Alexander May becomes Bristol’s first carbon neutral estate agency

We are incredibly proud to announce that Alexander May has achieved carbon neutral certification – one of only a handful of estate agency businesses out of over 20,000 in the UK to be accredited. But what does this mean, and why did we do it?

Put simply, being certified carbon neutral means that we have calculated the amount of carbon that we as a business emit (i.e., our carbon footprint) and both reduced our emissions and supported an external ‘offsetting’ scheme. Sounds straightforward enough, right? It was anything but.

To get to this point was not easy, especially for a business that until last year gave very little consideration about how its operations could potentially be harmful to the environment. What was needed was a spark, an ‘Aha’ moment that would become the catalyst for positive. That moment came in the form of COP26.

Our ‘Aha’ moment

In late 2021, global leaders descended on Glasgow for the 26^th annual COP seminar to agree upon a roadmap by which the nations of the world would work together to tackle the climate crisis that is accelerating at a rate of knots.

The science emanating from the congress served as a stark warning that unless significant reductions in carbon emissions are made now, this and future generations face both an uncertain and frankly frightening future. We quickly realised that as a business we have a responsibility to be the change we want/need to see, and so we resolved to do something about it.

The steps we took

To start with, we needed to understand how carbon friendly (or ‘unfriendly’ as it transpired) we were, and we did this by partnering with fellow Bristol-based environmental consultancy, Greener Energy Futures. They calculated Alexander May’s carbon footprint and priority areas. In addition, the consultancy facilitated a workshop to identify practical ways the business could get started with carbon reduction.

This then enabled us to implement a stringent carbon reduction strategy that enabled Alexander May to identify greater energy efficiencies and offset the environment impact across each of our  branches - whilst making significant cost savings at the same time.

On a practical level, we started with education. To get real ‘buy-in’ from colleagues and customers it was important to educate them on ways in which they too can reduce their impact on the environment.

We set up an internal climate committee that shares practical and easy-to-implement ideas on how to cut emissions and the business also committed to matching and offsetting their personal carbon footprint.

Similarly, our customers can do so on the assessed carbon footprint associated with the sale or let of their property through simple means such as undertaking virtual rather than physical viewings.

Critical to this was our partnership with Temwa Carbon Balance, a Bristol and Malawi-based NGO that enables businesses to offset their emissions through the restoration of carbon-rich forests that in turn restores local ecosystems. To help support their vital work in this area, head over to their website for more information by clicking here.

What next?

Gaining carbon neutral certification is part the company's wider long-term environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitment. In addition to offsetting our entire carbon usage, we have set an ambitious target to become a net zero company by 2025 – this is five years ahead of that stipulated by Bristol City Council and the UK government. It will be a challenge to achieve this, but we believe we have the right strategy in place to make this happen. Not to mention our unswerving commitment, too.

What can you do?

The path we have chosen is better when travelled with others. We are very proud to be early pioneers of carbon neutrality in the city, but like any journey it is better when shared with others.

It is our intention to inspire businesses throughout Bristol and the wider property industry to become part of this growing movement. In doing so, we can develop a clear roadmap of what we want to achieve and work together to improve on what is already being done.

If you have any questions about becoming a carbon neutral business, please contact Rob Mamuda.