We are making progress despite challenges from being a growing business

In the past 12 months, we have made great progress in the way we gather and calculate our data by partnering with Planet Mark. We have now started to use its carbon data platform to input our consumption data and provide supporting evidence. This not only means we can visualise our data emissions more easily throughout the year, but it also means our UK carbon footprint has been third party verified for the first time. We are proud to say we are now a Planet Mark Certified Business – read more here.

We have achieved a 48.8% carbon reduction across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 (waste) against our 2019/20 baseline year, surpassing our previous target of a 20% reduction by 2025. Sustainability, however, is nothing if not challenging. Our business continues to experience strong growth, and so it is not unsurprising that this then translates to an increase in several carbon emission categories, especially in the area of business travel, which accounts for most of our carbon footprint currently.

We are working with our established Sustainability Working Committees to assess operational carbon reduction opportunities, upskill and share knowledge internally across all business areas and employee levels, and to engage more externally through our networks and industry partners.

This report highlights many of our successes. We were delighted to win an ESG Award at the Constructing Excellence Yorkshire and Humber Awards 2024. This was in recognition of our corporate ESG achievements and the range of activities we undertake to be a good corporate citizen through reducing our environmental impact, investing in our people and giving back to communities.

We recognise there is more to be done and we will continue to work towards our net zero goals by seeking new ways to cut carbon emissions, investing in carbon removal offsets, working smarter, reducing our business travel where practicable, and growing our RLB Forest to promote biodiversity.