Carbon reduction plan
Sustainability report
Commitment to achieving Net Zero
Storm ID is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2045, in line with Scottish Government policy. With further work and new insights, we hope to exceed this target.
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.
2022 reporting year
Storm ID is an SME based in Scotland with customers throughout the rest of the UK. Our reporting period begins in April and ends in March the following year, in line with the financial year.
Scope 1
Scope 1 covers emissions from sources that an organisation owns or controls directly – for example from burning fuel in our fleet of vehicles (if they’re not electrically-powered).
573.46 litres = 126.14 gallons
126.14 gallons * 56.5 mpg = 7,126.91 Miles
Scope 2
Scope 2 are emissions that a company causes indirectly and come from where the energy it purchases and uses is produced. For example, the emissions caused when generating the electricity that we use in our buildings would fall into this category.
Scope 3
Scope 3 encompasses emissions that are not produced by the company itself and are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by them, but by those that it's indirectly responsible for up and down its value chain. An example of this is when we buy, use and dispose of products from suppliers. Scope 3 emissions include all sources not within the scope 1 and 2 boundaries.
Upstream transportation and distribution
Explanation: Storm ID is a professional digital services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Due to the nature of our business, we provide our clients with services and solutions rather than goods, and as such, transportation and distribution of goods are not relevant for us.
Business travel
Cloud & Hosting Emissions
| Region | Emmissions | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Europe, the Middle East and Africa | 0.228 | 73.47% |
| Austria | 0.029 | 9.37% |
| UK | 0.027 | 8.6% |
| France | 0.023 | 7.44% |
| Sweden | 0.002 | <1% |
| US | 0.001 | <1% |
| South Korea | 0.000 | <1% |
| South Africa | 0.000 | <1% |
| Australia | 0.000 | <1% |
| India | 0.000 | <1% |
Employee Commuting
Results are dependent on participation and detail provided by staff. This figure is only an approximation based on the available findings and can be found below under 'Employee Commuting & Energy Data'.
Downstream Transportation and Distribution
Storm ID is a professional digital services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Due to the nature of our business, we do not transport or distribute products.
Emissions reduction targets
Baseline Statement
To continue our progress in achieving Net Zero, we have adopted the following carbon reduction targets.
We project that carbon emissions will decrease over the next five years to 70.00 tCO2e by 2027. A reduction of 28% relative to the 2019 Baseline Carbon Emission Report 96.72 tCO2e. Following new research and development, we have been able to target more areas and calculate our true emissions more accurately, in turn this has raised our true emissions total this year.
Progress against these targets can be seen in the following graph:
Carbon Emission Mitigation
Carbon Reduction Initiatives
The following environmental management measures and projects have been completed or implemented in the 22/23 year.
- (Ongoing) New flexible working principles and opportunities introduced in 2020, catalysed by the Coronavirus pandemic resulted in a reduction in employee commutes to our office, less energy (gas/electric) consumption at office, and fewer consumables being consumed at the office equating a reduction in deliveries and transportation;
- Adopted additional LED lighting throughout the office resulting in 79% reduction in lighting related CO2 emissions compared to our previous Halogen models, continuing with this in 2023/2024;
- Migrated internal IT infrastructure to cloud based services: decommissioned old infrastructure and migrated everything to cloud-based services, reducing the on-premises IT infrastructure and comms room cooling required.
- (Ongoing) Supply chain audit: Due diligence with regards to environmental sustainability and carbon reduction will be performed on each of our suppliers, specifically looking to support local businesses and businesses actively reducing their carbon emissions. This is an ongoing review.
- Initially, Storm researched the possibility of providing PAS2060 qualifications to selected staff members interested. However, upon a further review, we deemed it not necessary for a site of our size and nature. Instead, leaving the option to come back to this for review in due course.
- (Ongoing) Sustainability policy development and implementation. Periodically reviewing sustainability policies and strategy, working to complete expected objects within the projected time frame.
- Tracking office attendance has shown an 85% reduction in office attendance due to hybrid working arrangements and this figure is now used to approximate other emissions accounting.
- Plastic soap dispensers around the building have been replaced with refillable soap packets, reducing the amount of plastic going to waste, and lessening the need for deliveries as frequently.
- Upgraded commercial boilers & plant room to more efficient system. This resulted in a 25.4% Reduction in energy usage (based on energy usage registered by Energy Supplier). It should be noted that there was a significant reduction in energy usage due to a fault with the boiler during the winter months. This number is expected to rise again over the next year relative to last year, and plateau in the following year.
- Transitioning to collecting the weekly front of house re-stock in person from local shops, rather than an online home delivery. This has resulted in a reduction in emissions for transport, storage etc. This will be calculated in next year’s report when more data on this transition is available.
- The following attempts track, calculate & mitigate carbon emissions resulted in a -6.54% reduction in overall tCO2 emissions from the 21/22 - 22/23 carbon reporting year.
Employee Commuting & Energy Data
The data visualised below provides a clear picture of employee behaviours with regards to transport and energy usage. Data selected from the Carbon Emission Questionnaire has been approximated into bands, with the most important data visualised below. Due to the variability of the data, and the scale of the business's operations, this stage of Carbon Reporting will require revision moving forward to gain higher granularity, therefore more accurate results. The visualised data below also provides an opportunity to bookmark high emission practices and strategise techniques for mitigating or reducing these figures moving forward.
Home/Office Attendance
When staff were asked how many days per month they worked in the office, the average figure out of 63 participants was 4.87 days per month. This is approximately an 80% reduction in a person's office attendance, which is in line with the Office Attendance Tracker's estimate of ~80 - 85% reduction in attendance.
It should be noted that the buildings energy use will require the same rough output as previous years, but now with the addition of staff contributing to our overall energy output from home working. Home workers may, or may not have a more efficient energy supply, or not use renewable energy, which makes it difficult to approximate their carbon footprint within a relative scope.
However, we must still account for a general figure of these emissions, with the intention of reducing this the more that is learned about emissions granularity.
Forecast Carbon Reduction Initiatives
- (Carried Over) Investigate the switch over to purchase green energy from energy providers. Due to the global energy situation, suppliers have ceased on switchovers, making it even more expensive, and unable to switch supplier now. This is under on-going review.
- (Carried Over) Engage with consultant to help find more carbon reduction opportunities or find internal volunteers to form a Green Team to workshop ideas.
- Create a ‘Green Corner’, where sustainability, information and recycling goals can be on display.
- Create a space in empty parts of office to store non-deteriorating waste. Reducing the need for waste collection, therefore reducing the carbon emissions of the waste supplier transport.
- Revise and review employee commuter form to achieve more accurate results. The current employee commuting form results are currently too vague to assign a tC02e value.
- Investigate moving to a more suitable, smaller Office premises. Reduce building size around 80 - 85%, this could result in a reduction of energy usage.
- Somewhat counterintuitively, the more people that attend the office, thus sharing one energy supply, the less overall emissions will be produced company wide.
- Collaborate with IT Ops to include suppliers' emissions figures in next year and track moving forward.
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 standard1 and uses the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting2.
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) Standard3.
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors (or equivalent management body).