In November we announced our commitment to go carbon neutral in 2022 – we’ve just done that ahead of schedule. Hawksmoor is now a carbon neutral restaurant group.
- scope one – direct emissions: A/C, heating, fridges, vehicles etc
- scope two – indirect emissions from electricity we use
- scope three emissions – the supply chain emissions to make our food and drink (including growing, transporting, storing etc) and other areas that make what we do possible, like our travel to work and between sites
We have become carbon neutral by offsetting ALL our emissions scope 1,2 and 3 with carbon credits funding the following projects:
- Biogas in Kenya
- Fair-trade cookstoves
- Cleaner, safer water in Cambodia
- Myanmar clean stoves
- Nicaragua High Impact Reforestation Programme
- Peruvian Amazon Brazil Nut Concessions
“The Sustainable Restaurant Association, working with climate experts Net Zero Now, has assessed the whole of Hawksmoor’s business, operations and procurement. From eggs to electricity, beef to business travel and whisky to waste, every relevant GHG emissions source at Hawksmoor during 2020 was counted and analysed.
“The outcome of this work has been a complete value chain carbon footprint for each of Hawksmoor’s restaurants. These carbon footprints not only cast a light on where the biggest emissions occur and where the opportunities are to take effective action, but also provide the baseline for Hawksmoor to set ambitious carbon reduction targets.
“Hawksmoor have offset their whole first year carbon footprint through investing in certified carbon offsets, meaning Hawksmoor is now a Carbon Neutral restaurant.” Juliane Caillouette-Noble, Managing Director of The Sustainable Restaurants Association
More than just offsetting
While this is an achievement we’re proud of, this is just the beginning. We have begun to implement a detailed, science-based plan to get us to Net Zero by 2030 with some of the biggest impact changes already underway:
- In October we moved all of our UK restaurants to renewable electricity.
- In November we held on-site ‘Dr Bike’ sessions for staff in Edinburgh and London to get bikes safe for winter travel and have been working on making it easier to cycle to work.
- Our Holm Oak charcoal is approved by Defra for use in Smoke Control Areas.
- We’re rolling out LED lighting across all restaurants over the next two years – you can already see the results in NYC, Borough, Edinburgh, Spitalfields, Wood Wharf and some of Knightsbridge.
- We’ve stepped up waste and recycling plans to ensure that all of our food waste is sent for anaerobic digestion and turned into bio gas and we’ll be running a project to cut down all waste and food waste from February.
- Our NYC beef supply is genuinely game-changing for the restaurant scene –pasture-reared to incredibly high animal welfare standards without the use of hormones or other growth promoters with all cattle raised and finished by ranchers on family-run farms.
- All our beef in the UK comes from cattle who have led a stress-free life and are fed on a foraged natural diet of grass and hay.
- 150 of our managers have been given sustainability and carbon literacy training.
- All of our beef farms in the UK are undergoing carbon foot-printing within the next two years.
We’ll continue to update you on our progress as we know that for some of you our sustainability work is a big part of why you come to Hawksmoor; we also know that for some of you it isn’t – you come for the steaks and the experience. Whatever your view we hope you feel that we are doing whatever we can to make sure Hawksmoor makes a positive impact in the world.
“The hospitality sector has had an enormously challenging couple of years but the response to the Net Zero Restaurant initiative has been astonishing. It’s so important that influential businesses like Hawksmoor push the boundaries and show leadership on this crucial issue. The response of all businesses over the next 5 years will determine whether we can restrict warming to under 2c and that starts with measuring impact and setting reduction targets. Well done and thank you to everyone at Hawksmoor for leading the way.” Simon Heppner, founder of Net Zero Now
