Search

  • Environment, Social Responsibility and Governance (ESG)

    The responsibility of a business is to give back to the world just as it gives to us.

We are committed to ongoing improvements designed to reflect our responsibility for both environmental and social impact. We want to play our part in making our world a better place to live, work and play. Our ESG policies are in three parts: environment, social, and code of ethics.

Environment - we are Carbon Neutral

Our commitment to the environment means all products ordered from our website have been offset using advanced measuring techniques by independent organisations (Carbon neutral to your door), whether you are ordering for your bar or your home. Rest assured that by ordering with us, you are helping maintain the planet's health.

Urban Bar offsets 125% of our CO2e Carbon Footprint, contributing to several projects in the developing world that support a variety of social benefits locally. Here’s how we are helping:

Environment, Social Responsibility and Governance (ESG)

Urban Bar is now completely plastic-free in our packaging!
Following an extensive trial using the latest paper packaging technology we became the first company in the UK to implement a newly developed packaging machine. This means we offer a fully plastic-free delivery without compromising on protection.
When you order from our website, we only use paper and tissue materials, paper tape and paper document wallets, as well as FSC (100% recycled) sustainable boxes to safely protect your order.
 

The Portel-Pará Reduced Deforestation (REDD) Project in Brazil project works to prevent deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, helping maintain the natural habitats of numerous endangered species. The REDD Project covers an area of rainforest of 177,899.5 Hectares, home to an abundance of diverse species important to the maintenance of various tree species throughout the rainforest. The project aims to avoid over 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) greenhouse gas emissions over 40 years.
 
 
We’re proud to announce that we have achieved the Planet Mark Business Certification, furthering our commitment to reduce our impact on society.
The Planet Mark Business Certification is an internationally recognised sustainability certification for all organisations acknowledging continuous progress, encouraging action and building an empowered community of like-minded individuals. 
In order to achieve this sustainability certification, we’ve followed a robust three-step process: Measuring our impact, engaging everyone in the business and communicating our progress. We have measured our own carbon footprint and will continue to take responsibility of our carbon emissions to have a positive impact on planet and society. We are also contributing to the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) as we believe that it’s important, more than ever, to do more good and create a sustainable future.   
Our entire business has contributed to our achievement in becoming Planet Mark certified, and every individual will continue to play an important role in our sustainability commitment.  
We want to continue to have a positive impact through our business and hope that we can empower our community to take climate action. We hope that you will join us in this movement for change. 
We encourage you to get in touch if you would like further details on our journey.
 
We are proud to be sponsoring the freedom flight prize. This ground breaking initiative will be awarded for the first zero carbon emission plane capable of carrying 100+ passengers across the Atlantic. 
The aim of this programme is to encourage and accelerate the development of  truly zero carbon emission flying for all.
 

Environment & Social 


We also support the Rimba Raya project in Indonesia, supporting an economically viable living to deforestation in the region and, in doing so, providing a range of social benefits locally, bringing needed employment, health improvement, and biodiversity.
Rimba Raya is located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, and is one of the largest REDD+ peat swamp forest projects in the world, avoiding nearly 130 million tonnes of carbon emissions. Rimba Raya protects one of the most highly endangered ecosystems in the world. Rimba Raya develops livelihood programmes in surrounding villages (addressing all 17 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals) to provide education, employment and hope for the future.
 
Urban Bar is proud to have adopted Joyce, an orangutan in Borneo. She was only a few months old when she was taken from her mother and then kept as a pet for nearly a year. Joyce lives in the Orangutan Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre, Ketapang, West Kalimantan, Borneo. Joyce underwent a rehabilitation program to ensure she could adjust to the unnatural environment of being kept as a pet. She now enjoys living in a forest with her soul mate Gunung in the Orangutan Rescue Centre. Read More About International Animal Rescue
 
 

