• Meet a total target of 1 million B1G1 Impacts.
• Reach a total of 15,000 trees in the EK Forest through our partnership with Ecologi.
• Reduce our Carbon Footprint by a further 5% to allow Planet Mark recertification for the third year.
• Offset our carbon footprint through Gold Standard Offsetting Projects and maintain our carbon neutral status as a company.
• In addition to Toilet Twinning, we hope to begin tap twinning for our clients and suppliers – We will twin every tap within EK HQ in 2022.
• Continuing to build upon or exciting Community Partnerships through supporting young people, local charities, and the environment.
• Encourage our EK Family to sign up to Giki to analyse and take ownership for their personal carbon footprint.

Early results
We are proud to say that thanks to the hard work of our lovely team, we have given ourselves a jump and achieved some of this year's To Do list already.
So far this year, we have reduced our Carbon Footprint by 8% already! More than our 5% target and are on our way for our Planet Mark recertification.
We have also achieved our carbon offsetting target and maintained our carbon neutral status for 2022.

 Buddy Bag Box Challenge Packed Before Xmas

Purpose driven recruitment agency, EllisKnight International completed a Challenge Box on 17 December, a team building challenge to help children escaping violence set by its charity partner, Buddy Bag Foundation (BBF).
BBF was created by Founder, Karen Williams OBE in response to the rising number of children who enter emergency care after fleeing violent situations at home.
They seek to restore a sense of safety and security into a child's life during a traumatic time and begin the first steps to recovery. By providing these children with a few essential items, such as clothing, toys, stationary, books and toiletries help make the transition into emergency care a little easier.
There were two main aims for the Berkshire-based team to complete: First, to identify 30 people to receive a shopping bag, then tasking those people to fill said bag with an item needed to fill 30 Buddy Bags. Part of the exercise was to shop for items suitable for children of differing gender and ages, to provide a greater sense of personal touch to the project.
Since we are a small team, roping in a few volunteers was not going to cover all of the tasks and everyone doing the shopping had multiple assignments.
Secondly, once the team had completed their individual tasks, they returned to the office to unpack their shopping and help pack the 30 rucksacks that were to be delivered. It took four hours for our team to pack all of the rucksacks. Much of that time was spent double checking everything to make sure no items were missed before the bags were sealed.

Once packed and labelled, the bags are ready to be delivered to a refuge centre within 20 miles of HQ in Pangbourne.
"The team at EllisKnight are extremely honoured to have completed The Buddy Bag Challenge. The work you guys do is incredible and makes a huge difference to children entering emergency care. To be able to be part of that has left us all with full hearts and the desire to make a difference in 2022! Thank you for the opportunity we look forward to doing it again in the Summer," said Sam Whitby, Social Media Manager at EllisKnight.
The bags will be delivered to a local refuge in Berkshire within a week. Complications with the pandemic has the effort but contact with the refuge is ongoing and they are excited to take the bags from us.
Around 48,000 children require emergency accommodation in the UK each year. These children are often fleeing a violent situation or sexual abuse, and have to leave home quickly, without the chance to collect basic items. Often children will arrive at emergency accommodation centres with only the clothes they are wearing.
Since its formation in 2015, Buddy Bag have distributed 31,121 bags up until the end of 2020 and have supplied over 396 Women's Refuges around the UK.
On a personal level, Sam added, "As soon as I read about what they [BBF] do and how they help children entering emergency accommodation, I knew I would like to support them.

"Having young children myself, I couldn't even begin to imagine being in a situation where you have to flee your home with children and majority of the time only the clothes on your back and how scary this must be for a mother and the children.
"To be able to support a charity that brings a small glimmer of hope and comfort to a child who has been through a scary time just felt right."

Ellis Knight Wins Best Newcomer at Planet Mark Awards

EllisKnight International is very proud to have won the Best Newcomer category at the Planet Mark awards in November.

Held in London as part of the finale of Planet Mark’s Zero Carbon Tour, EllisKnight took the Best Newcomer award shortly after completing recertification to The Planet Mark after reducing our carbon footprint in the previous year by 62.4%   

Patrick Graham, Co-Founder of EllisKnight International, said, “We are delighted to have won Best Newcomer at the recent Planet Mark awards in London – it was an amazing event with some incredible people. Next stop Net Zero!”

Emma Ruttle, Sustainability Manager at EllisKnight International, said, “I am so pleased that EllisKnight has won this award! It means so much to all of us that our hard work over the last 18 months has been recognised and it is a real boost to know that we have made great progress & doing well and we are excited to continue our journey with Planet Mark.”

EllisKnight has pledged to become a Net Zero business. 

Berkshire's own EllisKnight International Recruitment has completed recertification on our Planet Mark membership.

As a celebration, our team were treated a Year 2 Energiser meeting from Hannah Dean-Wood, Engagement Manager at Planet Mark, to run through the key stats of the great work undertaken by the team.

