PRIVACY POLICY - ZERO CARBON FORUM


Privacy notice 


We are committed to respecting your privacy rights. This notice sets out important information about how and why we collect and use your personal information, and how we protect it. This notice applies to (i) anyone who interacts with us about our products, services and/or events and (ii) job applicants and potential job applicants (“you”, “your”). 


1. Data Controller 


This privacy notice is issued by Zero Carbon Forum Limited (registered company (12500559) and we use the terms, “we”, “us” or “our”. We are the data controller (unless otherwise stated). 


2. How we process your personal information 


We may collect information from you directly when you: 

  • contact us, whether through our websites, by the contact form, phone or email, to enquire about our products or services; 

  • subscribe for our newsletter; 

  • enquire about, register for and/or attend events (including online events such as webinars and briefings); 

  • engage us to provide products and services; 

  • work with us as a partner, sub-contractor or supplier providing services or products to us; 

  • download or use one of our apps or other software; 

  • provide information by completing surveys; and/or 

  • enquire about job opportunities with us and/or apply for jobs with us. 


We may also collect information about you indirectly from other organisations, including from: 

  • companies that we provide products and services to; 

  • any sub-contractors and service providers who work with us or on our behalf in relation to our products, services and events including to administer our newsletters and certain marketing email communications. Please note: in these instances a third party’s privacy notice may apply in addition to this policy notice; 

  • organisations that fund our work and services and/or 

  • in the case of job applicants and prospective job application, recruitment agencies or consultants or from employment agencies or background check agencies. 


When you use our website, we may automatically collect data about your internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our website. This is collected by using cookies and other similar technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website may become inaccessible or not function properly or we may no longer be able to provide certain services or products to you. Please read our Cookie Policy to understand more about the cookies we use. 


Providing services to third parties 


In the course of providing a service to a third party we may also collect information about you. These third parties may be the controller of your personal information. Please refer to the third parties’ respective privacy notices for details on how they will use your personal information. In some circumstances, we may act as a joint controller or a processor in these circumstances. 


3. What personal information do we collect? 


Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect, store and use the following categories of personal information about you: 

  • your name and contact details including your address, telephone number(s) and email address. We may also collect your social media handles and usernames; 

  • information about your use of our services including aggregated data on your location, device and demographic information (Google Analytics provides aggregated data on age range, gender and interests based on your browsing activities); 

  • information about your preferences in receiving marketing from us; 

  • your video and/or audio stream, where you attend a recorded event with us and opt to enable your video and/or audio device during the event; 

  • information about our interactions with you such as records of meetings, conversations and correspondence with you;  

  • details of products and services you have received from us and/or events you have attended or signed up to attend with us; and/or 

  • in the case of job applicants or prospective job applicants, biographical, educational and social information such as details of your education and work history, references from previous employer(s), and any other information relevant to your employment or other engagement to work for us (such as information required to confirm your ‘right to work’ for us in the relevant jurisdiction) 


In most cases, we would expect any financial information provided to us to relate to business information only. However, to the extent any payments are made on your personal account, financial information including details about payments made to and from you may be collected, stored and used. 

 


Aggregated data 


We also collect, use and share aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. This could come from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as it will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. 


Sensitive Data 

  


We do not collect any Sensitive Data about you. Sensitive data refers to data that includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data. We do not collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.  


4. How do we use your personal information? 


We explain below the grounds we think are most relevant to the use of your personal data by us as we need to have one or more lawful grounds to process your personal data: 

  • if we have a legitimate interest in using your personal data; 

  • if it is necessary for us to use your personal data to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you; 

  • if it is necessary for us to use your personal data to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation; and/or 

  • if you have given us your consent for us to use your personal information for a particular purpose. 


