We report annually on our most material carbon emission sources as required under the UK Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013 – Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption data.
For the year ended 31 December 2022, we have applied the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard to calculate our emissions data and have used emission factors from the UK Government’s latest GHG conversion factors and the current edition of the IEA emission factors for non-UK electricity. The emission data covers all our offices.
Where data was incomplete, we have extrapolated data in line with this methodology.
In 2022, our GHG emissions for Scope 1 and 2 increased year on year by 1% as normal business operations resumed following the pandemic. Our employees returned to work in our offices on a flexible basis and customer representatives were able to visit their customers on a weekly basis. This resulted in a year-on-year increase of 4% in business-related car travel compared with 2021; however overall fuel use has decreased by 21.7% since 2019 which was the last year of full-scale operations before the pandemic period. This is due primarily to the gradual replacement of diesel and petrol cars with lower emission LPG vehicles in the Company’s fleet, as well as the increasing share of digital loans in our product portfolio.
Taking into account the fact that business travel by car represents 91% of our total Scope 1 and 2 emissions each year, our overall footprint in 2022 also decreased significantly, by 24.5% compared with 2019.
Scope 3 (indirect emissions) have not been included in our 2022 reporting; however, we intend to assess how best to measure indirect emissions (Scope 3) in 2023, in particular paper use, waste and recycling.
For Scope 1 and 2, transport by car will remain our priority in 2023 and we plan to continue replacing our petrol and diesel car fleet with LPG and hybrid cars.
Our GHG emissions report has been reviewed and verified by Be Sustainable Limited and the statement of verification can be found below the table.
| Tonnes CO2e | |||||||
| GHG emission sources | Travel and utilities | 2019 | 2020 | 2021* | 2022 | 2022 as a % 2021 | Difference |
| Scope 1 | Gas | 927 | 1008 | 476 | 508 | 106.8% | 6.8% |
| Business travel by car | 24,273 | 16,304 | 18,277 | 19,012 | 104% | 4.0% | |
| Scope 2 | Purchased electricity and district heating | 3,236 | 2,664 | 2,494 | 1,937 | 78% | (22.0)% |
| Scope 1 and 2 | 28,437 | 19,976 | 21,247 | 21,457 | 101% | 1.0% | |
| CO2e emissions by customer | 0.013 | 0.011 | 0.013 | 0.128 | 98.5% | (1.5)% | |
* 2021 data was restated from 20,841 to 21,247 tCO2e to account for estimates made for Q4 2021 when final figures for some gas, electricity and district heating were not available.
Please click here to review the statement of verification provided by Be Sustainable Limited.
