Every newspaper is talking about the climate summit that is happening from the 6th to the 18th of November in Egypt: the COP 27.  In this post, we will explain to you what is being discussed, and why it is so important. 

🤷‍♀️ What is COP? 

Since 1992, there have been 27 climate summits called “Conference of the Parties”. Almost every country on Earth is attending, to discuss how to tackle climate change. 

The conference brings together all levels of society: heads of state and ministers, along with climate activists, civil society representatives, NGOs and CEOs. Therefore, COPs are the perfect opportunity to: 

             🌏 Review the current steps nations are taking to face climate change 

             🌏 Establish new strategies to reduce emissions and achieve Net Zero worldwide 

             🌏 Define new targets to mitigate the predicted outcomes of climate change 

             🌏 Share solutions and brainstorm ideas to give a world response 

During these meetings, nations...

Dane Barnard becomes the first qualified Green Manager in the UK 

Dane Barnard, executive chef at Humble Grape - Battersea, has become the first person in the UK to successfully complete a brand-new qualification for Environmental Sustainability Management in Hospitality.  

Fifty Shades Greener (FSG) and the Confederation of Tourism & Hospitality (CTH) joined forces in late 2021 to create the first Level 4 certificate in environmental sustainability management in hospitality. This is the first qualification of its kind to be regulated as an official qualification on the Ofqual framework of education. 

“Reducing carbon emissions should be something that becomes paramount in our daily routines if we really want to provoke a mind-set change. Environmental education is key to driving this transformation and the general education system has a responsibility to not only prepare learners for the world of work, but provide them with the skills to influence employers, politicians and the wid...

Today, 16th of October, is “World Food Day”. Food is rising in price, but in 2019, Ireland wasted 1.1 million tonnes of food waste, or 55 kg per head.  We are dedicating this post to showing you how to reduce your food waste, save money and buy more sustainable. 

Food waste 

Retain this sentence: 1/3 of the global food produced is lost or wasted 

Consumers, supermarkets, and retailers play an important role in this percentage. When we waste food, we are wasting other resources, such as the energy and the water that were required to be produced. If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third-biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Fruits and vegetables, plus roots and tubers have the highest wastage rates of any food (40-50%) compared to cereals (30%), fish (35%), oil seeds, meat, and dairy (20%) 

Some tips to reduce your food waste (and, at the same time, save money): 

🍊 Buy only what you are going to eat. It is not necessary to be prepared for the next apo...

We are sure you already know that we are in a climate crisis caused mainly by our GHG emissions. But have you ever heard about Scopes, and more specifically, about Scope 3 emissions? In this post, we explain the basics and the first steps you can take to start measuring and managing them. 

🌱 What are Scope 3 emissions? 

Most of the companies use the GHG Corporate Protocol guide to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions. According to it, the emissions are classified in Scopes 1,2,3 and are the basis for GHG reporting. 

- Scope 1 covers the direct emissions from company facilities and vehicles 

- Scope 2 covers the indirect emissions coming from purchased electricity, heat and steam 

- Scope 3 covers the rest of the indirect emissions (coming from business travel, purchased goods and services, waste disposal, use of sold products, investment, transportation and distribution…) 

In short, Scope 3 emissions are the indirect GHG emissions that occur in a company’s supply chain. 

Gone are the days when business was just ‘business’, with economics and essentially ‘making money’ at any cost, taking precedence above all. 

The bottom line was the sole focus of all shareholders, CEOs, chair people and executive managers. It was really that black and white. 

Where was the human element of business? And if it was there, where did it factor for business people? 

Businesses both large and small have a responsibility to their community, to their society, to their environment and to their team, to ultimately ‘self-regulate’ and look at their impact on those areas. Cost savings are important, financial turnover is important, however it has become increasingly apparent that when it comes to ‘business as usual’, those with tunnel vision won’t last in the competitive world of corporations and enterprise. 

