Westwood Associates Carbon Reduction Plan

A message from the Directors

Our company is fully dedicated to reducing our carbon footprint and minimising our impact on the environment. We are constantly exploring new ways to improve our processes and operations, with the aim of reaching our Net Zero emissions target as soon as possible.

We understand that achieving Net Zero is not an easy task, but we are determined to make it happen. We believe that our actions today will have a significant impact on the world we leave for future generations. We are committed to playing our part in creating a sustainable and healthy planet for all.

By signing up to the SME Climate Hub, and therefore joining the United Nation’s Race to Zero campaign, we have acknowledged the carbon emissions generated through the delivery of our services, and committed to reducing our Scope 1 & 2 and Business Travel emissions by 50% by 2030, and achieving Net Zero by 2050.

We are thrilled to have begun our Net Zero journey by establishing our baseline year for 2021 setting a strategy to reduce emissions, and publishing our first-year reporting for 2022, where we have already made significant improvements.

Thank you for your continued support as we work towards achieving our goals.

About Us

Westwood Associates have been in the IT Industry since 1987 and our continued growth and success is down to delivering exactly the right strategy and solution to client’s IT needs.

At Westwood, we pride ourselves on our ability to be able to guide our clients to the most appropriate on-premise or cloud solution for their business.

Background of the Net Zero Scheme

In 2019 the UK Government amended the Climate Change Act 2008 by introducing a target of at least a 100% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 1990 levels) in the UK by 2050. This is otherwise known as the ‘Net Zero’ target.

The Climate Change Act introduced legally binding carbon budgets which set a ceiling on the level of UK GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and in order to meet these budgets, we must collectively reduce our total emissions.

The Government recognises that for organisations to take action to reduce their emissions they must have the appropriate tools and guidance. Measuring the GHG emissions is the first step to effectively managing them.

Executive Summary

The GHG Corporate Protocol states that all organisations should quantify scope 1 and 2 emissions when reporting and disclosing GHG emissions, while scope 3 emissions quantification is not currently required.

However, many organisations are reaching into their supply chain to understand the full GHG impact of their operations. This is the approach we have taken at Westwood Associates.

In this report we fully disclose our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and we are actively working to fully quantify our Scope 3 emissions.

Baseline Total Emissions

In our baseline year of 2021, under the applicable categories in Scope 1 and 2, Westwood Associates produced just 5.2 tonnes of CO2e.

This covers our main and satellite offices.

Scope Breakdown

While we have reported only Scope 1 and 2 in this report, we have detailed below where we produce Scope 3 emissions.

Scope 1

  • We do not produce any Scope 1 emissions

Scope 2

  • Electricity at our offices

Scope 3

  • Business Travel
  • Employee Commuting
  • Purchased Goods & Services
  • Transportation & Distribution
  • Waste
  • Water

 

Method of Data Collection

Data has been obtained from invoices, internal systems and records and employee surveys.

Where possible, the most granular data has been used such as kilowatt hours (kWh) used for electricity, and actual fuel consumption for business travel.

Where high quality data is not yet available, exclusively for some categories of Scope 3 emissions, we have used our spend in each category to estimate our emissions, and we will strive to improve on the quality of this in each reporting year.

 

Our Carbon Emissions

Category

 2021 2022 % Change
Scope 2 – Electricity 5.20 4.26

-18.21%

 

We are proud to have already achieved an 18% reduction in emissions in 2022.

Intensity Ratio

As is common with energy reporting, we have calculated an intensity ratio to normalise emissions data against a core business operational or financial metric, in our case tonnes of CO2e / sales revenue.

We have used our full data from all scopes to calculate our ratio, to allow us to track improvements in Scope 3 emissions.

While our sales revenue increased by 8% in 2022, our intensity ratio only increased by 3%, meaning emissions are not increasing in line with sales.

Existing Saving Measures

  • Reduced electricity emissions by 18%
  • Switched to a 100% renewable electricity contract
  • Implemented improved waste and recycling;
    • Reducing waste to landfill by 36%
    • Increasing reduction by 75%
    • Resulting in a 67% reduction in emissions from Waste
  • 28% of our time spent working from home, reducing both emissions from commuting and office use
  • 35% of our staff use public transport
  • 11% of our staff car share with colleagues

Our Plan to Further Reduce Emissions

  • Solar: We are planning to install Photo Voltaic Solar Panels at our office, resulting in truly renewable energy and reducing our emissions by up to 80%.
  • Voltage Optimisation: We are planning to install a Voltage Optimisation solution at the office, ensuring all equipment only uses the minimum viable amount of energy to operate, reducing electricity usage by up to 12%.
  • Vehicles: We are investigating an Electric Vehicle scheme where we will facilitate our employees to lease a brand-new Electric Vehicle, reducing their commuting and personal emissions.
  • Metering: We have had Advanced Remote Metering equipment installed on our electricity meter, providing half hourly granular kWh data, allowing us to target anomalous out of hours energy usage and encourage employee engagement and behavioural change, by use of the Online Reporting Platform and to set and track energy reduction targets.
  • Equipment Recycle: We are offering our clients an option to have their IT equipment recycled by a specialist who aims to donate 80-90% of our old equipment to a variety of Not for Profits. They even replace hard drives at their expense to allow a device to be donated. All previous data is securely destroyed.
  • Hand Driers: We plan to install super-efficient, high-speed cool air hand dryers, replacing current paper towel use, saving an 42 grams of carbon with every hand wash – this will add up to nearly half a tonne of carbon saved every year.
  • Lighting: We plan to install Light Sensors which is estimated to reduce energy usage from lighting by up to 30%, additionally we will be replacing our existing lighting with LED lighting.

Communication

We will improve environmental awareness for all our employees through a training program by the end of 2023, including encouraging behaviour change both in the office and at home.

We are working with key partners and other stakeholders to achieve a better understanding of our Scope 3 emissions.

Declaration

Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard, and uses the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors.