Net Zero Carbon

We are committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2035 and reducing carbon emissions in line with the 1.5°C scenario. We have established a robust baseline for emissions across Scope 1, 2 and 3 and have set near and long-term reduction targets to deliver on this.

We have continued to reduce our carbon emission delivering a 9 per cent reduction in scope 1 and 2 (location-based) emissions in 2024, and 44 per cent in total since 2014.

We source 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources, either through on-site generation, green tariffs or Energy Attribute Certificates.

We also maintained our CarbonNeutral® Company certification in 2024, purchasing carbon credits from a portfolio that includes renewable energy generation, rooftop solar in India, and reforestation in the United States. In addition, we were keen to support emerging carbon removal technologies, and bought additional credits from an innovative CO2 mineralisation project in the United States.

We also delivered progress on our lab and estates strategy that will reduce our Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 60 per cent in the next 3-5 years.

Priorities

• Energy efficiency: We aim to reduce our energy use by 25 per cent by the end of 2025.

• Carbon reduction: Maintain CarbonNeutral® Company certification and achieve net zero carbon across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 2035.

• Renewable energy: We aim to source 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources and increase the proportion coming from new renewable sources.

• Engage key partners: We aim to work with partners to reduce carbon emissions across our entire value chain.

2024 highlights

• We reduced Scope 1 and 2 (location-based) carbon emissions by 9 per cent, bringing our total reductions to 44 per cent from 2014.

• We made progress on delivering our lab and estates strategy that will reduce our Scopes 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 60 per cent in the next 3-5 years.

• We maintained CarbonNeutral® Company certification, covering Scopes 1, 2 and some Scope 3 emissions sources.

• We sourced 100 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources in 2023.

As we work towards achieving net zero carbon, our focus is on reducing our energy use and carbon emissions. Whilst we’ve made good progress in the last decade to do so, there is still a long way to go. So when we refreshed our sustainability strategy in 2020, we wanted to set some tangible interim objectives that reflect our commitment to a low-carbon future.

We chose to achieve CarbonNeutral® Company certification, in accordance with the CarbonNeutral Protocol and have done so since 2021.

Building on our long-term energy and carbon reductions, we partnered with Climate Impact Partners to purchase high-quality carbon credits to offset emissions from Scope 1 and 3 (Transmission and distribution losses, waste, business travel and homeworking). We select carbon reduction projects that reflect the nature of our business and our global presence, deliver reliable carbon reductions, and create additional impact on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

During 2024 we offset emissions across Scope 1 and Scope 3 (transmission and distribution losses, waste, business travel and homeworking) using a portfolio of projects, addressing Scope 2 emissions by sourcing 100 per cent of our electricity from renewables.

The offset projects

We selected carbon reduction projects that reflected the nature of our business and our global presence, delivered reliable carbon reductions, and created additional impact on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Our projects all follow carbon standards that meet the ICROA Code of Best Practice. These standards have established robust processes of design, monitoring and independent verification that establish the quality of the projects, the emissions they reduce and remove, how they change "business as usual" and their additional benefits to communities.

Additionally, our CarbonNeutral® certification is achieved in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol. First developed and published in 2002, The Protocol is revised and updated annually to reflect developments in climate science, international policy, standards and business practice. It is a publicly available framework developed for business, by business, that draws together leading independent standards for greenhouse gas accounting into a practical guide to carbon neutrality.

For 2024, we have selected a portfolio that includes renewable energy generation, rooftop solar in India, and reforestation in the United States. In addition, we were keen to support emerging carbon removal technologies, and bought additional credits from an innovative CO2 concrete mineralisation project in Maine, United States.

Supports emissions removals and ecosystem improvement through reforestation, as well as jobs in forestry management.

• 2024: Purchased credits for 200 tCO2e

• Verified under the American Carbon Registry

The project, developed and operated by the GreenTrees platform, aims to reforest one million acres of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, an area which was once covered by 22 million acres of dense forest. It is the largest afforestation and reforestation carbon project in the USA.

