In our 2023 Annual Report, we committed to achieving Net Zero emissions across our operations by 2045. This will bring our business in line with the aims of the Paris Agreement to hold global temperature increase to well below 2ºC, and with the aims of the UK Government to achieve Net Zero by 2050. Since publishing last year’s report, we have further developed our emissions reduction plans and have submitted the following near-term and long-term targets to the SBTi.
In common with many businesses, the road to Net Zero will include estimates and assumptions about unknown factors. We will be transparent about the associated risks and key steps to achieve this goal. Our full Transition Plan, aligned to the Transition Plan Taskforce Framework, is published at: https://investors.eurocell.co.uk/.
Business model
We do not anticipate any material change to our business model or impact on our value chain in our near or long-term decarbonisation plan. We believe Scope 1 and 2 actions can be achieved under a business-as-usual environment; however, Scope 3 reductions are dependent on multiple factors, including decarbonisation of our supply chain as outlined below.
Scope 1 and 2 (our own operations targets)
Over 50% of our Scope 1 and 2 emissions are from electricity use, plus petrol and diesel consumption in our operational fleet and company cars. In our base year, 72% of the electricity we purchased was renewable and in 2024 we increased this to 95% (2023: 94%). The remaining Scope 1 and 2 emissions are associated with natural gas use and refrigerant leakage for heating and cooling purposes.
In the near term, we plan to decarbonise our commercial fleet where economically and practically possible. This will include using telematics software to support better driving behaviours and planned routing to improve fuel efficiency. We will also explore switching from diesel to HVO, if sufficient fuel is available at an acceptable price. We intend to replace Company cars and delivery vans with Battery Electric Vehicles (‘BEVs’) or Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (‘PHEVs’) as leases come up for renewal, although the transition for vans will take longer due to the need for further technological advancement. We also plan to phase out the use of LPG by transitioning forklifts to electric as current leases expire.
Long term, we will explore replacing the commercial fleet with fully electric or hydrogen vehicles, although it is worth noting that the switch to HVO substantially eliminates fleet emissions. The remaining actions include replacement of gas consuming units with heat pumps or electric boilers, as well as transition to zero global-warming-potential (‘GWP’) refrigerants in cooling systems.
Scope 3 (our value chain targets)
Our Scope 3 emissions are significantly greater than our operational carbon footprint. The largest exposure is purchased goods and services (84% of Scope 3), of which 42% relates to virgin PVC resin and associated additive materials, such as the modifiers and stabilisers required to make PVC profile.
Using more recycled PVC in our manufactured products is a key step to reducing virgin resin consumption. We plan to increase recycling content up to our long-term target of 36% though investment will be required to improve tooling and other machinery to drive up production yield. The principal limiting factor to further increases in recycling beyond our target is the availability of feedstock (i.e. waste windows).
Thereafter, achieving our emissions reduction target will require the use of lower embodied carbon resin and bio-based resin. Only a limited amount of these products are available today, and significant innovation and market development is required to deliver sufficient quantities of them at commercially viable prices to achieve our targets.
The Scope 3 emissions reduction target is also dependent on increased supplier engagement and collaboration with respect to the other products we buy. We are dependent on key suppliers setting and meeting their own Net Zero targets.
Additional initiatives to be implemented to reduce remaining value chain emissions include cultural and policy changes within the business, such as encouraging staff to switch personal cars to EVs and persuading fabricators to use renewable electricity in their operations.
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