What’s it like to win a Social Enterprise Award?
Twice a year, Oxford Hub runs the Social Enterprise Awards together with Oxford University’s Research Services. Open to Oxford University students and staff with a project or social enterprise that benefits the local community, the Awards have benefitted over 40 different ventures. In this post, we hear from Carbon Codes, a student-founded social enterprise with environmental ambitions.
45% of Britons consider environmental sustainability when choosing meals, but many also report giving up on their efforts because of cost or poor access to information. Carbon Codes wants to solve that problem. We make these options easier to find and, what’s more, we reward you for picking them.
We started Carbon Codes in 2019 with a simple idea: what if people could get discounts for picking the sustainable option?
Environmentally friendly discounts tackle environmental issues at the individual level, recognizing that climate change is a challenge we must all face together. On their own, one person won’t have an impact. But together, there is nothing we can’t do. This idea lies at the heart of Carbon Codes’ mission.
We work with restaurants and online food retailers. To be featured on our platform, food items must meet our academically-sourced Sustainability Criteria.
The underlying metric of concern is carbon footprint; we want to make sure our dishes are holistically sustainable, but our number one priority is ensuring a low carbon-footprint of all items we approve for customers.
We try to ensure all items included on our platform are limited to emissions below 1.36kg CO2eq. This number reflects the necessary per meal food-carbon budget for the UK to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. Our criteria sort out most high emission foods, but we always double check so our users get the seriously sustainable food they deserve.
It wasn’t easy to achieve. Developing our criteria and platform took months of research and work. During the summer of 2020, we applied for the Social Enterprise ‘Do It’ Award in order to further our vision. We were lucky to be awarded a grant from the panel, and have been hard-at-work on platform development since. The funding has enabled us to focus on developing our product to meet our specifications and shaping it around our mission. This is in addition to enabling us to conduct initial market research, a crucial part of a start up’s early stages. Oxford Hub has also provided us with connections and resources to help increase our knowledge base as well suggestions for potential partnerships — we look forward to partnering with OxUnboxed once the lockdown restrictions are lifted!
In September, we finally launched. So if you head to our website, you can now find discounts on sustainable food both online and at Oxford restaurants, with the click of a single button.
Our Oxford partners include White Rabbit and Bbuona, where we are proud to announce you can now get up to 20% off for picking the sustainable option. Online, you can check out One Planet Pizza or Mitch’s Kitchen, and pick up a tasty meal for less. In total, we now have eighteen partners, and we’re looking to expand. In the next year, we aim to vastly improve our online product offering and expand to restaurants in Bristol and London.
As Carbon Codes continues to grow, our message of environmental sustainability will stay at the forefront of everything we do. We hope this commitment will attract people who are just as interested in sustainability as we are, whether to use our platform or to help further our vision. If you’re interested, join us! Because, together, we can revolutionise the food industry.
Applications for the Hilary round of Social Enterprise Awards close on the 19th February at 12pm. If you would like to apply, have a look at the criteria and email your completed application form to eliza@oxfordhub.org
Oxford Hub will be hosting a Speaker Event with Carbon Codes on the 9th February at 5pm. It is free and open to all. To attend, please sign-up here.
To find out more about Carbon Codes, visit their website, LinkedIn or Facebook.
