Research Consulting Ltd

Carbon Reduction Plan

Publication date: October 2023

Commitment to achieving Net Zero

Research Consulting is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050.

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.

Current Emissions Reporting

Emissions reduction targets

In order to continue our progress to achieving Net Zero, we have adopted the following carbon reduction targets.

We project that carbon emissions will decrease vs our baseline over the next five years to 11 tCO2e by 2027. This is a reduction of 28%. This will reflect a normalisation of the business operating model post covid and allowing for a growing team.

Carbon Reduction Projects

The following environmental management measures and projects have been completed or implemented since the 2019/20 baseline. The carbon emission reduction achieved by these schemes equate to 3.83 tCO2e, a 33%ge reduction against the 2019/20 baseline and the measures will be in effect when performing the contract.

We operate a small professional services company out of a managed building. The building is part of the University of Nottingham Innovation Park on the Jubilee Campus – a Green Flag award-winning model of brown-field regeneration with sustainable buildings and biodiverse grounds created to encourage wildlife. Jubilee Campus has 5,250 square metres of green roofs providing ecologically sound heat insulation.

We do not produce or manufacture physical items, our “products” are digital reports for clients. Therefore, we have no upstream or downstream transportation, distribution or waste products.

Business Travel is the key area over which we have control. This has decreased since our baseline, in part as a result of changing business practices since Covid restrictions and specifically a increase in virtual delivery. We now operate a travel hierarchy for business travel – i.e., eliminating it where possible. We now travel by train domestically or instead of short haul flights where possible which would have saved 1.33tCO2e on the baseline. Unnecessary business travel could have saved in the region of a further 2.5tCO2e.

Employee commuting is another area where we have some control. However, whilst the company can encourage good practice it does not mandate it. We now operate a hybrid working model, meaning commuting to the office has reduced since our baseline. 60% of the team of the team usually use public transport, cycle or walk to the office. Being based on the University of Nottingham Innovation Park means we are subject to the Nottingham City Workplace Car Parking Levy, therefore discouraging employees to drive as they have to pay for their parking. The two Company Directors both cycle to work, setting the example for the rest of the team and leading the way towards our net zero commitments.

In the future we hope to implement further measures such as:

• Strategy
  • We will sign the SME Climate Commitment, committing to halve our emissions by 2030, be net zero by 2050 and disclose our annual progress. Access to the SME Climate Hub will provide ongoing support
  • Update the company’s environmental policy
  • Continue to have a sustainability champion, with responsibility for maintaining the system for gathering accurate sustainability data

• Employees:
  • Working with our team to encourage good practice
  • Increased encouragement for carbon friendly commutes e.g., cycle schemes, electric cars
  • Include sustainability within the staff induction, as well as ongoing briefings and an annual team review of company performance.
  • Encourage the team to sign up to the Vitality Rewards Programme and Treekly app, implementing changes in their personal lives to support a changing workplace
• Office:
  • Working with the building management to continually improve the carbon footprint of the office, such as the introduction of food waste
  • Continue to promote good office practice, such as not using standby when electrical items are not in use, minimising waste and setting to printers to default optimal
  • Ensure waste disposal is optimised and waste signage is clear and consistent
  • Updating our procurement policies to ensure we purchase items with a lower carbon footprint
• Clients:
  • Continuing to minimise business travel to client sites and where this is necessary, chose appropriate modes of transport, including public transport rather than taxis
  • Adding carbon commitments to our client acceptance checklist to ensure we are working for clients as committed to net zero as we

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^a and uses the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting^b.

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^c.

^ahttps://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard^bhttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-conversion-factors-for-company-reporting^chttps://ghgprotocol.org/standards/scope-3-standard

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors (or equivalent management body).