Commitment to achieving net zero
Agile Solutions (GB) Ltd is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.
Baseline emissions footprint
Baseline year: 2018
Our baseline emissions inventory includes all our measurable scope 1 and 2 emissions, together with at least 75% of our total scope 3 value chain emissions.
Baseline year emissions: 2018
| Emissions | Total tCO2e |
| Scope 1 | 7.31 |
| Scope 2 - market-based | 13.44 |
| Scope 3 | 152.67 4. Upstream transportation and Distribution - 0.00 5. Waste generated in operations - .91 6. Business travel - 150.09 7. Employee commuting - 1.67 9. Downstream transportation and distribution - 0.00 (Due to the nature of our services as a consultancy, we don’t create emissions related to category 4 & 9) |
| Total emissions | 173.42 |
Current emissions reporting
Reporting year: 2023
| Emissions | Total tCO2e |
| Scope 1 | 0.00 |
| Scope 2 - market-based | 2.8 |
| Scope 3 | 59.3 4. Upstream transportation and Distribution - 0.00 5. Waste generated in operations - 36.8 6. Business travel - 20.1 7. Employee commuting - 2.4 9. Downstream transportation and distribution - 0.00 (Due to the nature of our services as a consultancy, we don’t create emissions related to category 4 & 9) |
| Total | 62.12 |
Note: Due to the nature of Agile Solutions’ business as a consultancy pre COVID-19 business travel was very high. In 2022 business travel emissions increased due to the return of travel post COVID-19, however still showed a 73% decrease compared to 2018. In 2023 our Glasgow site was under repair so was not utilised as a site. The reduction in scope 1 is due to us not actively utilising our Glasgow Office which reduces scope 1 emissions for heating.
Business travel will remain as a normal part of the way we work but operate on a remote unless required basis with our customers, it is important for us to visit our client’s premises to build relationships and service their needs.
Emissions reduction targets
To continue our progress towards achieving net zero, we have set targets from 2018 to 2025. Following this we will reset our targets in line with the science- based net-zero criteria soon to be published by the Science Based Targets initiative.
42% Decrease - Our current target period involves a 89% decrease in scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2023 on a 2018 baseline.
Progress against these targets can be seen in the graph adjacent with a 64% noted decrease for fully year 2023 on our 2018 baseline:
Progress against targets 2023
Figure 1- Projection for Carbon Emission cumulative reduction targets across all Agile Solutions sites, – Measurement in tCO2e
Carbon Reduction Projects
Completed carbon reduction initiatives
The following environmental management measures and projects have been completed or implemented since the 2018 baseline.
- We offer electric-vehicle (EV) leasing scheme which is available to all employees who have passed their probation.
- Move to virtual meetings using Microsoft Teams.
- LED Lighting where possible.
- Energy reduction program – switch off policy, what runs, runs when needed only.
- Continue to procure certified 100% renewable electricity contracts for all our premises.
- Where work circumstances allow, employees given options for flexible working model to reduce office accommodation requirements.
- We have run a communications campaign to educate and drive awareness around events such as World Environment Day.
- Decommission on premise provisions when possible, to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions and incorporate a cloud first procurement strategy.
- Gain understanding of future impacts from commuting and working from home via a rolling employee survey and use this as an opportunity to decrease scope 3 emissions via employee engagement.
- Improved planning and scheduling of our consultants can have a considerable impact on carbon footprint through reduced commuting distances and to support this we have invested in a decision support solution Everglades.
As well as these initiatives, the decrease against the baseline position has also been due to low office occupancy and reduced travel caused by COVID-19. We remain confident, however, that our current and future measures will enable us to achieve net zero well in advance of 2050.
Future carbon reduction initiatives under consideration
In the future we plan to implement further measures which will continue to drive down emissions, below are some examples of areas under review:
- Build awareness amongst our workforce of the impact of their decisions on our journey to net zero.
- Explore membership for carbon offsetting services to support our aim for carbon neutral 2050
- Explore alternative heating solutions to further reduce scope 2 emissions when possible (replacing gas heating with panel heaters, air source heat pumps or solar thermal.)
- Reduce business travel by air, rail, and road through effective measurement and a sustainable travel policy.
- Continue to reduce emissions from vehicles used by employees for business travel. Mileage fell 73.73% between 2018 and 2022
- Continue to explore flexible working arrangements to our clients for delivery of projects.
- Incorporate into the Onboarding guiding principles for Carbon reduction and eco-friendly practise.
- Review AI Functionality to support better efficient data management with an aim to reduce energy consumption within our cloud storage solutions.
- Help our clients explore the changes they could make to accelerate their Net Zero transformation
- Assist our customers in adopting cloud native deployments which in turn are more efficient in processing and storage than general cloud migrations
- Reflect our internal policies and incorporate it to our 3rd party/ sub-contractor on-boarding process.
- The Everglades system will continue to be developed with the potential addition of AI to improve carbon efficiency decision making related to consultant deployments and carbon footprint
Declaration and sign off
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans.
Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard1 and uses the most relevant emissions factors sourced from government and official environmental bodies, and suppliers.
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.
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the directors:
Signed on behalf of Agile Solutions (GB) Ltd:
Owen Lewis,
Chairman
Date: July 2024
Steve Whiting,
Chief Executive Officer
Date: July 2024
Agile Solutions' have setup a Carbon Reduction working group who meet quarterly to drive change and monitor progress.