FOCUS SUSTAINABILITY
GATHERING YOUR DATA
Measuring Scope 3 emissions can be
challenging as it involves acquiring
adequate and accurate data from across the
value and supply chain.
In an ideal world, every business would
have cutting edge data-management
systems and access to accurate, up-to-date
information on every product and service
used. However, this is rarely the case. For
now, the message to businesses is to do
the very best you can with the data and
resources you have available.
COLLABORATION IS KEY
The administrative challenge of drawing
data together from disparate sources and
turning it into meaningful information that
can be acted upon requires engaging with
your suppliers.
This means that successful progress begins
with the complex task of engaging a supply
chain, which may exist across geographical
and cultural boundaries. It’s no mean feat,
and will create di erent challenges for each
business.
FOR US, THERE ARE FIVE STEPS TO TAKE
FOR BETTER COLLABORATION:
Set clear expectations for your
suppliers. Consider incentivising supply
chain partners to improve their carbon
reduction measures and their data
gathering methods. Have a clear criteria
38 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2022
for any new suppliers you enlist, as
well as internal procurement targets
that have environmental and ethical
standards built in.
Set up interviews with suppliers to
better understand their processes
and people, and to get a view on where
improvements could be made, as well
as their obstacles to carbon reduction.
Facilitate workshops with key suppliers
to help them understand where action
could be taken on carbon reduction.
This will also provide a forum for peerto
peer support and will help to foster
innovation and encourage an exchange
of best practices.
Provide co-branded training materials
for your suppliers’ teams, to help them
spread the word on net zero and get
everyone behind the efforts you are
making to reduce carbon.
Get your internal stakeholders onboard
right from the outset. The best results
will be achieved by having input and
oversight from right across your
business, including procurement teams
and the c-suite. Your net zero strategy
needs to align with broader business
objectives if you want to ensure that
everyone is invested in driving carbon
reduction action forward.
THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF SCOPE 3
As the importance of measuring Scope 3
emissions grows, facilities managers will
increasingly be required to support their
business’ sustainability targets by looking
at both the carbon impact of the areas
they are responsible for and the suppliers
they use.
Although calculating Scope 3 emissions
can be complex, there are several benefits
to taking a proactive approach. The Science
Based Targets initiative (SBTi)(vi) has said that
companies committed to the initiative are
able to demonstrate that creating a climatesecure
world supports their successful
business operations. This means that having
a robust strategy across the whole supply
chain is as much about economic resilience
as it is about reducing carbon emissions as it
will also help to protect your business from
future risk.
For those within the value chain of a public
sector or a larger corporate organisation,
it will increasingly mean the di erence
between winning a supply tender or losing it.
As well as boosting e iciency and
productivity across the value chain, it
will also set your organisation apart as a
sustainability leader, helping to unlock
commercial opportunities as well as
retaining and attracting fresh talent.
In our 2020 report, ‘Your Business
Blueprint - The Road to Net Zero’(vii),
respondents fed back that one of the
benefits of having a strong sustainability
strategy was attracting the next generation
of talent. Potential new recruits are
increasingly assessing a company’s climate
commitments as well as more ‘traditional’
criteria, so including Scope 3 emissions
could be a key di erentiator.
That is why we have created a new guide
- ‘Scope 3 and Your Road to Net Zero’ - to
provide advice and ideas on where to start,
which can be downloaded.(viii)
REFERENCE NOTES
(i) www.gov.uk/government/publications/netzero
strategy
(ii) www.gov.uk/government/publications/heatand
buildings-strategy
(iii) www.gov.uk/government/publications/
industrial-decarbonisation-strategy
(iv) www.gov.uk/government/publications/
transport-decarbonisation-plan
(v) https://sciencebasedtargets.org/
(vi) https://sciencebasedtargets.org/
(vii) https://npowerbusinesssolutions.com/yourbusiness
blueprint
(viii) https://npowerbusinesssolutions.com/
scope-3
/
/heat-and-buildings-strategy
/industrial-decarbonisation-strategy
/transport-decarbonisation-plan
/net-zero-strategy
/
/your-business-blueprint
/scope-3