Here is some further information summarising the ways in which we use your personal data and the lawful grounds we rely on: 
  

We use your personal data: 

Lawful ground for processing: 

To provide you with further information about our work, services or products where you request this 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to promote our business and the mission of Zero Carbon Forum 

To provide you with the services and products that you’ve asked for 

Performance of contract 

To keep in contact with you about future opportunities that may be of interest 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to let you know about future opportunities in order to develop and manage our business 

Consent - marketing (see below on Direct Marketing) 

To assess our activities (e.g. quality assurance and market research) and to provide you with information about similar services and events that may be of interest to you 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to assess and maintain the quality of our services, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy  

Consent – marketing (see below on Direct Marketing)    

 

To provide digital marketing that is intentionally sent or displayed to you on third-party online platforms or websites which we believe would be relevant to you based on your interests 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to develop our business  

Consent – marketing 

 

To reserve a place for you at the event(s) for which you have registered and to provide you with information about the event(s) (e.g. event updates, cancellation etc.) 

Performance of contract   

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to develop our business  

To record an online or in person event such as a webinar, meeting or training session 

Legitimate interest - we benefit from being able to record events to improve our events and business and to provide information about and promote our business as long as it does not unfairly impact you. 

 

Consent 

To provide you with newsletter(s) where requested 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to develop our products and services 

Consent - marketing 

To analyse survey results where you have completed surveys or provided information to us via an app. 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to develop our business  

To use data analytics to measure usage on our websites in order to improve our websites, services and client experiences 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to assess and maintain the quality of our services and products, and to improve the clients’ experience 

To establish, exercise and defend our legal rights 

Legal obligation 

Legitimate interest – it is in our legitimate interest to exercise and defend our legal rights 

To administer job applications and, where relevant, to offer you a role with us 

To carry out due diligence checks on you during the application process 

To make a decision about your recruitment or appointment, and (if applicable) to determine the terms on which you work for us  

 

Performance of contract as well as taking steps at your request prior to potentially entering into a contract 

 

Legal obligations – we may need to process some of your personal data for compliance with our legal obligations for example, relating to immigration laws  

 

Consent 

 
Legitimate interests 


Where we rely on ‘legitimate interests’ we carefully consider the need to balance our legitimate interests with yours and to ensure that our interests are not overridden by yours. 


Direct marketing 


If you are part of a business we work with or have worked with, we may use your personal information to contact you about similar opportunities. If, at any time, you prefer not to receive direct marketing from us, you will have the ability to unsubscribe from all such communications by contacting us on info@zerocarbonforum.com or using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. 


If you decide not to receive information from us, we will only keep a record of your contact details to ensure we do not contact you in the future.  


Online events 


If we intend to record an event, you will at a minimum be informed on the day of recording the session, normally verbally, prior to any recording taking place. You will be told of the purpose of the recording and what we intend to do with the recording. 

 

Live events 


If we intend to record a live event, or to take photographs, we will inform you on the day of the event. You are entitled to request that your image is not captured in any recording or that your photograph is not taken and we will make our best efforts to ensure we comply with your request. For some events we may publish the recording or photographs on our website, and social media channels such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, so that the event is accessible to a wider audience. 


5. Who we share your personal information with 


We may share your personal information for the purposes set out in the table at paragraph 4 above with the following: 

  • our partners, sub-contractors and suppliers who work with us or provide services on our behalf; 

  • our professional advisors, including auditors, lawyers, bankers and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services; 

  • social media platforms, digital marketing administrators and marketing and advertising agencies;  

  • law enforcement or other regulatory bodies including HM Revenue & Customs where required by applicable law; 

  • a prospective purchaser in the event that our business or any part of it is sold or merged with another business; and/or 

  • our recruitment partners. 

Our sub-contractors and service providers are subject to security and confidentiality obligations and are only permitted to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. 

