Achieving our low-carbon commitments
Creating a robust action plan, with meaningful and incremental steps towards Net Zero.
Focus areas
- Reduce our carbon footprint against science-based targets
- Support carbon offsetting projects
- Colleague engagement and volunteering
Targets
- 90% reduction in Scopes 1 & 2 emissions by 2030 and neutralise residual emissions
- 57% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030
- Net Zero on or before 2050
- Compensate direct business emissions by offsetting from FY23
FY24 highlights
- Near-term and Net Zero targets approved by SBTi
- Continued offsetting against direct business emissions, adding a carbon removal project to our portfolio
- Embedded sustainability into business travel and purchasing practices
- Ran a series of colleague engagement and education events to celebrate Earth Month
- Embedded advice on sustainable travel and commuting within our contractor onboarding packs
- Introduced a green car scheme for eligible employees
FY25 next steps
- Extend reach of current data collection and engagement with suppliers
- Set up a Sustainability Forum for our suppliers
- Continue employee engagement and education
- Provide insights on contractor commuting emissions to our clients
- Drive sustainability considerations into our events
Focus areas
- Reduce our carbon footprint against science-based targets
- Support carbon offsetting projects
- Colleague engagement and volunteering
Targets
- 90% reduction in Scopes 1 & 2 emissions by 2030 and neutralise residual emissions
- 57% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030
- Net Zero on or before 2050
- Compensate direct business emissions by offsetting from FY23
FY24 highlights
- Near-term and Net Zero targets approved by SBTi
- Continued offsetting against direct business emissions, adding a carbon removal project to our portfolio
- Embedded sustainability into business travel and purchasing practices
- Ran a series of colleague engagement and education events to celebrate Earth Month
- Embedded advice on sustainable travel and commuting within our contractor onboarding packs
- Introduced a green car scheme for eligible employees
FY25 next steps
- Extend reach of current data collection and engagement with suppliers
- Set up a Sustainability Forum for our suppliers
- Continue employee engagement and education
- Provide insights on contractor commuting emissions to our clients
- Drive sustainability considerations into our events
Reduce our carbon footprint against science-based targets
In this fifth year of measuring our carbon footprint, we are proud to announce that both our Near-Term & Net Zero targets have been approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
The emissions we measure by scope and category are outlined below:
Progress since baseline year
Since last year, we have decreased our overall emissions by 7%, with a 34% decrease in scopes 1 & 2. Total energy usage decreased by 21%, with electricity from renewable sources comprising 77% of our total global usage and 91% within the UK.
We recognise that this is only the start of our journey. Our pledge is to take meaningful steps each year towards our targets:
2030
⬤
-90% scope 1 & 2 emissions (absolute metric)
Neutralise residual scope 1 & 2 emissions through permanent carbon removal and storage
-57% scope 3 emissions (FTE intensity metric)
2050
⬤
Net Zero
Regular review and ambition to achieve before 2050
Reduction targets are market-based and measured from our FY20 baseline.
Our reduction path to Net Zero is centred around a robust action plan.
Targets & actions to reduce scope 3 emissions
By 2030:
- -25% in business travel flight emissions
- -7% YoY in supply chain emissions
- 90% of suppliers (by spend) to have SBTi carbon reduction targets in line with a 1.5ºc pathway
- Obtain real emissions data from 70% of suppliers (by spend)
- Set and communicate clear goals with suppliers
- Engage with suppliers to offer support & resources where relevant
- Review business travel policy
- Offer low carbon commuting incentives to employees
- Improve the quality of travel, commuting & work from home data
By 2050:
- -70% reduction in business travel flight emissions
- 100% of suppliers to have SBTi carbon reduction targets in line with a 1.5ºc pathway
- Obtain real emissions data from 100% of suppliers (by spend)
- Enhanced supplier engagement & goal setting
- Enhanced low-carbon commuting incentives to employees
All % figures are measured from FY20 baseline year.
