Case study
How Midcounties Co-operative is rallying a community around climate impact
Calculated footprint
Carbon credits
Reforestation
The Midcounties Co-operative, publically known as Your Co-op, is a thriving co-operative with businesses in Food, Travel, Childcare, Energy, Telecoms, Post Offices and Flexible Benefits. With a model that’s based around the core values of democracy, openness, equality and social Responsibility, the profits they make allow them to support the communities they serve. The Midcounties Co-operative’s purpose is all about building a fairer, more sustainable, and ethical future, so they’re very much our perfect climate partner.
At a glance
157,046
4,721
32%
About Midcounties Co-operative
Location
UK
Company size
6,500 employees
Industry
Utilities, Childcare, Travel, Food, Retail
Use case
Calculated footprint, reduced business emissions, funded carbon avoidance credits and funded tree planting
Services used
Tree planting, carbon avoidance credits, API integrations and sub-profiles
The issue
Prior to starting funding climate action with Ecologi, as a large and multi-faceted organisation,The Midcounties Co-operative already had a relatively complex climate strategy and carbon footprint which varied considerably between trading divisions. When the team decided to get to grips with their footprint in 2022, they partnered with EcoAct and carried out a detailed analysis of scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Using the robust and externally-verified data provided, the team set clear reduction goals based on sustainability-linked finance targets and a public pledge to reduce direct GHG emissions by 50%. They also set near-term Science-Based Targets for scopes 1, 2 and 3, which were validated by the SBTi.
They got off to a great start, smashing their 2023/24 goal of reducing GHG emissions by 25% compared to 2019, and actually achieving a highly impressive 32%. This was mainly done through investment in energy-efficiency measures in stores, including refrigeration upgrades, automation and LED lighting. In parallel they also worked with Younity and Octopus Energy on an amazing initiative to provide funding for community renewable energy projects.
Meeting the expectations of their community was a key factor in the team’s decision to partner with Ecologi. As a member-owned co-operative society, they frequently conduct research which shows time and time again that climate change and the environment are top priorities for their members.
The team saw a not-to-be-missed opportunity to bundle climate impact and tree planting into their products, and to use Ecologi’s sub-forest feature to enable their customers to see the carbon footprint of their wider product range while also showing customers how it can be mitigated.
The challenges
The Midcounties Co-operative were prioritising finding a high-quality climate action partner and were impressed and reassured by Ecologi’s commitment to trust and transparency. By providing certified evidence of impact after Midcounties scoped the emissions of broadband and mobile products, we allowed them to offer members climate action solutions with full confidence.
The solution
The Midcounties Co-operative is committed to building a fairer, more sustainable, and ethical future, so the Ecologi partnership was a natural step on their journey. A key part of our work together was building climate impact into their proposition for their broadband and mobile products to help customers give back to the planet.
They do this by funding monthly carbon avoidance, including nature-based, renewables and community-based projects, which is greater than the emissions produced by their products and services (calculated and inclusive of a significant margin of error), while also contributing to reforestation through tree planting. Their travel business also plants a tree for every Co-op Holiday booking, and The Midcounties Co-operative signed up to the Million Tree Pledge in December 2022.
Sharing success is important to The Midcounties Co-operative, and they use our detailed climate impact project pages to create their own online project spotlights, showcasing the impact of the projects they support. Customers and members are regularly encouraged to explore their collective impact on the Ecologi profile pages, with sub-forests created for different trading divisions.
The results
Since 2021, The Midcounties Co-operative has funded the planting of 157,046 trees, avoided 4,721 tonnes of CO2e and supported 50 projects.
This is an outstanding achievement, which is why we’ve recognised them as a “Gold Award Winner” in our most recent For our Planet Awards.
Improved brand reputation and an increased ability to attract new customers are among the key benefits of the Ecologi partnership. The Utilities trading group in particular has seen a notable change in the demographic of customers taking up their mobile and broadband services for the first time, and they have enjoyed real success in recruiting younger customers.
Building climate impact into broadband and mobile products has also proven useful in retaining existing customers. Not only can they save money by extending their mobile and broadband products, but they can also contribute towards climate impact. This unbeatable offer has helped the Utilities division to maintain extremely low churn rates for their industry.
Clearly, including climate impact in products and creating a straightforward customer offer to evidence their long-standing environmental aspirations has really helped The Midcounties Co-operative rally their community and engage both new and existing customers alike.
"Ecologi has an incredibly straight-forward and transparent approach, which allows s to provide fully auditable evidence of impact and tree planting purchases"
Stuart Newman, Head of Utilities at Your Co-op
