By Sarah Ginham-Clegg, Assurance & HR Director
Sustainability at Topspeed has not been built around a single announcement or one major investment. It has been a long-term journey of practical decisions, continuous improvement and a growing understanding of where we can make the greatest impact. Looking back, the foundations were laid many years ago when we first began formalising our environmental approach, and since then that work has developed into a clear, measurable strategy that is now shaping the future of our business. That progress has also been recognised externally, most recently through our King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2026, following our High Sheriff of Cheshire Sustainable Development Award in 2025.
For me, one of the earliest milestones was securing our ISO 14001 Environmental Management certification back in September 2010. At that point, our environmental work was focused largely on the disciplines that certification demands; understanding our waste streams, managing environmental impacts properly, and embedding a framework for review and accountability. At the time, it did not always feel like something customers noticed, but it established the groundwork
As customer expectations evolved, and as government policy and public procurement requirements placed far greater emphasis on carbon reporting and social value, sustainability became much more than an internal management system. It became a strategic priority. We recognised that if we wanted to lead in specialist logistics, we needed to understand our emissions in far greater detail and develop a credible route to reducing them.
That is what led us to begin the next phase of our sustainability journey in 2020, when we started working with a carbon accounting platform to independently assess our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and shape our Carbon Reduction Plan. This gave us a much clearer picture of our footprint across the business, from fleet operations to purchased goods and services. It also helped us move from general environmental good practice to a more targeted reduction strategy, focused on measurable outcomes rather than broad ambition alone.
Our Carbon Reduction Plan is now central to the way we manage sustainability at Topspeed. It sits alongside our environmental management system and is reviewed annually, giving us a consistent framework for tracking progress and identifying where action is needed. Because so much of our operation is delivered in-house, using employed drivers and company-owned vehicles, we have unusually strong visibility and control over a large proportion of our emissions. That gives us both responsibility and opportunity: if we make the right changes, we can see the difference in very real terms.
The most visible of those changes began in 2022, when we introduced the first electric vans into the Topspeed fleet. That decision followed detailed research into vehicle range, cost, safety, route suitability and driver experience. We did not want electrification to be symbolic; it had to work operationally for a specialist courier business handling time-critical, secure and regulated consignments. Once we were confident it could, we made the decision not just to trial electric vehicles, but to build a future fleet around them.
Since then, the pace of change has accelerated significantly. We invested in rapid charging infrastructure at our Winsford Operations Hub, extended our in-house workshop to support electric vehicle maintenance, and developed new training through the Topspeed Academy so that drivers, mechanics and managers could work confidently with the new fleet. Route planning also evolved, ensuring charging points were integrated into operational schedules and that charging time could be used productively alongside required driver rest periods. More recently, charging points have begun to be installed at drivers’ homes too, helping support a truly national electric operation.
Alongside the fleet transition, we have also made improvements across our wider estate and operations. At our Winsford hub, this has included measures such as LED lighting, energy-efficient heating and a new insulated roof with natural light panels. We have also looked closely at waste reduction, including reusing specialist fibreboard packaging that might otherwise have been discarded after one use. Another important initiative has been our recycling and preloved uniform programme. With in-house laundry services in place, we are able wherever possible to clean, prepare and reissue uniform items for reuse, extending their life and reducing unnecessary waste. Any garments that cannot be reused are then recycled through charitable donations, ensuring they continue to have value rather than simply being thrown away. None of these changes alone defines our sustainability strategy, but together they reinforce an important principle: meaningful carbon reduction comes from attention to detail across the whole business.
The results are increasingly visible. What started as a small introduction of electric vehicles has become a major transformation programme. Our public sustainability reporting now sets out a clear ambition: to operate a fully electric van fleet by 2027 and achieve Net Zero by 2040. Recent updates show how quickly that transition is progressing, with electric mileage increasing sharply and the electric fleet now representing the majority of our vehicle activity. Importantly, our targets have also been validated externally, reflecting the seriousness of our commitment and the credibility of the route we have chosen. Recognition such as the High Sheriff of Cheshire Sustainable Development Award in 2025 and the King’s Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development in 2026 reinforces that this work is making an impact well beyond our own business.
One of the most important lessons we have learned is that sustainability is rarely a straight line. As we have invested heavily in new electric vehicles, the embedded carbon associated with manufacturing and delivering those vehicles has temporarily affected our reported emissions. That can make progress look more complex on paper than it feels in practice. But the long-term direction is absolutely clear: by decarbonising the fleet, improving infrastructure, refining operations and continuing to measure what matters, we are building a lower-carbon business that is stronger, more resilient and better aligned with the expectations of our customers and stakeholders.
From an assurance perspective, I believe this is what matters most. Sustainability has to be credible, evidenced and embedded into how a business operates day to day. At Topspeed, that means combining robust standards such as ISO 14001 with annual carbon reporting, practical investment, staff engagement and Board-level oversight. We are not interested in superficial claims. We want our progress to be real, accountable and capable of standing up to scrutiny.
When I look back to where this journey began, I can see how much has changed. What started with environmental certification and process discipline has evolved into a broader sustainability strategy that now influences fleet investment, infrastructure, training, reporting and customer value. We still have work to do, but we have a clear route ahead and a business-wide commitment to follow it.
For Topspeed, sustainability is part of how we plan, how we invest and how we move forward.