Environmental Policy

To minimise the environmental impact of our work, we shall:

• Comply with all relevant environmental legislation.
• Commit to using sustainable travel systems whenever possible.
• Work to prevent pollution, reduce business waste, and minimise the consumption of resources.
• Educate and Motivate employees to work in an environmentally responsible manner.
• Commit to using suppliers and subcontractors that also work in an environmentally responsible manner.

On top of this, we’re also a committed member of 1% for the Planet and are keen carbon off-setters.

As a remote company with no fixed office, we carbon offset for our employees instead.

Once a quarter, employees report their electricity, oil, and gas usage.

At the end of the year, we do some maths to work out how many kilograms of CO₂ each employee has used, and offset that.

Wherever possible, employees should travel to business meetings, meetups, and conferences using public transport.

We offset emissions from flights and car journeys annually.

We use hosting providers that use green data centres and have strong environmental policies.

Digital Ocean

Digital Ocean uses a variety of data centres. We use their LON1 and FRA1 cloud regions, hosted in EQUINIX LD5 and Interxion respectively.

Heroku

Heroku is owned, managed, and run by Salesforce.

We’re a paperless company, but sometimes we need to write down ideas or print things out. Our notebooks are made from recycled paper and we use FSC-certified paper in our printers.

When we buy swag for ourselves or other lucky people, we make every effort to buy sustainable products. That means we look for organic, fair-trade, and sustainable products to stick our logo and slogans on.

We recycle our old hardware at local council facilities (after we’ve securely wiped all data from them!)

In this policy, the following terms are defined as follows:

Us/We/Etch

Etch Software Limited

Carbon Offset

The process of removing carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere.

Although this Policy explicitly covers the responsibilities of staff, it does not cover the matter exclusively. Other Etch policies, standards, and procedures define additional responsibilities. All users are required to read, understand and comply with other policies, standards, and procedures. If any staff member does not fully understand anything in these documents, they should consult with the persons listed under responsibilities. The aforementioned persons shall resolve any conflicts arising from this policy.