M’tetezi Improved cook-stoves Balaka District, Malawi

The energy-efficient M’tetezi cook stove is a portable biomass stove designed for burning wood. The replacement of traditional stoves with M’tetezi stoves improves heat transfer, hence reducing the total amount of fuel required for cooking and reducing the amount of GHG emitted into the atmosphere.
The M’tetezi cookstove is a typical rocket stove locally manufactured in Malawi. The stove is operated by inserting one or two pieces of wood into the stove through the opening in the side. A draft is created by the large temperature difference between the air entering the bottom of the stove and the hot combustion gases exiting from the top of the vertical combustion chamber. Cooking with the M’tetezi cookstoves requires significantly less firewood than traditional cooking.
Wood is increasingly expensive and scarce in most parts of Malawi. Besides reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the M’tetezi cook stoves furthermore reduce indoor air pollution (carbon monoxide and particulate matter). This reduction in exposure of especially women and young children is expected to reduce the risk related to their health (e.g., respiratory problems, issues related to eyes due to smoke). In comparison to open cooking fires, the use of the M’tetezi cook stove will reduce the amount of time spent obtaining wood fuel, especially for children and mothers. The saved time can be channelled to other activities like buying food, clothes, medical treatments, etc.
 

REDD+ Project for Caribbean Guatemala: The Conservation Coast

This project reduces CO2 emissions by preventing deforestation caused by the conversion of forests into cropland and pasture. The project area is located in Department of Izabal in the Caribbean coast region of Guatemala. Belonging to the biologically diverse Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, forests in the project area are important nationally and globally for the ecosystem services they provide.
The forests in the project area have historically experienced a continued reduction in biomass due to the expansion of industrial agriculture and migration of subsistence farmers and cattle ranchers into these areas. Between 1991 and 2010, approximately 55,440 hectares of forests were lost in the Caribbean Guatemala region, one of the fastest deforestation rates in Latin America. This project aims to alleviate these pressures on the forest and protect it by supporting alternative activities that generate income for the communities, including agroforest system plantation and ecotourism.
The project also aims to empower marginalised and vulnerable communities through the legalisation of land, promotion of reproductive rights and participation in resource management. As well as raise awareness of rare, threatened, and endangered species and their importance.
These project activities, beyond protecting local forests and biodiversity, contribute to social and economic development in one of the poorest areas of Guatemala.
 

Larimar Wind Farm Project

The Larimar Wind Farm project generates clean electricity using wind energy. The project involves the construction and operation of two wind farms located in Enriquillo Region of the Dominican Republic. “Larimar I” has 15 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 49.5 MW; and “Larimar II” has 14 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 48.3 MW. The total installed capacity of the wind farm is 97.8 MW.
The project owner, EGE Haina, has invested more than 5 million dollars in social development projects that benefit 12 communities around their wind farms. The contributions include the rehabilitation and interconnection of the electric transmission networks in this area of the country; the construction, improvement, and equipment for educational, sporting, cultural and sanitary facilities. Also, the construction and renovation of roads.
The residents of the municipality of Enriquillo, Barahona province, have benefited from health services by means of medical outreach programs, renovations and equipment for the laboratory and the emergency room of the hospital.
 

Talas De Maciel 2 Wind Farm

The purpose of the project is to generate clean renewable electricity from Wind Power and supply it to the national grid of Uruguay.
The project generates electricity from renewable sources through the construction and operation of a 50 MW wind farm, located at the department of Flores, in the Southeast region of Uruguay. This wind farm will consist of 25 turbines, each with a capacity of 2 MW.
The energy generated by the project will be supplied to the national grid of Uruguay through a substation annexed to the park with interconnection to the substation at Ute Cerro Colorado (CCO), which in turn is connected through a high-voltage of 150 kV with the Trinidad Ute station.
The power plant will have an expected operating life of 20 years and will displace a total amount of 191,854 MWh/year from the national power grid, generating, emission reductions of 119,427 tCO2 per year, on average.
 
The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.
ActNow is the United Nations campaign to inspire people to act for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Goals can improve life for all of us. Cleaner air. Safer cities. Equality. Better jobs. These issues matter to everyone. But progress is too slow. We have to act, urgently, to accelerate changes that add up to better lives on a healthier planet.
We are committed to ActNow and support these goals through our sustainability and carbon offsetting initiatives and business operations.

NGOs and Sustainability Certifiers

We collaborate with respected NGOs and effective, people-driven sustainability certifiers.

Code of Ethics

Urban Bar will conduct its business honestly and ethically wherever we operate. We will constantly improve the quality of our services, products, and operations and create a reputation for honesty, fairness, respect, responsibility, integrity, trust, and sound business judgment. Our complete code of ethics is here.