Planet Mark, an Official Partner of EllisKnight International, is a membership organisation that supports forward-thinking businesses in their sustainability goals and certifying their achievements. When you see a Planet Mark certified member, you know that they are driving continuous positive change through their actions, people and reach.

David Holby-Wolinski, Co-Founder of EllisKnight International, said:
"We are so delighted to have recertified with Planet Mark and it ensures we continue to remain accountable to our sustainability pledge as an ethical recruitment agency. To enable us as a business to create a strong and transparent carbon reduction strategy we needed to build our knowledge and understand the numbers behind the science. The incredibly special relationship we have Planet Mark has allowed us to do just that and we're very proud to be now recognised as a sustainability game changer within our industry.

"We will continue to learn and be inspired by other businesses within the Planet Mark community – we have a collective responsibility to strive to make this world a better place for our children and the generations that will follow."

The purpose of becoming more sustainable is due to the increasing threat of climate change to our world and livelihoods. Earth's atmosphere now contains more than 420 ppm (parts per million) of CO2, a significant increase on other natural peaks of the gas in history.
With politicians and activists attending the COP 26 summit in Glasgow recently, it remains unclear how significant The Glasgow Climate Pact and follow-up actions will be against the unfolding crisis. Businesses and organisations that want to do their bit for climate and social prosperity are advised to adopt and follow the targets of the UN SDGs.

We are thrilled to report that between May 2020 and April 2021, our carbon footprint has reduced by 62.4%, well ahead of our 5% reductions year-on-year. Much of the fall can be attributed to changes afflicted by the pandemic, but it is our aim to keep many practices which led to this dramatic fall in place for the foreseeable future.

Our total carbon footprint was 18.4 (tCO2e) averaging at 2.3 (tCO2e) per employee. The biggest reductions came from business travel and electricity usage.
With a full breakdown of our impacts, we are still set to reach our target of net zero by 2050. Planet mark are encouraging us to reduce our footprint further by another 5% (0.9 tCO2e) by next year, however they accept that future reductions are banked against our Year 1 figures for the next two year due to the pandemic.

Steve Malkin, Founder and CEO of Planet Mark, said:

"We are delighted to have EllisKnight International join us at Planet Mark.  The next generation of talent is increasingly conscious of their prospective employers' environmental credentials. By working with likeminded individuals in both directions of its supply chain, EllisKnight International is propelling the sustainability agenda in the recruitment industry and beyond. The team's enthusiasm in demonstrating the sustainable measures it has in place is remarkable, and the talk is backed up by some really robust policies. EllisKnight wants to do business differently and position itself as a leader in the recruitment industry, and it is well on the way to achieving these goals."

Our partners have recommended several steps to keep our reduction targets on track including:

• Participating in the Planet Mark Carbon Tour – Our Co-Founder, David, spoke at the Heathrow leg of the tour on 16 Nov
• Considering a net zero strategy
• Joining their online community platform
• Download the Planet Mark toolkits and other resources.
• Sharing our success stories with Plant Mark on LinkedIn
• Keeping up the good work and continuing to work towards the recommended 5% reduction for next year

We look forward to recertifying next year.

Click here to see our Planet Mark Commitment:

At long last, we have released the 2020 sustainability data!

The team at Berkshire-based recruitment agency, EllisKnight International have released our 2020 sustainability report on 23^rd July 2021.

In an extraordinary year for everyone, and for so many reasons, who could have predicted the challenges that families and businesses would face throughout 2020? We took the time to reflect, time to review, and time to establish exactly what is that we stood for, while we reviewed our blueprint.

We have always positioned ourselves as positive disruptors within our sector, but we are only as good as the exceptionally talented team that we have. From becoming the first recruitment agency to achieve a Gold CSR Accreditation and The Planet Mark, to achieving carbon neutral status, and holding ourselves accountable against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we will continue to learn and grow to ensure that a partnership with EllisKnight International is always a partnership for good.

Thanks to our partnership with Ecologi, we planted 144 trees in our EllisKnight forest between September and December. We also supported another three major tree planting projects in which over 4,400 trees were planted and supported six carbon reduction projects in which over 103 tonnes of CO₂ were removed.

In those short three months, we achieved three Ecologi milestone badges for climate positivity, tree planting and carbon reduction. We also work with Terracycle, Climate Care, Carbon Footprint Ltd and Ecosia to ensure we do our part on climate action.    

We twin a client’s toilet every month with a latrine in a developing community through Toilet Twinning which helps bring clean water and safe sanitation to the world’s poorest people.   

We are a Living Wage employer, not only for our team, but all candidates we place also receive a minimum of the Real Living Wage of £9.50 per hour. We also offer staff interest free loans of up to £1000 PA to help with unexpected expenditures. 

EllisKnight International is committed to equality, diversity and opposition to all forms of workplace discrimination and regularly monitor the effectiveness of our policy. Applications received to join our team, or the teams of our clients, are treated equally regardless of sex, age, sexual orientation, marital status, race, religion, religious beliefs, colour, nationality, creed, ethnic or national origin, gender reassignment or disability. We are proud signatories of the Race at Work Charter and the Good Business Charter. We also offer accessible recruitment campaigns and partnership with Recite Me which can offer an accessible platform for any vacancy.

