FMJ.CO.UK SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS
JULY 2021 29
home working and enabled discussions
about remote working to take place. While
organisations will all have their specific
requirements, an increased level of flexibility
in working patterns is expected, with the
role of the o— ice becoming increasingly a
place to meet and connect - exemplifying
the brand and relationships of the business.
So, what does this mean for FM and its
long-term approach to sustainability?
Its newfound responsibilities during the
pandemic enabled the sector to assume a
strategic position that it struggled to attain
in the past. Our 2020 SFMI audits(i) found
evidence of FM service providers integrating
sustainability into their service o— ering and
working in partnership with customers to
transform their sustainable outcomes.
However, while leaders are progressing,
the audits revealed that a significant
number of the FM sector remain desperately
unequipped to meet the increasingly critical
sustainability challenges. Ultimately, this
will pose a problem for organisations who
need to meet these public targets, from
reducing carbon to building a more equal
society.
FM organisations must maintain the high
level of engagement they now enjoy with
leadership teams and cement this new
business normal. The pandemic, together
with climate change, rising economic
inequality and a growing social justice
movement, represents the perfect storm
for FM to reinforce its status as an agent for
change. The alternative is a reversion back
to the Cinderella profession that does the
dirty work and never goes to the ball.
SFMI 23 CRITERIA
The role of FM in sustainability is an
important one, so a key discussion point
should be around how FMs can measure
customer benefits and the added value
they provide. This includes identifying the
opportunities raised and the achievements
delivered from both a qualitative and a
quantitative perspective.
The SFMI assessment is made against
23 criteria, captured under broad
Environmental, Social and Governance
headings, which are updated annually.
Together with the assessment, a number
of forums and knowledge sharing activities
between FM providers and end users takes
place to better understand how services can
be shaped and delivered.
All the SFMI criterion are interlinked and
can be grouped in various ways. It is vital
to understand the links between criterion
as they are not completely independent of
each other. Managing criteria in a holistic
way is crucial to embedding sustainability
throughout an organisation. Some examples
of these groupings are Zero Carbon, Social
Value, and Supply Chain GHG emissions
(see box), all of which are key sustainability
topics for FM.
FORWARD DRIVERS
In 2021, there are a few key themes that we
are seeing progress on within the facilities
sector.
Zero Carbon is o“ en seen through the
eyes of energy management; however,
involvement should also come through
other criterion such as ecology and the
Circular Economy. Biodiversity in particular
has a significant role to play in meeting
Zero Carbon targets, and its management
in relation to low and zero carbon buildings
and sites. Ecology remains a low priority, but
we have seen an increase in the awareness
of its importance to Zero Carbon strategies.
The Circular Economy can be utilised to
reduce carbon emissions through waste
reduction, reuse and recycling of products
and materials.
Social Value incorporates many criteria
including, but not limited to, Contracts,
Supply Chain Management, Sustainable
Communities and Employment. It saw
significant development throughout
2020 and was partly driven by the
GREEN HOUSE GAS (GHG) PROTOCOL EMISSIONS
Scope 1 emissions direct emissions from owned or controlled sources such as Ɯ eet vehicles, gas and
diesel consumption and refrigerant gas leakage.
Scope 2 emissions - indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy and will include
primarily electricity, including from certifi ed renewaEle sources.
Scope 3 emissions – all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain particularly
operations and services on client sites.
For the Facilities sector, the majority of emissions will sit in
Scope 3 – typically between 80 per cent to 92 per cent of
total emissions. Inclusion of the whole value chain is therefore
important to measure accurately the impacts and defi ne a
forward strategy to reduce.
Unfortunately, there is a fair bit of noise being made about
=ero CarEon or 1et =ero emissions, Eut there is a lacN in fi rstly
measuring and reporting of scope 3 emissions to align with
the targets. This is an area which must be improved because
of the increase in the number of published zero carbon targets.
There are three key maturity levels for reporting emissions:
1. Reporting just scope 1 & 2 emissions
2. Reporting scope 1-3 emissions, scope 3 does not include the supply chain
3. Reporting scope 1-3 emissions, scope 3 includes the supply chain
Stage 3 shows best practice and is the level that the leaders of zero carbon targets report to. This is the
hardest as it includes the supply chain, which reTuires signifi cantly more time and eff ort to report, and
it requires the supply chain to go net zero for the company to also achieve zero emissions. Unless the
company is willing to pay the off setting value of the supply chain emissions when they do not have control.
ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
ECOLOGY
ENERGY
WATER
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
TRANSPORT
PROJECTS
SOCIAL
HEALTH & SAFETY
EMPLOYMENT
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
WELLBEING
EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT
GOVERNANCE
RISK MANAGEMENT
BOARD COMMITMENT
SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORKS
DISCLOSURE
FINANCIAL
COMPLIANCE
CONTRACTS
DIVERSITY
COLLABORATIONS