Sustainability policy.
Last reviewed: March 2026
This is not a compliance policy. It is a commitment to the businesses we serve, to the communities they exist within, and to the planet that holds all of it.
At Francesca McGarey Consulting Ltd., we believe that how you build a business matters as much as what you build. Marketing that creates noise without intention, visibility without value, or growth without conscience, that's not marketing we want to be part of.
Sustainable marketing isn't a trend we're responding to. It's the lens through which we've always worked, and now, we're saying it plainly.
What We Mean by Sustainable Marketing
Sustainability, in our world, means three things held together:
Environmental: reducing the carbon footprint of how we operate and the digital infrastructure we use
Strategic: building marketing systems that are designed to last, not to exhaust
Human: creating businesses that feel steady for the people inside them, not just impressive to those looking in
These aren't separate pillars, they are the same philosophy, expressed differently.
Our Digital Carbon Commitments
The internet is responsible for approximately 3.7% of global carbon emissions. As a business that exists primarily online, we take that seriously.
What we are actively doing:
Hosting this website on a provider powered by verified renewable energy, you can check our rating at the Green Web Foundation directory
Keeping our website intentionally lean: compressed images, minimal third-party scripts, no unnecessary tracking pixels, and clean code that loads quickly and draws less power with every visit
Testing our pages regularly using Website Carbon Calculator to monitor and reduce our per-visit carbon output
Choosing plain or minimal-design email communications over heavy HTML newsletters, smaller files, lower energy, and often better to read
Defaulting to audio-only on video calls wherever possible, reducing data transmission energy by up to 96% per call
Batching or reducing content creation (as part of the Sustainable Marketing Operating System we teach) to reduce the hours we spend running energy-intensive devices
Maintaining a lean digital tool stack we regularly review and cancel software we aren't actively using
Keeping our devices longer and choosing refurbished hardware when upgrading, reducing the manufacturing footprint of our technology
We are not perfect and we don’t pretend to be. We are precise about what we can control, honest about what we can't, and committed to improving incrementally, because we believe that is the only kind of sustainability that is real.
How We Work With Clients
We bring this same philosophy into every engagement. When we help a small business build their marketing systems, we are not just thinking about reach and conversion. We are thinking about what it costs in time, in energy, in noise, and whether the return is worth it.
In practice, this means we:
Design marketing systems that are built to compound quietly, not demand constant attention
Advise clients to consolidate to the platforms where their ideal clients actually exist, rather than spreading thin across six
Recommend evergreen content strategies over high-frequency, high-effort content treadmills
Encourage email list ownership as the lowest carbon, highest return channel available to any small business
Guide clients to audit and cut unused marketing tools from their business, reducing both financial and digital waste
Share our digital carbon knowledge openly, because a better informed industry makes better choices
Our Business Operations
Beyond the digital, we apply the same intentionality to how this business runs day to day.
We are a remote-first consultancy, our team works from home and/or co-working facilities, reducing commuting emissions and the energy cost of maintaining a fixed office space
We prioritise suppliers and partners who share our values, or who are on a genuine journey toward them
We offset our remaining unavoidable carbon emissions through verified schemes aligned with the Gold Standard
We are working toward B Corp certification, not because it’s a badge, but because the process holds us to a standard worth holding
We champion and financially support organisations working in grassroots sustainability and women in business initiatives
Our Ongoing Commitments
This policy is a living document. We review it every quarter to ask honestly: are we doing what we said? What has changed? What more is possible?
We are committed to:
Publishing our website carbon score publicly and updating it with each significant site change
Being transparent when we fall short, and saying so plainly rather than quietly adjusting
Continuing to educate ourselves on the environmental impact of digital marketing, as the evidence evolves
Bringing sustainability into the conversation in every workshop, every strategy session, and every client relationship, not as a sermon, but as a standard
A note from Francesca
When I started this business, I wanted to build something that felt like integrity made visible. Not perfect, but considered. Not loud, but clear.
Sustainability is part of that, it always has been. The window shop marketing philosophy I teach; build it well, let it work quietly, and don't chase the scroll, is, at its heart, a sustainable approach to business. Less noise, more intention and designed to last.
If you are a small business owner reading this and wondering whether any of this is possible for you, it is. And we are here to help you find the version that fits your business, your capacity, and your values.
Francesca McGarey
Founder, Marketing for Small Businesses UK.
Questions about this policy? We'd love to hear from you.