GOLD
Octopus Energy: High-performance sustainability leaders trailblazing a cleaner energy future
Octopus Energy has made exemplary progress in trailblazing purpose-led sustainability. Last year, our 3.2 UK customers saved 7m metric tonnes of CO2 emissions, the equivalent to planting 918m trees. Now with 6.8m customers, that impact will more than double this year.
We have also invested heavily to make sustainable living more accessible and affordable than ever. Half a million Octopus customers and counting, are benefitting from our super smart Agile, Go, Cosy, Outgoing and Intelligent Octopus tariffs which unlock energy at its cheapest and greenest. Thousands more have chosen our smart home solutions, including market-leading heat pumps, solar, battery and EVs, with 10,000s more signed up.
Championing game-changing people-powered flexibility, our turbocharged Octoplus Saving Sessions paid 1.5m customers £5m+ in lower energy bills to shift almost 2GWh out of peak times for our grid during winter 23/24 saving 437 metric tonnes of CO2 from polluting the air. Not least, via expanding global licensing partnerships, we’ve tripled contracted accounts on our Kraken technology platform, from 17m to reach 54m, over halfway to our 100m target for 2027. Thanks to our ever-growing £7bn renewables portfolio, the largest in Europe, we’re set to supply 50m homes by 2027!
SILVER
DTEK: Keeping the lights on for Ukraine – The #FightForLight
DTEK’s driving the change to renewables in Europe while ensuring 5million+ homes and Ukrainian hospitals have light, even in the darkest times. Set up 19-years ago, DTEK was the first Ukrainian investor in renewables.
Following 2022’s invasion, Maxim Timchenko, DTEK’s CEO, recognised Ukraine’s dependence on russian energy. He ensured this was cut in days, a connection via ENTSO-E made to the European grid, positioning DTEK to import from, and, sell excess renewables back to, Europe. A vital step against russian energy blackmail.
In 2021, DTEK adopted EU Standards, reducing 2022-23 CO2e by 25% (32minT-24minT). Despite ongoing invasion, it commissioned Central Eastern Europe’s largest windfarm. It’s modernising the sector, improving efficiency to mitigate climate change, catalysing opportunities in key blocked markets, creating jobs and stimulating economic growth Europe-wide.
DTEK prioritises employees, and you cannot get more engaged: engineers completing the latest windfarm miles from the frontline must wear body armour, supported by DTEK, they do this with pride.
You can’t get further from ‘business-as-usual’ operating in a warzone. DTEK’s an ethical business, its Western group-level Advisory Council an example for anti-corruption for the whole country. It’s persuaded government to maintain competitive tension in the market, resisting degeneration to a communist state.
BRONZE
Stone Group: Making a Digital Difference
E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream on the planet. When it stems from the IT industry, we can’t talk about the future of technology without addressing the issue.
We took responsibility in 2010 and opened an IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) facility to recycle without landfill – a way to reduce the e-waste output of organisations across the UK.
We’re still the only UK-based IT reseller and manufacturer with an on-site facility. In 2020, we launched the award-winning Stone 360 app, which helps customers book and manage recycling collections — another innovation that keeps us at the forefront of IT recycling in the UK.
We refurbish and repair IT to sell affordably, extending device lifespans and further eliminating e-waste. If there’s anything we can’t recycle or refurbish, we work with downstream suppliers to still ensure responsible recycling.
In 2022 we launched our “Making a Digital Difference” Sustainability Framework, which drives environmental and social responsibility by aligning with the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals. Our Carbon Reduction Plan is guiding us to Net Zero operations by 2030.
We have made changes across the entire business, from energy use to packaging. We’ve also worked with supply chain partners to help them become more sustainable.