Best Practice Group plc is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050 for emissions in scopes 1, 2 and 3.
Carbon Reduction Plan
Publication date: 8th October 2024
Baseline Emissions Footprint
Baseline emissions are a record of the greenhouse gases that have been produced in the past and were produced prior to the introduction of any strategies to reduce emissions. Baseline emissions are the reference point against which emissions reduction can be measured.
Baseline Year: 01 January 2023 – 31 December 2023
Additional Details relating to the Baseline Emissions calculations
Best Practice Group is a small/medium size (SME) business that provides consultancy on managing complex supplier relationships to public, private and third sector organisations.
We have measured our baseline emissions based on a 12-month period of 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023, which also corresponds to the company’s financial year.
Methodology — We have defined the boundary of the measurements as those for which we have operational control. As a small-niche service-based company, we do not produce a physical product or hold stock. As such, Best Practice Group does not control or own assets that produce Scope 1 and 2 emissions. Our emissions occur within Scope 3.
Data gathering — For our base year calculations, we have used the NatWest Carbon Planner. This is one of the free calculator tools recommended by Crown Commercial Services. We chose this calculator as it allows us to report separate Scope 3 emissions. The exception is our Scope 3 emission calculation for commuting, for which we have used the DEFRA emissions factor for remote working, as published in 2023.
Further commentary
Scope 1 — Direct Emissions. These are generated by company facilities, such as offices and company vehicles. As of the base year, 100% of our workforce operates as ‘remote workers’ from home. The company does not own or lease any company vehicles.
Scope 2 — Indirect Emissions. These are emissions that the company causes indirectly from energy it purchases. As we do not control an office or facility, we do not purchase energy directly.
Scope 3 — Supply Chain Emissions. For our base year, all Best Practice Group’s emissions occur in Scope 3, the majority generated by business travel and employee commuting. As we do not produce any physical goods that require shipping or distribution, we do not produce downstream emissions.
Current guidelines factor emissions produced by remote working as part of the commuting calculation. We have reflected this in our emissions reporting, which is based on DEFRA’s conversions factors 2023 published 07 June, 2023 at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2023.
| EMISSIONS | TOTAL (tCO2e) |
|---|---|
| Scope 1 | 0 tCO2e |
| Scope 2 | 0 tCO2e |
| Scope 3 (Total) | 9.307 tCO2e |
| Scope 3 (Business Travel) | 7.32 tCO2e |
| Scope 3 (Staff commuting) | 1.77 tCO2e |
| Scope 3 (Waste) | 0.005 tCO2e |
| Scope 3 (Upstream transport) | 0.021 tCO2e |
| Scope 3 (Downstream transport) | 0 tCO2e |
| Scope 3 (Purchased goods and services) | 0.191 tCO2e |
| Total Emissions | 9.307 tCO2e |
Emissions Reduction Targets
To continue our progress to achieving Net Zero, we have adopted the following carbon reduction targets:
- Next five years: 6.98 tCO2e by 2029. This is a reduction of 15%.
Carbon Reduction Projects
The carbon reduction opportunities in this section, once fully implemented, will help reduce Best Practice Group’s emissions in line with achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.
As an SME, Best Practice Group already commits to many carbon-saving approaches, such as using public transport for business travel. Therefore, our immediate priority is to better understand and measure our emissions. From here, we can use our improved data to develop meaningful incremental changes that will create positive changes to our carbon footprint.
Our initial projects will focus on how to refine and improve our emissions calculations and encourage staff to adopt a ‘green’ mindset to work.
Improve Measurement
For our base year, we used retrospective data, based on financial and purchasing records. We understand that to better understand, and thereby develop strategies to reduce our emissions, we will improve our data gathering by introducing proactive and specific emissions data collection.
We will implement regular data capture specific to our emissions goals and create data gathering tools. These will provide us with specific and granular information on where our emissions occur, enabling Best Practice Group better insights into where we can make positive changes to company actions.
This action will be in place by the time we calculate emissions created in 2026.
Business Travel
Business miles — our present data does not clearly differentiate between the types of travel we do, as part of managing the business.
To better understand where we can make emissions savings, we will seek to develop tools for more effective way to measure and understand the distances travelled using different types of transport. Currently, we assume it is primarily by rail but lack tools to understand the more detailed picture.
Hotel stays — for the base year, we were unable to determine emissions created by staff members staying in hotel accommodation as part of our business activities. This, we think, forms a small but important part of our business travel emissions.
We plan to instigate better understanding of how our Business Travel emissions should be measured and ensure they form part of our emissions data and tracking for our 2026 calculations.
This will allow us to better understand the full scale of our emissions created by business travel. This in turn will present approaches that will help us reduce our emissions.
Staff Commuting
We will seek to determine improved ways to measure emissions created by ‘remote working’, as this forms a significant part of our emissions.
At present, emissions calculators are not geared to businesses, such as Best Practice Group, with staff that predominantly work remotely. To better understand our emissions, we will research alternative methods of measurement that better reflect the reality of our working practices.
We will do this with a view of implementing any relevant and useful research findings ready for the measurement of our 2026 emissions.
Employee Learning and Behaviour Change
As our staff are primarily remote workers, we encourage a shared culture to encourage emissions-reducing behaviour, such as using public transport for business travel.
We are in the process of consolidating our company-wide policy on working practices that help reduce emissions. This will include yearly training for existing staff and induction training for any new staff that the company employs.
The policy and training will be in place, ready to measure our 2025 emissions.
We will regularly review and update working arrangements in line with best practice and reflect this in our policy and training.
We will regularly review technological advancements and reflect this in our working practices.
Declaration and Sign Off
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans.
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.
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.
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off, on behalf of the board of directors, by Allan Watton, Chief Executive Officer, on 8th October 2024.