ESG roadmap
Following the ESG benchmarking review we carried out in FY21, we put in place a new ESG roadmap including a set of clear objectives for FY22. In Q1 FY22 we set up our ESG committee, conducted a materiality assessment across all stakeholders and commissioned a third party, Sustainable Advantage, to undergo a net zero assessment for us. This allowed us to agree a new set of objectives, including a Net Zero 2040 target, which we published in April in our FY21 Annual Report, and then subsequently in June in our first ever ESG Impact Report. The report sets out in more detail our plans and initiatives to achieve those objectives. Since the publication of the Impact Report, our ESG committee has overseen the delivery of a series of initiatives that puts us on target to deliver our objectives. Our achievements this year are detailed in the ESG section on page 18, but would like to highlight four significant achievements:
1. In FY21 we transferred our electricity supply to renewable sources and, despite volatility in the energy markets, we committed to retaining these during FY22. In December we were also able to take the final step of transferring our Irish electricity supply to renewable sources.
2. The roll-out of Satalia route optimisation technology to our HSS Operations teams has delivered a 14% reduction in mileage per job (FY22 versus FY21) and has reduced our carbon emissions by over 195,696kg. Transport mileage is the major contributor to our scope 1 and 2 emissions, so this is a significant step on our journey to net zero. More can be read about this in the case study on page 15.
3. There has been an across-the-board improvement in our safety statistics to record levels. Our RIDDOR rate improved from 0.11 to 0.02, Lost time accident frequency improved from 0.46 to 0.40 and our All Accident frequency rate improved from 3.68 to 3.24. Whilst we are very proud of these improvements, we continue to strive for a zero-accident environment, and this will remain a key priority in FY23.
4. We undertook our colleague engagement survey in November and I am pleased to say we had a record level of responses, with a 92% completion rate (compared with 81% last year) and our engagement score remained at our all-time high of 76%, well above the industry average of 50%. I believe it is so important to keep our teams engaged and this will continue to be an area we focus on.
Given the progress made on our roadmap, we were delighted that EcoVadis classified us in its ‘Advanced’ category following a comprehensive audit of our ESG credentials this year. This puts us in the top 10% of companies in our industry.
