Our Impact FAQ’s
WHAT IS YOUR SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY?
1.Reach carbon neutrality
- Reduce our scope 1 – 3 emissions, with a particular focus on scope 3
- Offset residual emissions into regenerative agriculture via the OurCarbon scheme
- Make our emissions and offsets available online
2. Reduce plastic and food waste
- Achieve zero food waste in 2024, collaborating with the Mercers’ Estate and our neighbours
- Have no single-use (non-recyclable) plastics on our sites
- Champion plastic-neutral suppliers in our programming
3. Champion plant-driven cooking
- Salvage wonky and surplus vegetables from landfill, and source locally and seasonally
- Follow highest welfare standards for meat, fish and dairy
- Feature small, innovative suppliers in The Conduit programme
HOW DO YOU MEASURE YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT?
- The OAK Network audits our energy use and gives recommendations every year to help reduce our energy consumption.
- Our Carbon audits our emissions every year and recommends ways to decrease our footprint.
- Suppliers must comply with our Responsible Supply Chain Standards, an internal document that outlines minimum sustainability requirements.
- Our waste is recycled by Westminster Council. To reach our zero-food waste target, we are working with our neighbours and the Mercers’ Estate to trial ORCA, an on-site aerobic digester machine that turns food waste into grey water. More updates to come later in the year.
WHICH SUPPLIERS DO YOU WORK WITH?
- The Glasshouse, a social enterprise that provides horticultural training to women in UK Prisons, supplies The Conduit’s plants. In 2023, The Conduit provided more than 200 hours of living wage employment to two of The Glasshouse’s trainees.
- Old Spike Roastery, a social enterprise with a mission to reduce homelessness, provides our coffee. At least 65% of Old Spike’s profits are reinvested into creating employment opportunities such as barista training for people experiencing homelessness.
- Our gin supplier, 58&Co, is the first female-founded alcohol brand in the UK to be awarded B-Corp status and is committed to sustainability. The brand uses recycled glass in its bottles, makes its labels and coasters from discarded grape skins and plastic waste, and even spins plastic waste into coasters.
- Belazu supplies our restaurant with ingredients. Belazu is a B-Corp, founded on the principles of care for people, product and planet. The Belazu Foundation, established in 2003, supports food and educational projects for young people in the UK and Mediterranean.
- NEMI Teas supplies our teas. NEMI provides employment to refugees, giving them UK work experience and job–readiness skills. NEMI’s teabags are plastic-free, and its packaging is biodegradable.
WHERE ARE YOU ON YOUR SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY?
- The Conduit’s goal is to be a leader in sustainable hospitality. The launch of Rucola on our fifth floor will make 2024 a transformative year for our food and beverage services. Through sustainable supplier relationships, seasonal ingredients, and pioneering educational programmes, we want to offer an impact-driven dining experience for our changemaking community.
- We see a visit to The Conduit as an opportunity to educate and delight through the lens of food. Beyond delicious meals, we will programme a series of events to highlight scalable solutions to fix our global food system.
- We are setting examples for best practice in energy consumption in hospitality. Just 21% of our energy is used in non-trading hours, a significant improvement on the industry average of 40% (Source: OAK).
- We are working towards net carbon neutrality. Beyond our goals to reduce our scope 1 to 3 emissions, we plan to offset our residual emissions and are consulting members during this process.
- Ultimately, we are not all the way there. We take pride in our accomplishments but recognise there is a lot more to do. We invite you to join us on our sustainability and impact journey and to look out for our 2023 Impact Report, to be released in summer 2024.
Responsible Supply Chain Standard
The Conduit has a vision of a just, prosperous and sustainable world. Our mission is to convene, inspire and catalyse a collaborative community that scales and accelerates solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.
We believe that the world’s most pressing problems can be viewed as opportunities for entrepreneurial solutions. The selection of and relationship with our suppliers is a critical way in which we ourselves drive positive change, particularly in relation to our significant food and beverage supply chain.
This document outlines the mandatory minimum standards we require from ourselves and from any supplier. We expect all our suppliers to meet our mandatory minimum standards, within their own practices and throughout their supply chain. Mindful of our desire to work directly with SME and social enterprises, we work supportively with them, striving to ensure we do not place these smaller suppliers at a disadvantage in doing business with us as a result of unnecessary and over burdensome requirements.
We have the right to cease trading with any suppliers who do not meet these standards, or who do not show willingness to achieve them. We will always consider the full impact of cessation of trading with these suppliers on their employees and the community.
