Net Carbon Neutral

As a company carbon neutral has been a goal for a while

Tenkaichi became net carbon neutral in the spring of 2021. And at last, really only within the past month or so: Becoming net carbon neutral is accepted as responsible and environmentally aware. It used to be, way out wacky and new age! The planet is waking up at last and thank goodness for that.

As a company carbon neutral has long been a goal for Tenkaichi. Since Lloyd Watkins became Director of the company back in early 2018, we have been on a journey. After much hard work, we finally achieved net carbon neutral in spring 2021. Lloyd has an environmental track record going as far back as the late 90’s. Over twenty years in the oil industry, he saw the environmental and biodiversity challenges fossil fuels bring.

A classic case of poacher turned gamekeeper. Lloyd has since project managed and administered environmental and biodiversity projects on behalf of the Welsh Government. He represented Wales at trade events on three continents, using his chemical engineering knowledge. And has been at the forefront of Welsh innovative aquaculture closed loop recirculating system design. Systems where contaminated water is treated and reused rather than discharged into the environment .

Since being at Tenkaichi, he has brought his mindset and innovative process thinking into a completely different industry. He has introduced a number of initiatives designed to minimise transit miles of ingredients. This has been through purchasing locally wherever possible and optimising transportation routes to limit Carbon discharge. Using his contacts within the industry, he has opened up opportunities for Tenkaichi. As a result we have access to the freshest and most sustainably produced Salmon and Crab available.

Freshest and most sustainably produced Ingredients

Tenkaichi’s Salmon is a wonderful example of what can be achieved if you have the will to do it. When you buy Salmon Sashimi for example, at Tenkaichi, you are buying RSPCA approved Salmon. Its been reared by hand, using feeds made by using the waste scraps of fish missed in the human food chain filleting process. Bought from this sustainably farmed supplier, the Salmon comes to us direct and “farm fresh.”

At Tenkaichi, you ate your Sashimi before everyone else’s Salmon even arrived at the wholesaler!

Normally the supply chain involves processing at a factory, transporting (often by plane as most farms are in Norway, Iceland or the Faroe Islands) followed by a lorry journey to the Fish Market. After being sorted and auctioned, another journey takes it to the wholesaler. Upon arrival its sorted again into smaller batches and shipped off to the retailer. The retailer breaks the quantities down further and sells and delivers to the restaurant.

At Tenkaichi, you got to eat your Sashimi before everybody else’s Salmon even reached the wholesaler!

Net zero carbon renewable energy

Another area where Lloyd has pushed through changes at Tenkaichi, is in using renewable energy. We make sure the Energy used at Tenkaichi comes from net zero carbon renewable energy supplies, wind, solar, biomass, tidal and hydroelectric. The governments fuel mix disclosure data shows that there is a long way to go for the UK to become net carbon neutral. Thankfully we are making some progress now.

Post COP 26 in Glasgow, the world at last seems to be waking up to the dangers. Whilst many activists see the political debates as being lots of words or “blah, blah, blah” as Greta Thunberg put it. There is certainly progress in the level of recognition of the danger’s that climate change poses to the planet. This is especially true, when compared with the actions and resolutions of previous summits.

That we are entering a new era is without doubt and we must adapt to survive as a species. So, what’s the link between survival as a species and the company carbon neutral record? Well, its just a small step in the right direction, but successful intervention is just that, a series of small steps, in which we can all play our part. Deciding to become net carbon neutral was step one for us!

Net carbon neutral to protect biodiversity

By supporting Tenkaichi, you are supporting our efforts to help put things right. By coming to our restaurant to eat, you in turn are helping protect biodiversity, cut carbon concentrations in the atmosphere and limit carbon dioxide emissions through the creation of clean energy.

So, that’s quite a bold claim which on the face of it might seem an exaggeration and just marketing. But, it’s a true reflection of the actual situation. At Tenkaichi we, like everyone else on the planet leave a carbon footprint. When we turn on the sign above the door: fry your Gyoza: or even take out the refuse at the end of the evening! We leave a carbon footprint.

We need all these things though. The lit sign tells you we are open and to cook we need to consume energy. And regardless of where you shop, packaging is part of daily life. But we can offset our carbon and leave a neutral carbon footprint by doing some carbon net negative things. Examples include planting trees, producing renewable energy, protecting biodiversity and environment by reducing deforestation. We as a company contribute to all these in order to help balance things up!

Neutral carbon footprint

By eating at Tenkaichi, your local net carbon neutral restaurant, you too are contributing and creating your own neutral carbon footprint. The footprint associated with your visit is offset by us through our financial support for environmental projects all around the world. Our carbon offset projects include ‘Gold Standard’ carbon offset projects in Europe, Asia and South America, that are saving 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Amongst the major projects we presently support are a wind power project in the Caribbean producing 12.75 Mega Watts of electricity which is run by a co-operative rather than big business, the preservation and protection of a Peruvian rainforest and the protection of an Orangutan rainforest in Asia against the threat of deforestation.

Net carbon neutral and the future

So what about the future? How can we safeguard against global temperature rise, without the political will to do so? The reality is that we can’t! We need our politicians and leaders to step up and not just say the right thing, but do the right thing. COP 26 went some way to progressing along this path, but the future needs to build upon the successes of the past. This isn’t a race against ourselves, it’s a race against the logarithmic nature of mathematics.

Temperature rise isn’t a straight line relationship graph it’s a logarithmic one and time is the critical component. Every moment spent delaying, is magnified many times over in effect of climate change. Eventually a runaway process is triggered with any logarithmic scale relationship and this seems to have been lost on the decision makers. It’s a scary situation, but one in which actions, also have logarithmic consequences, thankfully, in the reverse direction! Make no mistake, time is not on our side, we NEED to act NOW!

First net carbon neutral Japanese restaurant

We need to work together on this and whilst Tenkaichi was the first net carbon neutral Japanese restaurant in the UK, we hope we will not be the last. We welcome and encourage our competitors to follow our lead. This isn’t about competing amongst ourselves, its about fighting a trend that will endanger us all and negatively impact all our lives. We believe that for every company carbon neutral should be one of the major goals and that applies to restaurants also.

Our status as net carbon neutral not only has a ring about it, but it does what it says on the tin. We passionately believe in being environmentally friendly. We want to leave a neutral carbon footprint in everything our company carbon neutral efforts attempt to achieve. Only by proudly displaying our net carbon neutral status can we ever hope to get others on our side. For more information, please visit our sustainability and CO2 neutral pages.