John Pass Jewellers is an independent family-run business with boutiques in Crewe and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The family's history in watchmaking and jewellery dates back seventy-six years and they are a core part of the local business community with sixteen full-time employees.

In recent years, they have been taking strides to get ahead of the industry on sustainability, with several social and environmental targets in place. They are aligned to two technical standards: the Gold Standard for Global Goals (established in 2003 by WWF and other NGOs) for their carbon offsetting and removal work, and PAS 2060 for carbon neutrality.

As a high street retail store, they are not under any great pressure to measure or reduce emissions. However, John Pass Jewellers understands how vital it is to the wellbeing of their local community and their duty as a responsible business to act on sustainability. This is core to their team and strategy.

First steps: Measuring their carbon footprint

In 2021, they began measuring their carbon footprint, achieving a carbon neutral accreditation: one of the first in their industry to do so. They were ambitious to do more and influence their staff and customers with their sustainability story.

This ambition includes a 25% reduction target in emissions on their 2021 baseline by 2030, although they have not yet committed to a wider net zero goal as there have been concerns around how practical this is with certain elements of their footprint outside of their control.

Net zero achievements to date

So far, some of their achievements include:

• switching to electric vehicles;

• installing solar panels on one of their stores (with one store under conservation area restrictions, delaying the process);

• insulating their buildings and moving over to LED lights and timer switches; and

• implementing cycle-to-work schemes for the team.

They are also experimenting, where possible, with other actions such as removing fresh-cut flowers from events and offering free electric car charging for staff and visitors.

Net zero commitment at all levels

No small part of their action is due to a commitment at all levels of the organization. Their team engagement has been a driving force coming out of COVID-19, with carbon emissions being a gateway to other social action. Measuring their footprint has caused positive ripple effects across the organization. Engaging with carbon consultants to measure their carbon footprint has provided a more tangible and motivating focus for the wider team to get involved.

Most of the team now know the business’s organizational carbon footprint. This drives confidence in the actions they achieve together, since they can track the impacts made on their footprint. It creates a tangible sense of achievement from the changes made.

Net zero challenges ahead

There are several challenges that remain, in part around meeting their 25% reduction by 2030 target. While they are making good progress on reductions, due to a 2022 baseline reflecting some elements of the COVID-19 lockdowns, John Pass Jewellers are not on target.

A key driver of their footprint, which is not abatable due to the nature of the business, is that air travel has started to come back into their annual activity. This is causing a considerable emissions increase. While action is being taken internally to reduce the impact, there is now some friction with meeting client expectations.

As a luxury retailer, they need to offer premium experiences to clients, such as flying them business class to events in Europe. Doing this by train is not practical nor acceptable for the client experience. Meeting client expectations is paramount, even though luxury experiences are sometimes at odds with a business with net zero ambitions.

Lack of net zero transparency

Presently, the jewellery industry is under little legislative pressure around a transition to net zero. This means it’s more difficult to get data from suppliers about their carbon footprints. As an early adopter on the journey within retailing, it makes it hard for John Pass Jewellers to make informed decisions without knowing the carbon impact of activities such as packaging.

Requests for emissions data are often ignored or met with confusion, and a lack of awareness throughout the supply chain is common. For example, while the raw sources of goods such as metals may have some ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) and carbon data, often there are missing links further up the chain. This makes it impossible to get a truly accurate picture from source to the shop. 

As a retailer, John Pass Jewellers is at the end of this chain, so any break in it quickly disconnects their attempt to make better decisions on what to stock, as well as hampering their Scope 3 emission measurements.

They are looking for further leadership in this space and feel that the subject of net zero as a whole is lacking direction and targeting smaller organizations. BSI is in a good position to provide clear information on this, with BSI Flex 3030 providing further supplementation to their PAS 2060 implementation.

Positive values

While challenges remain, their commitment to doing the right thing is unwavering. 

John Pass Jewellers treats their carbon footprint with the same accuracy ‘as if they were filing an accurate tax return’. It is something they are committed to doing annually and will protect the spend on it due to a core belief in competing on values, not price.

The team believes these positive values will play out and benefit them in the long term and must be protected. However, this can lead to frustration when others may not be doing so.

A clear roadmap for transitioning to net zero

Internally, the challenge for John Pass Jewellers has been in having a clear roadmap and sense of direction beyond their existing carbon neutrality journey. 

This is where John Pass Jewellers look to BSI Flex 3030 for leadership and to give a clear direction of travel to overcome internal inertia and frustrations around limited control and resources. The document remains practical on these next steps and gives clear direction without too much reliance on technical language, utilizing flow diagrams and example stories.

Having a single document to refer to can be a great advantage, especially when there are many other resources which can quickly take users down rabbit holes of external sources and website links, and which can quickly become overwhelming. 

Learn more about how standards are supporting organizations to achieve their net zero targets, by visiting our Net Zero topic page.

About BSI Flex 3030

BSI Flex 3030 Net zero transition plans for small and medium enterprises. Code of practice can be used by any size or type of organization, profit or non-profit, but it is designed primarily for use by those with fewer than 250 employees.

This standard can help you get to grips with your net zero transition by providing a clear and simple code of practice. In other words, it outlines the right way to do things, as agreed by a consensus of experts in the field.

It gives practical step-by-step guidance, arranged so that you can follow a logical sequence of actions to develop, implement and maintain your transition plans.

And it’ll help whether you’re working on an internal plan, or responding to external requirements, from a potential new client, for example.

Since John Pass Jewellers implemented the standard, a second version of the Flex has been made available. In this new iteration, the Advisory Group and technical author considered issues raised by users in the public consultation period – many of which were brought up in this case study – around clarity, ease of use and support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

The content of the Flex was checked again to ensure greater clarity and simplicity of language and an illustrative example on how to actively start out in planning to transition to net zero was included in the Appendix.

Plus, there is now also a short introductory guide and checklist to BSI Flex 3030. This simple tool might be useful in fully understanding the aims and principles behind the Flex and translating those into practical action.

Download your copy for free here.

Join others like you online

If you have any questions about BSI Flex 3030 or other thoughts about your own net zero transition, please visit the Sustainability Standards Hub, or email us on sustainabilitystandards@bsigroup.com.

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