Greening the future of business

The Kingston Green Business Community was formed in a partnership between the council and local business orientated organisations during Sustainable September 2022, as part of the borough’s collective response to climate change. 

The voluntary community helps businesses of all sizes by empowering them to reduce their environmental impact and running costs, while helping its members to thrive in a growing green economy.

Over 80 organisations have benefited from a range of support over the last year, including sessions on energy crisis management, decarbonising websites, funding green projects and access to environmental sustainability courses. 

Councillor Ian Manders, Portfolio Holder for Climate Action and Sustainable Transport said:

Kingston has a rich history of business and technical and engineering innovation and there’s a real opportunity to continue this tradition through the work of the Kingston Green Business Community.

 

There are opportunities available to businesses of all sizes to grow while tackling climate change - including reduction of environmental impact and running costs, and creating new jobs.

Several of the organisations have achieved the nationally recognised Green Mark accreditation for improving their environmental credentials and reducing their carbon footprint, saving a projected 8.36 tonnes of CO2e annually. 

A trial project turning food waste into electricity is operating in the borough, involving members JNDC and Limetrack, stopping 1.4 tonnes of food waste from going to landfill and preventing over 6 tonnes of CO2e from being generated.

Recently, the Community met at the Rose Theatre for an event where the key speech was by Robert O’Dowd, Chief Executive of the theatre, who spoke about sustainability in the arts and the challenges faced by arts organisations across the country. This was followed by a workshop and networking session where members reflected on the past year and planned for the future.

Felicity Leicester, Founder and Owner of  Felicity’s Services said:

It has been great working with KGBC from its inception. They are being so pro active and open to ideas from local businesses, providing meetings and events to help us discuss and promote our services which can help the borough improve.

 

It's been wonderful helping local businesses and charities by both reducing their costs, whilst also providing solutions to reduce their carbon footprint with green energy options.

Businesses and organisations of all sizes are welcome to join the community, for free, by visiting the Connected Kingston website.