As a result of sustained deforestation and agricultural land use conversion over the last 50 years, less than 20 per cent of this forest remains. Landowners who voluntarily enrol in the project commit to planting and protecting trees, reducing an estimated 200 tonnes CO2 equivalent per acre.

The project creates revenue for participants, brings jobs to the area, and enhances local water quality and biodiversity.

In addition to delivering more than 500,000 tonnes of emissions removals annually to help take urgent climate action (SDG 13), the project delivers a number of other sustainable development benefits. These include:

• Life on Land: Reforestation activities create a chain of environmental benefits, including helping protect against hurricane and flood damage, controlling soil and nutrient run-off, and improving the water quality of the Mississippi River. The forestland is also a vital habitat for numerous plant and animal species, particularly migratory birds.

• Life Below Water: Large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous leaching from agricultural land causes reduced oxygen levels in the water, leaving the area uninhabitable for much aquatic life. For every 100,000 acres of farmland restored to its natural forest, the release of 1,550,000 pounds of fertiliser into the Mississippi River - some of which could end up in the Gulf of Mexico - would be avoided annually.

• Decent Work and Economic Growth: The project helps initiate sustainable tree harvesting, which creates jobs for harvesters, wood processors and those who support wood product production activities

Supports the installation of micro solar electricity and heating systems which replace kerosine and carbon intensive grid electricity

• 2024: Purchased credits for 777 tCO2e.

• Verified under Gold Standard and CDM.

With a growing middle class in India, electricity demand regularly outstrips supply causing blackouts. In rural areas, kerosene is used for energy and lighting, polluting the air inside homes. Overall, water heating accounts for a quarter of all residential energy use worldwide per Project Drawdown.

Orb Energy installs and services high-quality solar energy systems for residential and commercial customers in India. This project has brought over 160,000 solar power and solar water heating systems to customers throughout the country to cut emissions and replace the use of kerosene or electricity from a grid reliant on fossil fuels.

Businesses can now operate for longer and more consistently with a solar energy system. Household solar water heating reduces electricity bills by more than 50 per cent and lighting at home means greater opportunity for children to study after the sun goes down. Indoor air pollution is also avoided by replacing kerosene lamps previously used to light homes.

Supports large scale renewable electricity generation to displace fossil fuel generation.

• 2024: Purchased credits for 2,454 tCO2e.

• Sourced from Sichuan Cascade Hydro and Zhaoyuan Xinlong Shunde Wind projects, China

• Verified under CDM.

In these regions in China people relay on power from Coal-fired plant. These projects utilise the wind the Sichuan River to generate and supply the electricity, which would otherwise have been produced by coal-fired plants, to the Northern-East China Grid.

Carbon finance, delivered by companies who offset their emissions, provides essential funds to support the development of global renewable projects. Energy generation is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, and renewable energy investment is a fast and effective solution to reduce these emissions.

The Zhaoyuan Xinlong Shunde Wind project comprises 33 turbines, with a total generation capacity of 49.5MW. The project delivers more than 100,000 tCO2e each year. The Sichuan Cascade run-of-river hydropower station has a capacity of 10.5MW through two stages, delivering around 27,000 tCO2e reductions each year.

Supports new technology that captures and injects CO2 into concrete during production, mineralising the CO2 and reducing the concrete needed.

• 2024: Purchased credits for 50 tCO2e

• Verified through VCS

Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in existence. The single largest ingredient in concrete is cement, and it has a massive carbon footprint. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world behind China and the US.

This project makes use of nascent stage technology that will capture CO2 that would have otherwise been emitted into the atmosphere and inject it into concrete as it is produced, thus mineralizing the CO2 in concrete. Carbon emissions are reduced and sequestered through this form of carbon capture and storage.

This innovative industrial process has the additional benefit of requiring less cement to create concrete. Globally, cement is the source of about 8 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions meaning every reduction of emissions from this sector is meaningful. Around 98 per cent of the credits from this project are reductions, and the remaining 2 per cent are removals.