Statement of Intent
As The Conduit we aspire to be an exemplar of leading environmental and social practices.
Over and above these minimum standards, it is our intention to drive and support best practice in environmental, ethical and sustainable practice throughout our supply chain. We therefore prioritise and encourage values-aligned suppliers who share our commitment to minimising their environmental impact, maximising their positive social impact and integrating fair and ethical practices throughout their own procurement and supply chain. The detail of this is outlined in our Sustainability Strategy.
Our framework for selecting suppliers is based on these aspirational targets as well as the mandatory requirements outlined in this standard.
1. Legal Standards
1.1 COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS
All laws and regulations must be complied with in the countries in which the supplier operates. All other applicable international laws and regulations are complied with, including those relating to international trade, data protection and anti-trust/competition laws.
1.2 BRIBERY
All suppliers must comply with the UK Bribery Act. There is a prohibition on any and all forms of fraud, bribery, corruption, extortion, embezzlement, money laundering, insider trading or improper
payments or gifts. Suppliers must have adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery in all their commercial dealings and must inform us immediately of any departures.
1.3 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
All and any conflict of interest in any business dealings with The Conduit, of which the supplier is aware, will be declared to us to allow us the opportunity to take appropriate action.
2. Employment Standards
As The Conduit, and as set out in the section below, we seek at all times to exercise the best possible practices for the respectful and ethical treatment of workers and promote sustainable conditions in which workers earn fair wages in safe and healthy workplaces.
2.1 MODERN SLAVERY
The Conduit has a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and we strive to act ethically and with integrity in all of our activities, business dealings and relationships to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains. We also ensure our approach and stance is clear with our partner organisations.
2.2 FORCED LABOUR
The Conduit will not tolerate forced labour. In the supply chain there will be no forced, bonded, indentured or involuntary prison labour. Suppliers are not permitted to charge workers fees to obtain work, or lodge ‘deposits’ or their identity papers with their employer. Nor are there any individuals working in any part of the supply chain who have been trafficked, transported for the purposes of exploitation. All workers within the supply chain must be free to leave their employer after reasonable notice.
2.3 CHILD LABOUR
Child labour is not permitted within our supply chain. Under no circumstances will a supplier employ individuals under the age of 15 (or 14 in ILO exempt countries) or under the local legal minimum age for mandatory schooling, whichever is higher. Formal documentation that verifies the age of workers must be held by the supplier. When young workers, aged between 14 and 18, are employed they must not do work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous or harmful or interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school.
2.4 FAIR TREATMENT OF ALL WORKERS
All workers, both permanent and casual, are provided with employment documents that are freely agreed and which respect their legal and contractual rights.
Obligations to employees under laws and regulations arising from the regular employment relationship shall not be avoided through sub-contracting, or home-working arrangements, or through apprenticeship schemes where there is no real intent to impart skills or provide regular employment, nor shall any such obligations be avoided through the excessive use of fixed-term contracts of employment.
2.5 REASONABLE WORKING HOURS
Working hours must comply as a minimum to national laws. Total working hours, not including overtime, shall not exceed an average of 48 hours per week unless the employee has agreed to do so and opted out of the Working Time Regulation 1998 – or equivalent local legislation. In such situations, the employee must have the right to terminate this agreement. Workers can refuse to work overtime without any disciplinary action.
The total hours worked in any 7-day period shall not exceed 60 hours, except where it’s allowed by national law, it’s a collective agreement, appropriate safeguards are in place and the supplier can demonstrate exceptional circumstances apply e.g. production peaks. Employees are permitted at least one day off in every 7-day period or, where allowed by national law, 2 days off in every 14-day period.
2.6 WAGES AND BENEFITS
Wages and benefits paid for standard working hours must meet the national legal standards, or industry benchmark standards if higher and should always be enough to meet basic needs and provide further discretionary income. In the UK, we expect this benchmark to be that our suppliers to pay the real Living Wage. Suppliers must provide written and understandable information to employees about their wages before they enter employment. They must also provide employees with wage slips each time they are paid including the particulars of their wages for the pay period concerned. Suppliers must not deduct wages as a disciplinary measure and they shall not make deductions from employees’ wages not provided for by national law without the expressed permission of the worker concerned. Workers should receive payment directly from the supplier in the form of cash, cheque or a nominated bank account transfer.
2.7 FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
Workers, without distinction, have the right to join or form trade unions of their own choosing and to bargain collectively. We expect the employer to adopt an open attitude towards the activities of trade unions and work organisations. Workers’ representatives must not be discriminated against and must have access to carry out their representative functions in the workplace. Where the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is restricted under law, the employer facilitates, and does not hinder, the development of parallel means for independent and free association and bargaining.
