Carbon Reporting and Reduction Plan

Macildowie Associates Ltd has committed to reducing its carbon emission to Net Zero by 2030 using, as far as possible, direct reduction and offsetting the remainder.

We do this because we are conscious of the environmental, social and economic imperative to act on climate change.

The UK Government amended the Climate Change Act 2008 in 2019 by introducing a target of at least 100% reduction in the net UK carbon account (i.e. a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions when compared to 1990 levels) by 2050. As a result, Central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies are required to ensure that suppliers to contracts with an annual value of in excess of £5 million (excluding VAT) per year are committed to achieving “Net Zero by 2050” for all procurements after 30^th September 2021. 

This has led to PPN 06/21 which applies to all new procurements from this date and this includes framework call-offs and Dynamic Purchasing Systems where the anticipated individual value of the call-off or DPS is £5 million (excluding VAT) per annum or more. To demonstrate compliance, we have set out our environmental management measures in our Carbon Reduction Plan which includes:

• Confirming our commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2030 for our UK operations.
• Details of our carbon footprint/current emissions for the sources included in Scope 1 and 2 of the GHG Protocol and a defined subset of Scope 3 emissions.
• Providing emissions reporting of the CO2e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent) for the greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol (predominantly carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide).
• Setting out the environmental management measures we have adopted including specific carbon reduction measures.
• Publication of our Carbon Reduction Plan on our website.

Scope 1 Direct Emissions - these are direct greenhouse gas emissions that occur from sources that are controlled or owned by us (e.g. emissions from boilers, vehicles etc).

Scope 2 Energy Indirect Emissions - these are indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated from the purchase of electricity, heating or cooling and are measured and reported in alignment with our energy use.

Scope 3 Other Indirect Emissions - these fall into 15 categories and include all sources not specified within Scopes 1 and 2 above. The Scope 3 emissions that we are required to report on are:

• “Upstream” transportation and distribution of products purchased by us from Tier 1 suppliers (e.g. paper, computers, office consumables).
• Disposal and treatment of waste generated in facilities not owned or controlled by us.
• Transportation of employees for business related activities in vehicles not owned or operated by us.
• Transportation of employees between home and work in vehicles not owned or operated by us including in their own vehicles.
• “Downstream” transportation and distribution of products sold by us including retail and storage. This category is not applicable as Macildowie is a service business and does not produce, transport or distribute products.

Macildowie is committed to achieving Net Zero by 2030 and as part of this commitment, has an interim targets of reducing emissions by 2025. This plan is reviewed annually by the Directors to check progress and establish if changes should be made to the actions we have in place to maximise our reduction in carbon emissions.

The basis of our Carbon strategy is one of Measure – Prioritise – Act – Measure – Repeat.

We report on the sources of environmental impact over which we have operational control and calculate our carbon footprint monthly, in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocols Corporate Standard and report against the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gasses in terms of:

• Actual targets – absolute reduction targets which compare actual figures in the target year to those in the base year.
• Intensity targets – based on a normalising factor.

We subscribe to a third party service to manage our data inputs, conduct the required calculations, set and record our intensity metrics, and provide quarterly carbon reporting. The data that sits behind this is the UK Government Greenhouse Gas reporting database, updated when appropriate.

This provides us with our emissions by source, and total emissions by quarter, sets our intensity metrics and shows how we are tracking quarter-on-quarter.

Our chosen intensity metrics are t/CO₂ per m² floor area and per employee.

For the baseline year therefore, our intensity metrics are:

Our base year for all measurements is May 21 to April 22. This will not change unless there is a significant change to our company structure (e.g. a merger or acquisition) or a change in the company’s ownership, in which case the base year may move to the reporting year following the structural change.

Specific inputs and output used to calculate figures quoted in our Carbon Reduction Plan include:

• Electricity
• Gas
• Water
• Solid waste
• Employee commuter mileage by type – walk / cycle / motorcycle / car / bus / train
• Business travel by private car / bus / rail

Our carbon calculation has enabled us to identify the largest sources of GHG emissions, and to focus our areas of impact. That does not imply however that we are not implementing actions across the board. We have been able to identify quick and easy wins which relate to relatively low impact areas whilst also implementing longer term multi-facet strategies for the larger emission areas.

We have communicated our Net Zero ambitions across our workforce, and have formed an employee task force. This task force is charged with identifying where our staff can affect carbon reductions through behaviour change.

We will report our carbon emissions and progress against target to our employees quarterly, via a Company-wide update and displays at both of our offices.

We have developed a communication plan which describes our ambitions and commitments to our key customers and suppliers, and in our general communications.

How employees travel to work is a Scope 3 emission, meaning that it is outside the direct control of the business. Scope 3 emission reporting is mandatory under the new Government Agency procurement requirements.

For Macildowie, commuting represents by far the greatest carbon impact, even considering that on average, employees work at home for three days out of five.

1. Review and implement a Cycle-to-Work scheme.
2. Active travel – cycling or walking - has multiple physical and mental health benefits.
3. Car Sharing

We have considered paper and printer cartridges here as the primary measurable consumables for the type of activity conducted at Macildowie.

1. Use only recycled paper, and ask employees to only print when absolutely necessary, to print on two sides.

Offsetting the emissions that we cannot mitigate will become part of our strategy, but only at the point that we’ve implemented all of the possible behavioural, process and technology changes.

We will take expert guidance to identify a credible and verifiable carbon offsetting scheme, that may be UK or overseas based.

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance.

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

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.

We confirm this Carbon Reduction Plan is reviewed and signed off at board level on an annual basis and is available on the home page of our website.