Environmental, Social, and Governance
At AutoRek, we believe that we have a role to play in keeping our company on a sustainable path to address the challenges and risks that present themselves when tackling climate change. We are committed to continuously improve our approach and results in our sustainability journey. Our team are committed to supporting our company to establish itself as a socially supportive and environmentally conscious organisation.
Definitions
Paris Agreement 2015
A legally binding international treaty on climate change. It has an overarching goal to limit temperature increase to 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels.
Net zero
The point at which an organization has achieved its 1.5˚C science-based target (SBT) by 2050 in the UK.
Emission scopes
Emissions are split into three categories by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol:
- Scope 1: All direct emissions from the activities of an organization or those under its control
- Scope 2: Indirect emissions from electricity purchased and used by an organization
- Scope 3: All other indirect emissions from activities of an organization, excluding electricity
Scopes 1 and 2 are related to AutoRek’s office energy use (electricity and natural gas). Our scope 3 covers all other emissions: waste, business travel, software, home working, commuting, and our purchasing of goods and services.
Sustainability governance
At AutoRek we take sustainability seriously. We integrate environmental, social, and governance considerations across our full business, and across all of our offices. From recycling to working with sustainable suppliers, and much more. We are always looking for creative ways to reduce our impact on the climate. We are committed to reducing our emissions in a reliable and responsible way to help address the climate crisis and spread awareness. We are a team of creative thinkers working hard to play our part in looking after the planet.
AutoRek is also a member of both EcoVadis and Hellios FSQS which we use to share our scorecards and ESG progress. These subscription services help us to keep track of our own progress, keeping us on track for our ESG and sustainability goals as well as allow us to share this easily externally.
AutoRek is committed to reach Net Zero by 2050 in line with UK Government targets. We are in the process of producing and verifying our reduction targets to make sure we are able to achieve this goal and stay below the 1.5˚C. By doing this, we will be able to build a more sustainable future for everyone.
Environmental policy
AutoRek’s Environmental Sustainability Policy, which was updated in 2024, applies to all AutoRek business operations and AutoRek associates. It outlines our commitments to:
- Achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in alignment with UK Government targets
- Continuously improve carbon footprint tracking accuracy, and report findings on an annual basis with transparency; implement programs for carbon reduction and offset that which cannot be avoided
- Compliance with applicable legislation and adoption of appropriate codes of practice
- Use energy-efficient design, and increase procurement of renewable energy where practicable
- Promote sustainable travel options where practicable and in alignment with our travel policy
- Include sustainability considerations in asset management where possible
- Reduce waste generation, and promote recycling and circularity where practicable and minimise our use of paper and other office consumables
- Purchase or encourage our office providers to supply energy from providers who can guarantee that it comes from renewable or low carbon sources.
- Increase awareness of, and promote associate engagement around, the topics of environmental sustainability
- Seek to work with local suppliers and support the local economy whenever possible
- Integrate sustainability concepts and opportunities into our everyday business decisions and seek to collaborate with partners who can help develop innovative approaches to sustainability
- Make key suppliers aware of our Environmental Sustainability Governance Policy and encouraging them to adopt sustainable management practices. We will continue our ongoing vendor assessment to ensure we understand and engage with our supplier’s emissions and identify areas of impact and improvement. We are committed to ensuring there is a full transparency in our business and we expect the same high standards from all our suppliers and other business partners.
We are committed to fostering environmental awareness and responsibility among our suppliers as well. AutoRek’s Supplier Code of Conduct, which our suppliers must accept when they work with us, details our expectations with regard to environmental sustainability. We ask suppliers to go beyond complying with all applicable environmental laws and regulations by considering the potential environmental impacts of daily business decision-making processes and the conservation of natural resources.
Carbon footprint
Our Journey to Net Zero – 2023 marked the beginning of our journey to identifying, understanding, and calculating our carbon footprint. We have identified our carbon emission baseline year FY23 and we are working hard to better understand our journey to Net Zero. Our Carbon Footprint includes Scopes 1, 2 & 3. To monitor and measure our footprint, we maintain a carbon accounting system and follow the guidance of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. We continue to improve data quality with the aim of using primary data across all greenhouse gas emissions categories for our carbon footprint analysis going forward.
AutoRek’s total greenhouse gas emissions for baseline year 2023 is 746.20 tCO₂e of which we are committed to reducing by 90% or more and offsetting a maximum of 10% per year by 2045 to remain within the targeted limit of 1.5˚C global temperature increase in accordance with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Scopes 1 and 2 emissions
At AutoRek, we have always made smart environmentally aware choices when it comes to our office energy efficiency. We have chosen office spaces with the environment in mind. All of our three offices are energy efficient with LED lighting and occupancy sensors to control lights. All of our office equipment machinery is purchased with some level of energy efficiency taken into account whenever possible. Our offices include Zip Taps to also reduce any unnecessary energy consumption, creating a fast and effective work environment. All three of our offices are 100% renewable energy certified so we do not have any carbon emissions for Scope 2, however we continue to monitor our consumption to make sure we are responsible consumers.
