Our mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to the 'streamlined and more effective energy and carbon reporting framework' for the UK – SECR, which was enacted into law in 2018 through The Companies (Directors' Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018.
Reporting year
The greenhouse gas emissions report has been prepared based on a reporting year of 1 January to 31 December 2023, which is the same as the Group’s financial reporting period.
Reporting boundary
The Group’s report is based on all entities and offices which are either owned or under operational control globally.
Methodology and scope
The methodology used to calculate the Group’s emissions is based on the ‘Environmental Reporting Guidelines: including Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Guidance’ (June 2013 as updated in March 2019) issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The Group has also utilised Defra’s 2023 conversion factors within the reporting methodology.
The greenhouse gas emissions data has been prepared with reference to GHG protocol, which categorises greenhouse gas emissions into three scopes. Reporting on emissions from Scope 1 (direct GHG emissions) and Scope 2 (indirect GHG emissions) activities is mandatory.
The reporting of Scope 3 emissions (other indirect emissions from sources not owned or controlled by the Group) is voluntary and therefore, the Group reports on all those Scope 3 activities which it feels are relevant and sufficiently accurate and complete.
We have commenced a detailed screening process across all Scope 3 activities to identify those with the most significant impact, allowing us to focus our data collection efforts and expand our scope 3 reporting.
The Group’s energy consumption in kWh has been calculated for 2023 by taking the calculated fuel consumed by the Group for gas and electricity usage and combining with an estimated kWh for our company cars and businessrelated travel by employees using their personal vehicles.
Intensity metric
The Group has recorded the total global emissions, in tonnes of CO₂e (tCO₂e), and has decided to use an intensity metric of tonnes of CO₂e per head, which the Group believes is the most relevant indication of our growth and provides the best comparative measure over time.
The table below shows the total global emissions in tonnes of CO₂e and tonnes of CO₂e per head for the Group. It also shows the Group's energy consumption for UK and non-UK activities.
Base year
The 2019 financial year is being used as the baseline due to lower-than-average emission levels in 2020 during the global pandemic.
The base year and the prior year have been recalculated for changes to the scope of operation and measurements, including any additions to measured Scope 3 data. The base year and the prior year are also recalculated if more accurate data is identified.
Energy efficiency initiatives
As a result of our 2022 pilot scheme to enable us to more accurately measure, identify and attribute energy use, we have been able to make improvements to both plant and lighting during 2023, resulting in energy reductions in our London head office. Although lighting upgrades are still only 75% complete, energy use by lighting alone has been reduced by 5% due mainly to the introduction of energy efficient LED lighting but also through better control of the system. We have replaced old and inefficient air conditioning equipment in our server room.