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EMCOR UK has published its first sustainability report, capturing the range of environmental and social impacts of its work.
Highlights of the report include the creation of a new carbon team to tackle emissions and support its customers to achieve net zero, paying all employees the Real Living Wage or better, and generating £53 million in social and local economic value (of the customer accounts measured).
EMCOR UK’s sustainability framework is guided by eight UN Sustainable Development Goals, and has three key focus areas – people, planet and partners.
People – EMCOR UK has been proactive in its financial support for employees, which has been especially important with the ongoing cost of living crisis. All EMCOR UK employees are now paid the Real Living Wage or greater, while more than 700 at the lower end of pay grades received a one-off £200 cost of living payment to support them over the Christmas period. In addition, 577 employees have made use of EMCOR UK’s Salary Finance Scheme to help consolidate and reduce debts, with the average employee saving £433.
Planet – EMCOR UK’s path to net zero will be contingent on managing and reducing scope 3 emissions. Due to an extensive supply chain of more than 2,000 supply chain partners, it will require time and resources to accurately measure and verify scope 3 emissions. EMCOR UK has made progress (2,134 tCO2e in 2022 versus 3,398 tCO2e in 2019), and the next steps will include working with a specialist FM environmental consultancy to calculate and account for scope 3 emissions, and setting Science Based Targets.
Partners – EMCOR UK works with a wide range of partners to help deliver on its sustainability goals, covering everything from community projects to national frameworks. Key partners include the Social Value Portal, the Supply Chain Sustainability School, Business in the Community and See Her Thrive. Last year, EMCOR UK held its inaugural supply chain partner event which was attended by 100 suppliers. The event engaged attendees on topics including ED&I, employee wellbeing and net zero, and will become an annual event as EMCOR UK aims to bring its suppliers along on the sustainability journey.
Keith Chanter, CEO at EMCOR UK, said: “There is a lot for us to be proud of in this report, and our successes are down to every single person at EMCOR UK. Sustainability is a wide-ranging term and is not something that can be delivered in a top-down approach. We’re all pulling in the same direction, as evidenced by our employee engagement score rising by 10 per cent in our annual EMCOR UK Voice survey. I firmly believe that we have the team in place to meet our objectives and help embed sustainability in every facet of our business.”
