2021-22 is all about establishment of a CO₂ baseline and planning our approach to data capture under Scope 1, 2 or Scope 3 emissions (if they exceed 1% of the CO₂e total).

Baseline establishment will clarify which of our emissions sources fall under each ‘scope’ and how to best capture data. Main contributors have been identified as: utilities, travel (including commuting and public transport use); consumables (including disposal and transit).

Focus logs data for ISO 14001, which immediately highlights historic reductions on our biggest CO₂ producers:

1.  We halved our electricity-related CO₂ between 2015-2020

2. New Defra electricity emissions factors improved subsequent CO₂ figures (but we can’t claim that ‘reduction’ is due to our activity)

3. Some business travel (e.g., site visits) is unavoidable, but Covid influenced a 50% drop in 2021. We didn’t like lockdowns – but it proved that we can function increasingly on line, so we will learn lessons from this benefit.

This felt like a good place to start data collation and testing emissions streams for exceeding 1%. PAS 2060 accepts some data is not readily available, so estimates (within a recognised methodology) will be made where necessary.

Following this, a management plan and targeted actions to reduce impact can begin.