Join 250 local businesses taking the lead on sustainability and saving £225k on energy bills
Seven months ago, East Midlands Chamber launched a pioneering initiative to help local SMEs track their carbon emissions and kickstart their sustainability journeys. The initiative was one of first of its kind in the country and provided 400 SMEs with free access to Zellar, a software platform designed to help businesses measure, plan, activate, report and share their business’ sustainability journey.
With the New Year well underway EMC and Zellar are taking the opportunity to report back on the local success of the Zellar programme, and to remind business that there are still 150 free Zellar licences left.
One of the great features of the platform is that it gives EMC a unique snapshot into how regional businesses are tackling sustainability. Across the 250 businesses:
£317k has been invested to date in green technologies, such as solar power, LED lighting and EV chargers
204 have appointed a sustainability champion to run a Zellar programme
Nearly 1,300 energy saving checks have been completed on Zellar
£225k has been saved on energy cost as a result (over £900 per business).
67 hours of volunteering put towards local environmental projects since May 22
Results for the initiative show that with the costs of doing business crises taking hold, now more than ever, the financial case for reducing energy waste alone makes investing in sustainability a smart choice. And with over £225k worth of energy saved by the pioneering 250 businesses on the programme - there’s still a chance for another 150 businesses to benefit.
Rose Jinks, Marketing Manager is the sustainability champion for Nottingham-based EMEA Recruitment, who has been using Zellar since August 2022.
Rose explained why EMEA Recruitment signed up: “Sustainability is no longer a choice, but a necessity. The Zellar platform makes starting sustainability simple. And then provides a plan on how to get there. Unlike other solutions, Zellar isn’t just about offsetting our carbon emissions. All of the features, like its green energy switching service, energy checklists, green marketplace and an online community will help us to become net zero.”
Explaining how Zellar’s scoring framework helps to focus on taking action, Rose explained: “Zellar’s scoring system quantifies and displays all of our sustainability actions. And because it’s live and available for anyone to view, it holds us to account and pushes us on to take the next step.”
Claire Stone, Head of Finance at EMEA Recruitment, added: “We want to demonstrate what we’re doing via the platform to our clients, candidates and potential employees. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved and this element really motivates us to do and share even more.”
Rose went on to urge: “For any local business that’s looking to get sustainable and at the same time reduce their costs and emissions - it’s not too late. They can still sign up for free to Zellar, claim one of the remaining 150 free slots and start taking sustainability and cost saving actions today.”
Stuart Marsden and Marta Zaremba-Marsden are the owners of Zaremba Marsden which is a nutrition and retreat B&B set in the Derbyshire Dales, and their business’ sustainability champions. Sharing why their company joined Zellar, Stuart revealed:
“We wanted to incorporate sustainability into our business philosophy and business values, and show the world that it doesn’t have to be difficult. Very often it actually saves your business money and time. Zellar was a great fit for our business model and offered us more functions and features than we'd ever imagined. We also loved how it enables us to share and learn with our community.”
Stuart summarised: ‘’Zellar helps us to capture everything Zaremba Marsden is doing and then makes it easy to communicate it with the wider world on social media, our website and any other marketing channel. For instance, we installed a hive smart thermostat system, bought an EV and put in an EV charging point. And by sharing, that we hope that if others see us making changes, that'll encourage them to do the same.”
Gary Styles, Founder and CEO of Zellar, commented: “We’re incredibly thankful to EMC Business Gateway and inspired by all the pioneering East Midlands business that have supported our journey so far, we can’t wait to get the remaining free licences into the hands of more local businesses and really help to spur on sustainability across the region.’
To help businesses reduce their emissions and costs, East Midlands Chamber has a total of 150 remaining one-year Zellar licences (worth up to £600 each) under its East Midlands Accelerator project. This project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.
Sponsored licences are available on a first-come-first-served basis. The initiative is one of several being offered as part of the East Midlands Accelerator, a £5.27m project part-funded by the Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund (UKCRF), and which has received an additional £471,000 of match funding from East Midlands Chamber and its partners.
Visit zellar.com to find out more about how Zellar can help your business save energy and costs. Use discount code 7GF7HSBAEWD4 for your one year free access when you checkout. Click here to sign up (discount automatically applied).