2.8 ACCESS TO FAIR PROCEDURES AND REMEDIES
All workers are provided with transparent, fair and confidential procedures that result in swift, unbiased and fair resolution of difficulties which may arise as part of their working relationship.
When disciplinary actions are carried out they must be fair, compliant with local laws, and proportionate to the act. Disciplinary actions must be recorded. There must be a whistle-blowing policy in place for employees.
3. EDI Standards
3.1 ANTI-DISCRIMINATION
All workers are treated with respect and dignity. No worker is subject to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment, abuse or other form of intimidation. There is no discrimination in employment, including hiring, compensation, advancement, discipline, termination or retirement.
3.2 EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
The Conduit is committed to creating an open and inclusive culture.
Discrimination based on race, ethnicity, age, role, gender, gender identity, colour, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, dependants, disability, social class, union membership or political views is not tolerated and is dealt with openly and immediately if identified. In particular, attention is proactively paid to the rights of workers most vulnerable to discrimination.
4. Health and Safety Standards
A safe and hygienic working environment must be provided, bearing in mind specific hazards and legal requirements in line with internationally recognised certification and standards.
Suppliers must minimise the causes of hazards inherent in the working environment and take adequate steps to prevent accidents and injury to employee health associated with work or occurring during the course of work. Employees shall receive regular and recorded health and safety training which is repeated for any reassigned or new workers.
Suppliers must provide clean toilet facilities, potable water, and sanitary food storage for all employees. If accommodation is provided it must be clean, safe, and meet the basic needs of workers.
Responsibility for health and safety must be assigned to a senior management representative within the company.
5. Environmental Standards
5.1 ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES
Operations, sourcing, manufacture, distribution of products and the supply of services must be conducted with the aim of protecting and preserving the environment.
Suppliers must have environmental policies and management systems in place to ensure compliance with local and national legal requirements. These must show plans for continuous improvement.
Environmental risk assessments must be conducted of any production site or facility.
5.2 FOOD AND BEVERAGE PRODUCTS
We recognise the significance of our food and beverage (F&B) procurement and the importance of taking a thoughtful and proactive approach to supply chain management. In this area we work towards aspirational targets, in addition to insisting on mandatory minimum standards. These are detailed more fully in our Sustainability Strategy with the three over-riding principles summarised below.
We have three over-riding principles in our clubs that are reflected in our F&B supply chain:
5.2.1 Carbon neutral clubs: We monitor and externally audit our carbon footprint, actively seeking to reduce our scope 1 – 3 emissions and offsetting the residual carbon to ensure all our clubs are carbon neutral.
5.2.2 Zero waste: We are working with a zero waste ethos. This means that we will use every edible part of an ingredient and actively drive up our recycling to minimise the waste we send to landfill. We have a commitment to single-use plastic free kitchens, to recycling all packaging and to minimising our food waste through composting.
5.2.3 Plant-driven: Our menus are plant-driven, with predominantly vegetarian and vegan choices. The meat, fish and dairy that we do serve is procured to meet ethical and animal welfare standards. All our ingredients are locally sourced and seasonal where possible, or diverted from food waste where not.
On the rare occasions when we produce food from global farmers, we ensure that minimum standards are adhered to in relation to working conditions and fair pay, and also in relation to driving positive social change in local communities. Where relevant this is through third party certified programmes such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance.
We use a bespoke scoring and assessment system to assess and select our F&B suppliers with reference to the above principles, ensuring that we consciously select suppliers who share our commitment to minimising our environmental impact, maximising our positive social impact and integrating fair and ethical practices throughout their own procurement and supply chain.
6. Our Accountability and Ongoing Commitments
All Conduit staff have shared responsibility for integrating the provisions of this policy into their daily decision-making. Our Global Impact team holds overall accountability for developing a coordinated and integrated approach to implementing this policy across the whole organisation. We will review this policy and associated procedures on an annual basis.
7. Transparency and Reporting
Recognising that our commitment to sustainability requires ongoing attention and work, we have clear due diligence processes as part of our procurement of any supplier, and regularly review our suppliers to ensure ongoing compliance with these mandatory standards.
Over and above this, the focus of our work is to drive and exemplify best practice within The Conduit. We set targets in relation to this aspirational work that we report against to the CEO and our Board as well as publicly to our key stakeholders on an annual basis.
We report with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative standards to help us map our own progress against the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