Our Scope 1 emissions are derived from office space heating (natural gas) for only two of our offices. Our total Scope 1 emissions for FY23 was 6.76 tCO₂e. We are working hard to transition to Green Gas in the near future.
Scope 3 emissions
Our total scope 3 emission for baseline year 2023 was 739.44 tCO₂e. These emissions were calculated using a mix of Activity-based and Hybrid methods following the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Our Scope 3 includes purchased goods and services (3.1), software created for clients (3.3), couriers (3.4), waste (3.5), business travel (3.6), our employee commuting (3.7) and homeworking (3.7). Undertaking these calculations highlighted that our indirect emissions from our value chain represent the largest share of our carbon footprint sitting at 402.06 tCO₂e. Moving forward we will be looking to include as many Scope 3 categories as possible and gather as much accurate data for our calculations.
Our second highest contribution to our carbon footprint in 2023 is business travel which is 27% of our total carbon footprint. Having now understood our carbon footprint in full we will be looking at the most appropriate ways to manage our highest hitters to help us on our Net Zero Journey.
AutoRek has already been implementing actions to help reduce emissions such as encouraging active travel to work and getting on top of our waste management.
We are extremely conscious of our waste management which contributes 16% of our total carbon footprint. We work hard to reduce where possible by working with great waste management companies across all of our sites.
As part of us trying to find creative responses to lower our carbon footprint, we send our coffee grounds to Mossgiel Farms to be used as compost for their fields.
Our business travel has been split into four categories. As expected, our flight emissions are quite high. This is partly due to the company going back into usual course of business travel after the pandemic and the expected high travel emissions caused by this. Business travel is planned to be monitored closely, and where possible low carbon travel options strongly encouraged for all employees to compensate for any long-haul flights to help reduce our emissions in this area.
Responsible business travel
As AutoRek gets back into its usual business practices, we are already aware of an increase in business travel in 2024 and 2023 compared to 2022 and 2021. Being thoughtful about how we travel supports our sustainability efforts. To help ensure that travel is appropriately managed, AutoRek requires approval for all modes of travel, and it clearly communicates travel budgets to each business area, down to the frontline managers responsible for approving travel. These controls have a significant impact on how our team travels. We are always looking at new ways to minimise our footprint and every opportunity to support more sustainable travel options.
Employee commuting
Our hybrid work environment is a helpful component of reducing emissions associated with employee commuting, and we support less-carbon-intensive modes of transportation, when commuting to our offices. We encourage actively traveling to work (where possible) more than anything else and we promote our Cycle to Work scheme to all of our employees.
Sustainable IT
AutoRek is choosing cloud services with more efficient infrastructure and better power usage effectiveness, leading to less energy consumption and emissions. We have made the move to minimise our wastage by moving to Microsoft Azure cloud service which uses hydrogen fuel cells for power and significantly reduces our emissions and impact on the climate. The shift of the majority of our services/applications to the cloud has also reduced the need for physical hardware. When laptop upgrades are required, associates are provided with laptops that are less carbon-intensive than models from the previous years. Our e-waste recycling program helps keep electronic waste out of landfills, and our laptop donations to Turing Trust give our devices a new life where they can be used again in schools. AutoRek commits to minimal paper usage and printing in all of our offices. Where unavoidable we use 100% recycled paper for our printers alongside other office supplies purchased through WildHearts so we can be sure we are helping local initiatives wherever possible.
Social
At AutoRek we are growing our number of employees and pushing to embrace a purpose driven wellbeing and inclusive work environment in all of our offices. We know that by working together, we accomplish much more than is possible individually. To encourage our team to thrive in all areas, we focus on hiring great talent, retaining and cultivating that talent through engagement and learning opportunities, and supporting our team’s wellness with meaningful benefits and programs. We like to give back to our community, support the health and wellbeing of our team, and build strong relationships.
There are many ways we are looking to support our employees. We are aspiring to better understand and report on our gender pay gap so we may reduce any imbalances and track our progress to promote a more diverse and equitable workplace. We offer flexible working hours and the opportunity to work remotely as and when convenient for all our employees.
We have strict zero tolerance for any forms of harassment, and we ensure that our staff undertake yearly awareness training videos to encourage positive relationships and maintain equality and diversity across the full workforce. We are committed to ensuring there is a full transparency in our business. This year we have established a number of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) within the company to support learning and development as well as better understand our employees’ needs and circumstances.
Outside of helping our employees directly, over the years we have supported charities that have been voted for by our employees. We have focused on a variety of charities that have led to many fun ways for our employees to raise funds. We’re always happy to help give back.
We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery, and we are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and we expect the same high standards from all of our suppliers. As well as focusing on more sustainable procurement as part of our ongoing vender assessment, we make sure to satisfy our food and coffee needs by using local businesses near each of our offices. This allows us to support our local communities and keep track of our carbon emissions. A win-win for us all.