Many companies believe that simply throwing money at charities or environmental projects is sufficient, however CSR like with a business’ green programme, needs to be ...

How many plastic bottles of water or soft drinks do you purchase every month? Or every week or every year?

There is a lot of talk about reducing plastic as it continues to end up in our oceans and rivers, but there isn’t too much talk about the possible harmful effects that plastic might have on our own health! 

We are not here to scare anyone or tread the fine line of coming across as a “conspiracy theorist". However many scientists have investigated plastic and the harmful chemicals it can release in liquids and food, so we want to take a look at the facts available to us.

A report from https://www.consumerreports.org/  states that researchers analysed 34 everyday plastic products made out of eight different types of plastic to see how common toxicity might be. 74% of the products they tested were toxic in some way or another.

Is it fair to presume that the average consumer such as ourselves presumes that if plastic is being used to package our food and drink, that it must be s...

In today’s world of instability, there are certain parts of our daily lives both personally and in business that we feel we have SOME amount of control over. 

The COVID Climate that still shadows us daily, has reinforced the idea of personal responsibility across the globe and it came down to the simple tasks of social distancing and hygiene.

Washing your hands, cleaning down surfaces and touch points - there was and is, a real palpable fear of dropping the ball, resulting in serious consequences both for the human element and for your business. 

Within all industries, there is a need for sanitation and cleaning. Some require it more than others. But sanitation has leapt up the scale and is now a top priority.  

Something we can speak from experience with at the 50 Shades Greener office, is cleaning within the hospitality industry. It doesn’t matter the department that we worked in, there would always be an element of it involved. 

Often you would find yourself working with cle...

Allow us to steal 3 minutes of your time today to show you just how simple it is to reduce your hotel’s carbon footprint and even achieve carbon neutrality. 

Sustainability is a word that is thrown around constantly and in so many scenarios that it becomes an unachievable task and a blurry concept in our minds. So we want to demystify 'sustainability' and break it into actionable steps: 

Calculate your current Carbon Emissions

Once again, this is easier than you might think.

1. Firstly you need to begin to analyse and understand your utility bills for waste, water and energy. 
2. Set up a system and assign a person from your team to monitor the CO2 kg produced at your business every month – this person is going to be your Green Manager who should report to you and the rest of the time periodically. 
3. Observe your building, where and when is energy being used, where and when is water being used and where and what waste is being produced. 
4. Provide team training to your employees fro...

In collaboration with the Confederation of Tourism & Hospitality (CTH), Fifty Shades Greener has created the first Level 4 certificate in environmental sustainability management in hospitality. 

This is the first qualification of its kind to be regulated as an official qualification on the Ofqual framework with the first green manager awarded the qualification in April of this year!  

This is truly a pinch me moment for me, having suffered from impostor syndrome for years, to have one of my programmes validated in a framework of education is an amazing achievement.  

Sustainable Hospitality

FSG was born out of the hospitality sector, with all people in my team having come from a background in hospitality, and our educational programmes respond to an urgent need to address the sector’s environmental impact, attract new talent and reduce cost. 

Reducing carbon emissions should be something that becomes paramount in our daily routines if we really want to provoke a mind-set chan...

Do you own or run a Hospitality Business? And do you know how much money are you putting in the bin? 

There is a staggering statistic that 70% of the Food Waste produced by Hotels and Restaurants is actually avoidable. While we are putting food in the bin there are millions of people starving in other countries but for this piece we are going to move away from the human side of this problem, and look at it from an angle that motivates the majority of business owners: Cost Savings!

Stop throwing your money in the bin 

Putting food in the bin is quite literally the equivalent of putting your hard-earned cash in the bin. Of all waste types, this absolutely applies to food waste because of the many elements you have to factor in; 

1. You have purchased the raw produce at a cost. 
2. You have stored at your premises in fridges and freezers and therefore using energy that also costs you money.
3. You have then cooked it, using energy as well as staff wages to add to that cost. 
4. And then wh...