“We wanted to understand how we could do this and still have a positive impact on society, the environment, our customers and our team. From “Kaisen” based ideas focused around small improvements to our accreditations, certifications and clear purpose – we use our business as a force for good, putting people and planet before profit.” – Patrick Graham, co-founder of EllisKnight International.  

A recent report from B Lab gave insights into the progress towards the SDGs, the key component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It concluded that progress towards these goals have remained stagnant, especially the contributions from the private sector.

As a positive disruptor, we believe our reaffirmation to the SDGs is necessary, especially our continued support for Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 5: Gender Equality, Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and Gaol 10: Reduced Inequalities as part of our business model.

We will also continue to support Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action, and Goal 15: Life on Land through our continued partnerships.   

By the end of 2021, we strive to meet or exceed the following targets.

• Become B Corp Certified (achieved in March 2021) – We had a responsibility to be sustainable and put people and planet before profit. We wanted to set an example for the recruitment sector. As a result, we produced EK giving page in build up to verification
• Reduce carbon footprint by minimum of 5% over 2020/21 (achieved on 30^th April 2021) – We introduced a working from home model which reduced commuter miles and converted all systems to online for a paperless office. Overall, we achieved a 63% reduction (skewed by the pandemic) but we still plan to reduce our footprint next year by another 5% from 2020-21 baseline
• Give all staff have membership of The Collective – Outliers Wellbeing community Group (achieved on 26^th July 2021)   
• Remain carbon neutral by offsetting our verified carbon footprint using our existing partners’ programmes 
• Achieve our Ecologi target of 10,000 trees in the EllisKnight forest  
• Achieve our B1G1 target to create 750,000 impacts
• Fulfill obligations to support our local communities by sponsoring local sports teams, charitable events, and educational projects.

We will continue to fundraise for Buddy Bag Foundation and Naomi House Children’s Hospice, giving as much as we can every year to support their wonderful causes.       

 Click on the image to see our Sustainability Report:

EllisKnight International is taking affirmative action to reduce its carbon footprint through a number of measures including recycling initiatives, water management, energy-saving lighting and vastly reducing business travel.

Unavoidable emissions will be offset through projects including two world-leading clean cooking projects in Kenya and Ghana. These clean cooking projects not only cut carbon emissions, helping tackle climate change, but they also improve lives by halving fuel bills for families and reducing exposure to toxic fumes, which kill more people each year than malaria and tuberculosis combined. By cutting fuel requirements the projects also reduce deforestation, protecting precious habitat.

"We are delighted to work with experts in this sector, ClimateCare. They have over 20 years' experience running some of the most innovative and largest voluntary carbon offset programmes in the world. Working with them has allowed us to take full responsibility for our carbon footprint and integrate action to tackle climate change and improve people's lives." – David Holby-Wolinski, EK Co-Director.

"We work with forward-thinking organisations to turn their climate responsibilities into positive outcomes. Our trademark Climate+Care approach helps organisations take a smart approach to address their environmental impacts by offsetting their carbon emissions through projects which also support sustainable development". – Explains ClimateCare's Director of Partnerships, Robert Stevens.

It is essential as an ethical organisation that we continue to drive the reduction of our business travel emissions, office energy, waste and water use. Offsetting the emissions that we have been unable to eliminate allows us to support – among others – the Aqua Clara water purification project in Kenya. This project helps communities gain access to safe drinking water by making affordable household purifiers. In doing so, it reduces the need to boil water – cutting carbon emissions and lowering rates of deforestation in surrounding areas. It's a fantastic project and one that we are extremely proud to support" – Paul Smith, EK Co-Director.

About ClimateCare

ClimateCare is a profit with purpose business which works with forward-thinking organisations to help turn their climate responsibilities into positive outcomes. Since 1997, ClimateCare and its partners have cut over 43 million tonnes of CO₂ and improved 41 million lives around the world.

We have more than 20 years' experience as a leader in the global carbon markets and climate change sector. We work with major public and private sector clients to fund sustainable development projects that reduce carbon emissions at scale, measurably increase the quality of life and deliver towards the UN Global Goals.
ClimateCare also advises on a range of climate change mitigation and adaptation subjects, from large scale implementation to national climate change policies. ClimateCare's award-winning team use their extensive experience to design, structure finance for and deliver impactful projects around the world.

ClimateCare develops cost-efficient, high impact, Climate+Care programmes to tackle poverty, improve health, and protect the environment. ClimateCare is currently ranked the number one B Corp in the UK – B Corp is a global movement of more than 2,500 purpose-driven companies that are using business as a force for good. ClimateCare operates globally from offices in Oxford, UK and Nairobi, Kenya.

Find out more at http://www.climatecare.org/

Interested in offsetting your carbon emissions?
For more information, please visit the ClimateCare website:
- About ClimateCare
- What they do
- Ways to act
- Contact

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