It has taken two years, a lot of sweat, some tears and a couple sleepless nights but we have had our carbon emissions reduction targets validated. They have been signed off by the world’s leading authority on the matter – the Science Based Targets Initiative. Thank you to all those at every level of each business that has contributed their time, energy and much data to get this across the line.
What does this mean?
It means that our emissions reductions targets and carbon emissions calculations are in line with the latest climate science and calculation methods.
We are now publicly committed to halving our emissions over the next decade and reducing by 90% by 2050 and offsetting the remaining 10% (by tree planting for instance). In the short term, it means that we are aiming for a year-on-year reduction of 5.5%.
We are proud to have committed to the most ambitious reduction pathway possible aiming to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
How do we move forward?
Over the next six months, each business along with the sustainability team is producing a costed transition plan outlining the top priority initiatives to reduce emissions. This can mean very different actions for each division. Groundforce for instance is focussed on working with suppliers to buy lower carbon steel, TPA it’s the same for aluminium. Whereas for UK Forks, the focus is on introducing upgrading the fleet to more fuel efficient Tier V engines. Details of other initiatives can be found on our roadmap to net zero below (this is also available as a stand-alone document to view, download and share via the resources on the Hive or the Sustainability website.
Thanks to all those who have submitted suggestions via the suggestions box on the Environmental section of the Hive. We have looked into them all and have actioned many of them – please keep them coming!