Our environment
Minimise our impact and restore the natural environment
ADAS’s business depends on the natural environment and has the potential to impact it. By understanding these impacts, we can develop effective strategies to make efficient use of all resources, minimise waste, reduce our carbon emissions and protect nature.
- Climate: We will improve our climate resilience and become a net-zero business.
- Biodiversity: We will become nature positive, investing to restore more nature than we affect through our operations.
- Water: We will protect and conserve water resources in all areas in which we work.
- Circular economy: We will embrace circular economy principles to manage resources efficiently.
Climate
- Reduce absolute scope 1 emissions by 50% compared to FY20 baseline.
- Create a working group to understand travel needs across the business and develop a hierarchy of travel choices to support more informed choices.
- Ensure all travel choices across the business are made in alignment with the sustainable travel plan.
- Purchase two electric vehicles for ADAS Boxworth by the end of FY27 to be available to all staff for meetings and site visits.
Reduce absolute scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions from fuel- and energy-related activities, business travel and employee commuting by 42% (FY20 baseline)
- Raise awareness of company car schemes for purchase of new electric vehicles by staff.
- Investigate options for installing electric vehicle charging points at ADAS sites.
- Reduce business travel emissions by 5% compared to FY25.
- Increase use of electric vehicles for car hire, aiming to achieve 25% electric/hybrid hires by 2030.
Reduce the energy impact of our main office sites
- Replace old boilers at High Mowthorpe and Rosemaund with more energy-efficient, sustainable options.
- Review energy efficiency audits and identify cost-effective options to reduce energy use on sites.
- Provide site-specific updates to staff on how the heating and cooling systems work at the beginning of winter and spring to ensure optimisation.
Biodiversity
Enhance the biodiversity value of the areas around our sites
- Establish site-level activity days to create low-maintenance biodiversity sites, such as bird boxes, bug hotels and other small habitat features.
- Work with grounds maintenance team to develop a plan for what no-mow areas might look like and how they can be maintained to keep sites tidy but deliver biodiversity benefits.
Increase the number of employees engaging in activities to support nature as part of their volunteer days
- Identify local nature-based organisations, such as the Wildlife Trusts, RSPB or National Trust, where volunteers could support.
- Open biodiversity winter webinars to all staff to raise awareness.
- Set up lunchtime challenges in which staff can volunteer to collect and identify samples from the local area and share results.
Water
Protect water resources in all locations where we work
- Start collecting data on water use across our main sites.
- Identify where there are opportunities for water reduction without harming trial outcomes.
- Ensure all glasshouse, polytunnel and hardstanding irrigation systems are well maintained to minimise loss of water through leaks and drips.
Circular economy
Reduce the waste produced on sites by 2027 and increase the proportion reused or recycled by 2030
- Develop individual site registers of what waste is produced, its volume and how it is managed in line with the waste hierarchy.
- Increase opportunities for bulking waste up between sites to reduce the cost of recycling.
- Develop a responsible waste management strategy across sites that promotes actions to reduce waste production and increase recycling.
Sustainability has been at the heart of ADAS’s work for decades
Discover our sustainability goals and ambitions until 2030.
View the ADAS Second Nature strategy