The UK Government amended the Climate Change Act 2008 in 2019 by introducing a target of at least 100% reduction in the net UK carbon account (i.e. a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions when compared to 1990 levels) by 2050. As a result, Central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies are required to ensure that suppliers to contracts with an annual value of in excess of £5 million (excluding VAT) per year are committed to achieving “Net Zero by 2050” for all procurements after 30th September 2021.
This has led to PPN 06/21 which applies to all new procurements from this date including framework call-offs and Dynamic Purchasing Systems where the anticipated individual value of the call-off or DPS is £5 million or more (excluding VAT) per annum. To demonstrate compliance, we have set out our environmental management measures in our Carbon Reduction Plan which includes:
Scope 1 Direct Emissions – these are direct greenhouse gas emissions that occur from sources that are controlled or owned by us (e.g. emissions from boilers in our buildings, company vehicles etc).
Scope 2 Energy Indirect Emissions – these are indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, heating or cooling etc, and are measured and reported in alignment with our energy use.
Scope 3 Other Indirect Emissions – these fall into 15 categories and include all sources not specified within Scopes 1 and 2 above. The Scope 3 emissions that we are required to report on are:
The tables below show our carbon footprint in our baseline years, 2022, when we first started measuring our emissions and the current year.
Baseline Year: | 12 months commencing 01/2022 |
Baseline Emissions Calculations: | No Scope 3 emissions reporting took place prior to 01/2022 so baseline emissions have been calculated according to the baseline on this date. |
Scope 1 CO2e: | 0.4 |
Scope 2 CO2e: | 2.6 |
Scope 3 CO2e (included sources): | 30.7 |
Total Emissions: | 33.66 |
Current Year: | 12 months commencing 01/2023 |
Scope 1 CO2e: | 0.4 |
Scope 2 CO2e: | 2.6 |
Scope 3 CO2e (included sources): | 30.7 |
Total Emissions (tCO2e): | 33.66 |
Workforce Employment Solutions Ltd is committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050 and as part of this commitment, has an interim target of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030. This plan is reviewed annually by the Directors to check progress and establish if changes should be made to the actions we have in place to maximise our reduction in carbon emissions.
The basis of our Carbon strategy is one of Measure – Prioritise – Act – Measure – Repeat.
We report on the sources of environmental impact over which we have operational control, calculate our carbon footprint monthly in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocols Corporate Standard, and report against the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gasses in terms of:
We subscribe to a proprietary online carbon calculator service to manage our data inputs, conduct the required calculations, set and record our intensity metrics, and provide monthly carbon reporting. The data that sits behind this is the UK Government Greenhouse Gas reporting database, updated when appropriate.
This provides us with our emissions by source, and total emissions by month, sets our intensity metrics and tracks performance month-on-month.
Our chosen intensity metric is kg/CO2 per unit output.
Our base year for all measurements is 01/2022. This will not change unless there is a significant change to our company structure (e.g. a merger or acquisition) or a change in the company’s ownership, in which case the base year may move to the reporting year following the structural change.
Specific inputs and output used to calculate figures quoted in our Carbon Reduction Plan include:
Our monthly carbon calculation has enabled us to identify the largest sources of GHG emissions, and to focus those which have most impact. That does not imply however that we are not implementing actions across the board. We have been able to identify quick and easy wins such as switching to a renewable energy company, electric car salary sacrifice scheme, changed to heat pump air conditioning and we have inserted LED lights across the office building which relate to relatively low impact areas whilst also implementing longer term multi-facet strategies for the larger emission areas.
Our action plan involves Behaviour Change, Process Change and Technology Change.
We have taken the obvious first step and committed to sourcing electricity from a 100% Renewable Energy tariff.
We have communicated our Net Zero ambitions across our workforce, and have tasked staff with identifying where they can affect carbon reductions through behaviour change. Examples include:
We have conducted a thorough review of all our process to identify opportunities to reduce or eliminate physical waste, and making more efficient use of materials (e.g. electronic data storage and moving towards paperless systems).
We have introduced the sub-metering of electricity, gas and water where possible and practical. This has significantly improved our understanding of how we use energy within the business.
With this information, we have developed our action plan to implement the Best Available Technology in relation to:
Whilst we can influence the Scope 3 emissions arising from our staff travel to work, other upstream and downstream emissions are harder to measure and report.
We have communicated our Net Zero ambitions to our Tier 1 supply chain partners and are engaging with them to support us with reporting Scope 3 emissions that are not under our control.
Our monthly carbon reporting means that we are in a continual measurement programme, and by implementing the above actions, we are able to see how well each specific measure is working and refine our processes accordingly.
Whilst not compulsory, we have committed to an annual audit of our carbon data reporting, by an independent third party.
Offsetting the emissions that we can’t mitigate will become part of our strategy, but only at the point that we’ve implemented all of the possible behavioural, process and technology changes that we can influence. We offset using Review Forest, we will plant a tree for every review left for us. We also quarterly purchase a Sacred Grove, this is a protected area of land within the UK.
This carbon reduction plan will be reviewed at least annually and may be altered from time to time in light of legislative changes or other prevailing circumstances.
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance.
Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans, the GHG Reporting Protocol Corporate Standard and we use the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been reported in accordance with SECR requirements and the required subset of Scope 3 emissions have been reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard.
We confirm this Carbon Reduction Plan is reviewed and signed off at board level on an annual basis and is available on the home page of our website.
Signature:
Name: Irfan Khan
Job Title/Designation: Director
Date: 27 March 2024