For over 20 years ago Henrik Winther, Founder of Tigrus Holding became concerned about global warming and losing precious wildlife species so he decided to launch multiple projects.
“ I couldn’t be another passive bystander that would watch what is happening in the world,” he told Decarbonisation News.
Tigrus Holding is a unique pioneer in sustainable business as they started considering sustainable business 20 years before it was on anyone else’s radar. Established in 2005, this restaurant holding has over 50 restaurants across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Their first sustainability project was working to save Siberian tigers in the far east of Russia, and that has been ongoing for 15 years, as part of their concept to leave a better world behind.
They also worked on what businesses need to address, which is decarbonisation, which encouraged the company to become 100% carbon neutral and it has now been 10 years.
“We consider decarbonisation a lifestyle and not just a project, so it’s reflected in every business decision made throughout managing and building the business,” he said.
“The feedback I get at conferences, round tables, and events from other CEO’s and founders is that I get compliments on having done something unique and they don’t have a budget for sustainable business and it’s important to know that I don’t have a budget for ‘sustainable business’ either it is part of my business model and integrated in how I run my business which has now become an extremely profitable thing to do for a business,” he added.
“It is just as important to us to share our experience in how to be CO2 neutral as it is to be CO2 neutral and how it’s good for us, and the planet and how we achieved it. So part of our program is to educate other businesses so they can adopt some of our solutions while thinking of their own,” Winther explains.
“You cannot manage anything that you cannot measure, so our first task was to find out how much CO2 carbon we emit after analysing it became clear where and how we generate these CO2 emissions, so having that knowledge of where most of our emissions were generated, we started focussing on those areas and looking for ways to reduce those outputs,” he explains.
They first started with their kitchens and switched all the kitchen equipment and swapped their stoves to induction stoves that use just a fraction of the energy of traditional electric stoves which are hugely uneconomical.
They also looked at ventilation systems recouping hot and cold air that is being circulated in the restaurants. After assessing their emissions, they managed to reduce our CO2 emissions by 43% after 3 years.
The emissions that they still emit over and beyond what they reduced can be compensated for by planting forests and are currently working on a project to plant 10,000 hectares of trees and they have been working on that for 8 years making them 100% carbon neutral for the same.
“Our eco focus is beyond decarbonisation and saving the tigers, it is throughout our company. We do not use any plastic at all anywhere in the company and use alternative materials, our construction products are as far as possible ecologically sourced wood products come from renewable resources and our plants in the restaurants are all natural plants making a very green environment communicating our eco presence throughout the restaurant, creating better air quality and symbolising who we are,” he explains.
Winther explains that reducing CO2 by 43%, reduced the utility bills by the same. But aside from costs, he explains that employees enjoy and have respect for the company they work for as being socially responsible is part of the company culture, and they are proud of what the company stands for.
“We are finding that customers are also more concerned with where they spend their money and many are invested in socially economic brands so it’s an advantage for us to have this as part of our brand image, as we again admire and respect from guests reinforcing customer loyalty and appreciate that translates in higher sales and profitability,” he added.
