The Cinnamon Trust is a national charity dedicated to supporting elderly and terminally ill people and their companion animals. Based in Hayle, Cornwall, the Trust provides hands-on, practical care, from day-to-day pet walking to lifelong guardianship for animals that outlive their owners. In 2024/2025, the charity assisted over 156,000 pet owners and helped care for more than 158,000 companion animals through its extensive volunteer network.
As a people and animal-centred organisation operating across a complex supply chain - animal feed, veterinary services, print and postal operations - the Trust recognised that understanding its environmental impact required looking well beyond its office walls.
The Cinnamon Trust engaged Carbon Sense to produce a full carbon footprint assessment for the reporting period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. This was the Trust's second annual assessment, building on a baseline established for 2022/2023, and formed part of its commitment to transparent emissions reporting aligned with the GHG Protocol and Public Procurement Notice (PPN) 006 requirements.
From the outset it was clear that a standard energy-focused assessment would not be sufficient. The nature of the Trust's work - caring for animals across a dispersed volunteer network, purchasing specialist supplies, and maintaining close relationships with veterinary partners - meant that the real emissions story was embedded deep in the supply chain.
Carbon Sense took a thorough, structured approach to the full assessment - covering Scopes 1, 2, and 3 - using the Operational Control method to define organisational boundaries. Where granular activity data was available, activity-based conversion factors were applied. Where data was limited, spend-based methodologies using published conversion factors ensured completeness.
The assessment quickly confirmed what the initial baseline had indicated: that over 93% of the Trust's carbon footprint sits within Scope 3, with animal feed and veterinary services the two largest contributors. Carbon Sense saw an opportunity to support the Trust in going deeper into animal feed procurement.
Working in collaboration with the University of Exeter's Green Future Solutions team - a programme funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Carbon Sense facilitated a bespoke decarbonisation research study focused specifically on the Trust's most significant supply chain challenges.
Researchers from the University's Business School conducted an in-depth investigation into the embedded carbon of the Trust's animal feed procurement, including the ingredient-level emissions of pet food (beef, chicken, insect protein and plant-based constituents), horse feed, and chicken feed. The same rigour was applied to veterinary services and postal operations.
The research identified practical, evidence-based pathways for reduction:
This level of supply chain investigation - grounded in academic research and applied to the Trust's specific operational context - is not standard practice. It reflects Carbon Sense's commitment to providing clients with genuinely useful insight.
Animal feed is one of the most significant - and often overlooked - sources of carbon in organisations that care for animals. Emissions arise from the ingredients themselves (meat-based diets carry considerably higher embedded carbon than plant-based alternatives), from manufacturing processes, and from transportation. Practical reduction steps include sourcing British-made feeds to cut transport emissions, buying in bulk from local suppliers, shifting towards lower-carbon protein sources such as chicken by-products or insect protein, and developing a net zero procurement policy that sets clear expectations for suppliers. For charities managing feed across multiple animal types - dogs, cats, horses, and poultry - even incremental procurement changes can generate meaningful emissions reductions over time.
Scope 3 emissions - those generated indirectly through an organisation's supply chain, staff travel, and purchased goods and services - are the most challenging to measure but often represent the largest share of a carbon footprint. For organisations with diverse supply chains, the GHG Protocol recommends a combination of activity-based and spend-based methodologies. Where detailed supplier data exists, activity-based calculations provide the most accuracy. Where it does not, spend-based conversion factors using industry-average emissions data offer a compliant and practical alternative. The important thing is to establish a consistent baseline that can be improved over time as supplier data quality improves and procurement decisions evolve.
A carbon footprint assessment identifies where emissions arise - but it does not always explain why, or what to do about it. For organisations where the bulk of emissions sit within the supply chain, pairing the footprint report with targeted decarbonisation research adds significant practical value. This might involve investigating the ingredient-level carbon of key purchased goods, reviewing supplier sustainability credentials, or exploring lower-carbon alternatives within specific categories. Carbon Sense works with clients - and where appropriate, with academic and research partners - to ensure that the numbers in a carbon report translate into informed, actionable decisions rather than simply a compliance document.
The 2024/2025 assessment produced a total carbon footprint of 455.1 tCO₂e. Intensity metrics showed consistent improvement across all key measures since the 2022/2023 baseline - emissions per employee, per m² of office space, and per kWh of electricity all reduced year on year.
More significantly, the Trust now has a clear, evidence-based understanding of where its emissions arise and a credible set of actions to address them. The University of Exeter research has given the Trust's procurement conversations a practical foundation - providing the ingredient-level and supplier-level detail needed to make informed decisions about animal feed, veterinary partnerships, and logistics.
The Trust has committed to a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 and Net Zero no later than 2050, in alignment with Science Based Targets and UNFCCC guidance. Annual reporting with Carbon Sense will track progress against these goals.