 
We and Zero Carbon Services Limited (ZCS) are “joint controllers” of the processing of your personal information where you contact or use the services of both entities. This means that both businesses work together to decide why and how your personal information is processed, and we are jointly responsible to you for that processing but we have different roles. In brief, we may share your name, email address, attendance at events (and other data limited to the information described in the ‘What personal information do we collect’ in this privacy notice) with ZCS in order for it to carry out certain services on our behalf or for our members generally or directly for you. We share this information in order that both of us can perform our respective contractual and legal obligations and it is also in our respective legitimate interests respectively to share this information. We do not perform all processing of your personal information as joint controllers. We make decisions regarding certain processing of your personal information independently of ZCS, for which we are solely responsible. Similarly, ZCS makes decisions for certain processing of your personal information independently of us, for which ZCS is solely responsible, for instance in relation to the provision of certain analytical information. Your individual rights as described in this privacy notice remain unaffected; you may exercise your rights against either us or ZCS. We will fulfil any requests for access to your personal information with the assistance of ZCS. 

 

6. How long do we keep your personal information? 


We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collect it for. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data (such as contractual, legal, accounting or reporting requirements) and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. 


For the avoidance of doubt, we retain unsuccessful job applications for one year, after this we may contact you to consent to us holding your job application for a further one year for the purpose of considering you for future roles.  


7. Security and storage of personal data 


Security of your personal data 


We are committed to ensuring that we keep your personal information safe and secure. We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. Those processing your information (including any third parties) will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. 


We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where required to do so. 


Transfer of your personal data outside of UK/EEA 


Your personal information may be transferred to, stored in, or accessed from a location outside of the United Kingdom and European Economic Area (EEA) as some of our service providers and subcontractors are based outside of the UK and EEA. Some of these locations will not offer the same level of protection for your personal data as the UK or the EEA, but if we transfer your information to one of these locations, we will take steps to ensure that your data and rights are protected through methods approved within the relevant data protection laws. Please contact us if you would like further information about how we protect your transferred information. 


8. Your privacy rights 


Under data protection laws, you have a number of important rights: 

  • Right of access: you have the right to access your personal information and to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you to check that we are lawfully processing it 

  • Right to rectification: you have the right to have inaccurate or incomplete information about you corrected 

  • Right to erasure: you have the right to request the erasure of your personal information where there is no good reason for us to continue to process it or where you have exercised your right to object to processing 

  • Right to restriction: you have the right to request the restriction or suppression of your personal information in certain circumstances 

  • Right to object: you have the right to: 

    • object to us processing (including profiling) your personal information in cases where our processing is based on our legitimate interest 

    • object to us using your information for direct marketing and profiling purposes in relation to direct marketing 

  • Right to data portability: you have the right to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations 

  • Right in relation to automated decision-making: in certain circumstances, you have the right not to be subject to a decision, which is based solely on automated processing where this produces legal effects concerning you or otherwise significantly affects you 

  • Right to withdraw consent: you have the right to withdraw any consent you have given us to handle your personal information at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of how we used your personal information before you withdrew consent 

These rights may not always apply and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply. 

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please: 

  • email, call or write to us (using the details set out below), 

  • let us have enough information to identify you (we may require evidence of your identity and if we reasonably need more information to confirm your identity, we’ll let you know), and 

  • if possible, let us know the information to which your request relates. 

9. Third-party links 


Our website may include links to other sites. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We don’t control these third-party websites and so are not responsible for their privacy notices. We always recommend reading the privacy notice of every website you visit. 


10. If you have questions or comments or complaints about our processing of your personal data 


If you have concerns about the way in which we process your personal information, or would like any further information about this policy, please contact us using the contact details set out below. 


You also have a right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office: 


Information Commissioner's Office 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow 
Cheshire, United Kingdom 
SK9 5AF 


Phone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate) 


11. How to contact us 


By email: info@zerocarbonforum.com 


By post: 78 York Street, London W1H 1DP 


By phone: +44 (0) 7692 4244 


13. Changes to this privacy notice 


We may update this notice from time to time so please check back every now and again. If we make any significant changes, we’ll tell you by putting a notice on our website and/or by emailing you. This notice was last updated on 6 March 2025.