Our progress on the pathway
to net zero
In 2021, we committed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and worked with a sustainability consultancy, Achill Management, to devise a science-based pathway that entailed a 50% reduction in absolute emissions by 2029/30 against our 2019/20 baseline. We have reported our absolute emissions annually since 2020, and our data for the last complete financial year (2022/23) is set out here.
Table 1: Absolute Emissions
*This year we have updated our 2019/20 baseline carbon footprint to correct an oversight, namely the omission of carbon emissions associated with >920 flights booked outside our travel portal in 2019/20.
UK Office Emissions – By Scope
Scope 1 tCO2e
Reduction on baseline
Scope 2 tCO2e
Reduction on baseline
UK Office Emissions – By Scope
Scope 1 tCO2e
Reduction on baseline
Scope 2 tCO2e
Reduction on baseline
On the face of the data, we significantly reduced our emissions in 2020/21 and 2021/22 against our baseline but have seen a substantial increase in 2022/23. This is true but does not tell the full story of our carbon reduction journey for three reasons.
First, we have significantly and consistently reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions from our baseline measurement - by 23% and 38%, respectively. This reflects the very significant improvements we have made to the management of our buildings and working spaces, including reducing our electricity consumption in London by 31% or 678,330 KWH since 2019/20. We have also invested in ISO14001 accreditation, which ensures our Environmental Management Systems and Scope 1 and 2 data collection are robust.
Table 2: Emissions broken down by scope
Table 3: Electricity consumption
Second, although we recorded significant reductions in absolute emissions in 2020/21 and 2021/22, these were in large part attributable to a sharp drop in our Scope 3 emissions caused by the drop-off in business travel during Covid-19. We expected to see a significant rebound in travel-related emissions in 2022/23 as the world opened up post-pandemic and we began to see our clients and colleagues again.
Third, while our business travel-related emissions have gone up in 2022/23 as expected, the overall increase in our Scope 3 emissions is also the result of us working hard since 2019/20 to obtain reliable data for parts of our Scope 3 that we were not previously able to measure, and including that data in our annual emissions total. For example, in 2022/23, we were able to obtain and include data for emissions relating to hotel stays and purchased food, both of which are included for the first time in our 2022/23 figures. Since setting our baseline in 2019/20, we have also used industry standard methods to estimate emissions attributable to employees commuting and working from home, which we included in our carbon footprint for the first time in 2020/21.
UK Office Emissions – By Scope
Scope 3 tCO2e
Reduction on baseline
Indirect emissions activities –Based on Scope 3 emissions categories included every year since 2019/20: flights, rail, road, waste, water supply and T&D losses
Scope 3 tCO2e
Increase on baseline
Indirect emissions activities – With additional Scope 3 emissions categories included after 2019/20 as data became available
Table 4: Scope 3 emissions breakdown 2022/23
Improving how one collects data and measures carbon emissions is best practice for any business on a net zero journey. We are now, however, at the point where our targets need reassessment and revision, taking into account that what we are measuring has changed.
Work is therefore underway to:
(i) disaggregate our Scope 1 and 2 reduction targets from our Scope 3;
(ii) expand our Scope 3 baseline to cover all categories of Scope 3 emissions in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol that are material for the Firm, using industry standard methods for estimating where actual data is not available; and
(iii) revisit our disaggregated emissions reduction pathways to ensure our annual reduction targets are appropriate and meaningful. Our new ESG SteerCo is focusing on our Scope 3 strategy, including business travel, now and over the 2024/25 financial year.
Achieving ISO 14001
In 2022/23, the environmental management systems in all three of our UK offices (London, Guildford and Cheltenham) were certified by the British Standards Institute (BSI) as ISO14001 compliant.
ISO14001 is an internationally recognised benchmark that ensures sustainability is mainstreamed into business operations and provides management teams with effective tools to measure, monitor and reduce carbon emissions.
“This certification is a demonstration of our Firm’s commitment to environmental responsibility,” explains Kerry Stares, Partner and Director of Responsible Business. “A robust environmental management system and high-quality tools for emissions measurement and monitoring will be critical to our success as we work to meet our emissions reduction targets on a pathway to net zero by 2030. We are delighted to receive the endorsement of ISO14001 certification and recognise the hard work our Internal Client Services team has put in across our UK offices to secure it.”
Kerry Stares
Partner and Director of Responsible Business
Reducing our direct emissions
We have continued to achieve reductions in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2022/23 by:
- Switching our Cheltenham office to a gas supply tariff that creates green biogas from waste and supplies it to the gas grid
- Upgrading our uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment to reduce related energy consumption by 50,000 KWH per year
- Continuing our lighting upgrade program, installing more lower wattage LED lighting in all three UK offices
- Introducing new agile working policies and hot desk workspaces that reduce our energy consumption
- Collaborating with our landlord in London to install LED lighting in the basement, stairwells and lift lobby areas
- Using our enhanced environmental management system capability to spot opportunities for further emissions reduction
Beyond value-chain mitigation
As well as pursuing our carbon reduction targets across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, the Firm is committed to offsetting its residual annual carbon footprint, focusing on supporting carbon offset schemes that remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it permanently in the biosphere or geosphere.
We made our first investment in 2022/23 to offset our total emissions for 2020/21, purchasing and retiring a basket of verified carbon credits from a well-established marketplace: The Gold Standard Foundation. We invested most of our budget in a carbon removal scheme—planting biodiverse rainforests in Panama. In 2023/24 we made our second investment through the Gold Standard Foundation to offset our total emissions for 2021/22, again directing most of our budget to the Panama project.
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