Our sustainability journey is a five-year (2024-2028) commitment to remove, reduce and otherwise recover carbon emissions from Vintage Bentley. We are in an ongoing discussion with our suppliers to ensure that what we purchase is supplied to us having been produced in a manner that is as minimally impactful on the environment as possible. Since most of our parts are made of metal it is difficult to remove the CO2 emissions caused by their manufacture from the business. Nonetheless, our ongoing research and development programme is developing product improvements to reduce CO2 emissions, for example by using 3D printing.

We have collaborated with P1 Fuels, who manufacture and supply 100% genuine non-fossil fuel; their exhaust emissions can now be rendered carbon neutral without any modifications. We now run this fuel in all our competition cars where possible.

We have also entered a partnership with both Tree-V and Net-Hero, to recover the CO2 emissions from all aspects of Vintage Bentley. From 1st January 2024, the inbuilt carbon emissions from Parts, operating the Workshop, Showroom, and Office – including commuting emissions, heat and light, will be fully recovered. The parts store’s stock itself will be recovered in its entirety by 2028. This all means we can run the business in a carbon neutral way.

Contributing to the UK achieving net-zero is something Vintage Bentley wish to support. The carbon legacy of pre-war cars is, arguably, minimal; they were built in comparatively small numbers, they were largely retired from daily use by 1945, and their average mileage even today is usually far below the national average. Rebuilding, repairing and servicing these cars is helping to preserve an important engineering capability in this country and, since the cars are all hand-built, the emissions from this work are far less than they might otherwise be.

Tree-V specialises in UK carbon capture schemes, particularly tree-planting and peatland restoration, whereas Net-Hero specialises in international offsetting, particularly through projects designed to restore Amazon-basin ecosystems.

At our request, Tree-V and Net-Hero will collaborate for the first time, to deliver a carbon recovery programme that is unique to Vintage Bentley. With the ever-evolving landscape of environmental regulations, it's important to stay ahead of the curve. The new EU rules and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) emphasize a holistic approach to carbon neutrality. Given this context, this approach ensures robust, actionable results that stand the test of current standards and also remain resilient against foreseeable regulatory changes.

Inspired by the VSCC, we have built a carbon calculator to provide information on total CO2 emitted: a) by the business in heat and light; b) through business and commuting mileages; c) in the manufacture of parts; and d) by using their total weight as a proxy, inbuilt into the motor cars themselves at the point of their original manufacture. This allows us to calculate to multiple decimal places the carbon emissions involved in, for example, undertaking a full restoration of a vintage Bentley.

Following advice from external experts, Vintage Bentley has chosen 4:1 as an amount of recovery that allows a balanced approach, equally between offsetting and capture, whilst affordably achieving ‘nature-positive’ outcomes. This will be achieved by Net-Hero offsetting two tonnes and Tree-V capturing two tonnes. This ensures both the capture, and the offset are each substantially greater than the CO2 being emitted. This is regarding the day-to-day operations of The Works itself.

Our calculations based on 2023 (which will be adjusted as appropriate in subsequent years) indicate the following:

We are recovering at 1.36:1 all commuting, and travel. The highly regarded carbon offsetting company clear.eco recommends a 15% risk contingency mitigation for 1:1 offsetting. We have chosen an amount that is more than double that! The total tonnage to be recovered will be split equally between UK capture through Tree-V and international offsetting through Net-Hero.

Our coachbuilders use Ash, which is the traditional wood of choice since the beginning of motoring. Ash is remarkably versatile, pliable, strong, long-lasting and our Ash is air-dried naturally (no artificial heat is applied to speed the drying process) for a year before being worked with. On average, at Vintage Bentley, we build coachwork for five Bentleys per year of which each requires one-twentieth of a tree trunk to make it. This means that since our company was founded until 2050, which is the date the UK has set for being net-zero, we will have repurposed around ten Ash trees.

We shall continue to work with our suppliers to help them on their own sustainability journeys. It is, however, important whatever is done is financially viable for all of us. We will also be working with our clients to realise their ambitions for restoring, recommissioning, repairing, servicing and also driving their cars in a verifiable sustainable manner. One way of contributing to this is to recover at 4:1 the CO2 embedded in the complete Bentley which we strongly encourage, as it in effect accounts in a nature positive way for the emissions created in its original manufacture.

It is important to remember this is an initial five-year journey and there are many initiatives, improvements and enhancements that will come to our attention along the way. We will be investigating all aspects of the business to explore whether and how the carbon footprint can be reduced. We recognise our responsibility is not simply to match our emissions through offsets, but to work as best we can to make a genuine difference that is nature positive as well as carbon 'neutral'. We are certain our clients, suppliers and our wider stakeholders can contribute similarly themselves and believe it is possible to make a real difference, just precisely by doing what we love.

We are excited to be on this nature positive journey and welcome comments and conversation which may enhance or improve our mission. If you would like to hear more or share your sustainable experience, please contact admin@vintagebentley.com.