The Salvation Army's trading arm has cut its operational carbon emissions by 12% over the last year.

The cut by Salvation Army Trading Company has been achieved through “significant progress in our buildings and transport footprint”, according to its latest social and environmental impact report.

This details that seven in ten of its company cars are electric and more than four in five of its shops are converted to LED lighting.

All its electricity is now from certified UK renewables.

Other action taken includes creating an energy efficiency online course for home workers. So far 333 employees have completed this course.

In addition, it has removed more than 300 HGV trailer loads from roads by moving three quarters of its Scottish trailer journeys to rail. This is equivalent to around 158 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Action planned for next year includes more than doubling its electric van fleet in its charity shop division, trialling electric vans for its clothing collection fleet and convert all shops to LED lighting.

It also plans to replace its remaining gas-powered forklift trucks to electric powered trucks and continue a policy of using video conferencing and encourage public transport use for meetings.

Previous efforts include installing 20 solar panels at its Kettering donation centre in 2022.

“In the sunniest months they can generate over 50% of consumption,” states its impact report.

It adds: “We have also collected 65,000 tonnes of clothing and diverted these items to good uses. Combined, our work has seen 440,000 tonnes of avoided carbon emissions in the financial year 2022-23.”

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