Just over a year ago we started recording and assessing our carbon footprint using the using the SME Business Carbon Calculator by Normative which helps SMEs understand where their emissions come from, based on the average carbon footprints of similar companies in their sector and country.
Our overall annual carbon footprint was estimated to be 25.7 tonnes CO2e. The breakdown of this analysis shows us that we generated no emissions from Scope 1 (direct emissions resulting from company owned or leased vehicles or other emitting assets) and relatively small emissions from Scope 2 (7% - indirect emissions resulting from bought electricity, cooling and heating).
The majority of our emissions were generated from Scope 3 activities (93% - indirect emissions occurring in the supply chain, such as emissions resulting from purchased goods and services, transport and business travel). As we drill down further into the numbers we can see that business travel accounts for around 30% and purchased goods and services 70% of our Scope 3 carbon emissions.
Going forward in the next financial year we will implement opportunities to reduce our Scope 3 activities such as further reducing our use of private vehicles for site visits, and looking at ways we can reduce the impact of our purchased goods and services (eg. data hosting, insurance, building maintenance).
