FOCUS SUSTAINABILITY
At the start of this year, there was
real optimism that 2021 would be a
year of major climate action. While
several key government policies were
delayed, ahead of COP26, it published its
long-awaited Net Zero Strategy(i) and Heat
and Buildings Strategy(ii) in October, which
followed the Industrial Decarbonisation
Strategy(iii) and Transport Decarbonisation
Plan(iv) earlier this year.
We have also seen an increasing number of
organisations in both the private and public
sectors committing to ambitious carbon
reduction plans, which has led to greater
scrutiny in terms of exactly how businesses
36 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2022
are measuring, managing and reporting their
carbon impact.
As such, while great strides are being
taken to reduce the ‘direct’ emissions from
premises and power supply, attention is
now turning to the ‘indirect’ emissions from
the wider value chain. In the private sector,
many businesses are aligning their plans
through the Science Based Target initiative
(SBTi)(v), and a key part of this is putting
strategies in place to reduce Scope 1 (direct),
2 (power-related) and 3 (indirect) emissions
as outlined in the GHG Protocol.
For facilities managers, this can impact
them in a number of ways, depending on
where their business sits in the supply
chain. As an ‘influencing’ business, they
may be required to provide support to help
report emissions generated beyond their
own operations. Or, they could be in an
‘influencee’ business, where a company they
supply is now requiring them to change how
they work so the ‘influencer’ company can
meet their own sustainability targets.
Or, they could be both an influencer and
influencee business, wanting to reduce their
own indirect emissions while also needing
to meet the sustainability requirements of
another company they supply.
Therefore, it can be easy to see why
addressing both direct and indirect
emissions can be a hugely complex area to
navigate.
WHAT ARE THE THREE SCOPES?
Firstly, it makes sense to look at what the
three ‘Scopes’ are. According to the GHG
BROADENING
THE SCOPE
Anthony Ainsworth, COO at npower Business
Solutions explains why Scope 3 needs to be on
your sustainability agenda