We recognise the importance of robust governance and transparency in measuring, setting and managing our targets, both for ourselves, and to enable us to offer accurate data to our customers to help them manage their scope 3 supply chain emissions.
Our near term 2030 & Net Zero 2050 targets have been approved
Our targets are aligned with a 1.5°C warming pathway
We hold a Silver EcoVadis rating, scoring in the 89th percentile of all rated companies
We disclosed to CDP in 2023 & 2024
Support carbon offsetting projects
We began compensating for our direct business emissions* in FY23, achieving carbon neutrality against these categories.
This year we have continued to invest in STEM-aligned projects that are either Gold Standard or Verified Carbon-Standard accredited. We have also added a carbon removal project to our portfolio.
*Offsetting against all categories across scopes 1 & 2 and selected scope 3 categories: business travel, water, waste, employee commuting, work from home, WTT. 1,080 tonnes offset in FY24 against our FY23 calculated footprint.
During ‘Earth Month’ April 2024, we put a short-list of carbon offsetting projects out to colleague vote, investing in the winners below:
Safe water access
Uganda
Biomass energy stoves
Malawi
Mangrove restoration
Pakistan
Colleague engagement & volunteering
We realise that we will not meet our environmental targets without our colleagues understanding the role they play in positively impacting our performance.
This year we began a programme to increase climate awareness and engagement. Specific activity included:
- Workshops with each business area to introduce and explain our goals and targets
- Embedding an introduction to our goals & targets within our new starter programme
- Celebrating Earth Month with a series of education & engagement events aimed at raising awareness & changing behaviours
This year our UK colleagues ran volunteering initiatives, including:
- A beach clean close to our HQ
- 950 trees planted by our Technical Public Sector Team in association with the Hampshire Forest Partnership
We also offer colleagues the opportunity to contribute to positive climate practices through:
- Making monthly contributions towards tree planting under our flexible benefits scheme
- Encouraging sustainable commuting through participating in the UK Government’s Cycle to Work scheme
- A green car scheme for eligible employees
Targets & actions to reduce scope 3 emissions
By 2030:
- -25% in business travel flight emissions
- -7% YoY in supply chain emissions
- 90% of suppliers (by spend) to have SBTi carbon reduction targets in line with a 1.5º pathway
- Obtain real emissions data from 70% of suppliers (by spend)
- Engage with suppliers to offer support & resources
- Set and communicate clear goals with suppliers
- Review business travel policy
- Offer low carbon commuting incentives to employees
- Improve the quality of travel, commuting & work from home data
By 2050:
- -70% reduction in business travel flight emissions
- 100% of suppliers to have SBTi carbon reduction targets in line with a 1.5º pathway
- Obtain real emissions data from 100% of suppliers (by spend)
- Enhanced supplier engagement & goal setting
- Enhanced low carbon commuting incentives to employees
All % figures are measured from FY20 baseline year.
FY23 Highlights
Whilst our primary focus within FY23 has been formulating our carbon reduction targets and roadmap, other highlights include:
- Renewable energy supply within our Hampshire office HQ
- Reduced paper usage through pivoting our contractor workforce to 80% electronic weekly timesheets Increased from 44% in FY21
- Begun developing the climate-related disclosures in our Annual Report to engage with our investors and other stakeholders during our climate journey
FY24 Next steps
- Engage with suppliers to further improve our data accuracy
- Offer guidance to suppliers with a less developed climate journey; initial focus on our second tier recruitment suppliers, following a data gathering exercise over FY23
- Review our business travel policy to identify ways of lowering emissions, whilst recognising the renewed post-Covid importance of face to face interaction with our customers
- Identify and road-map means of reducing our employee commuting emissions
- Ensure that climate-related considerations become a factor in key business decisions, under the direction of our Sustainability Committee
- Further develop the climate-related disclosures in our Annual Report
- ESOS 3 compliance