93% of our company cars are diesel or hybrid

1.2 litres is the maximum engine size we now permit for hire cars

 

 

Our 2009 UK carbon emissions were 26% lower than in 2006

 

 

By the end of 2009, telephone conferencing levels were three times higher than in 2008

Atmospheric impacts

As climate change can be seen as one of the most pressing environmental issues today, we are focusing on ways we can reduce our carbon emissions.

However, the steps we take to reduce carbon emissions will also cut emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and oxides of sulphur (SOx). These contribute to the formation of acid rain and smog, and are thus damaging to human health, wildlife and built structures.

Our Carbon Policy recognises the importance of Carillion’s leadership team in bringing about the changes needed to meet our 2010 target, while at the same time making clear that every one of our employees and supply chain partners is asked to do their bit. Our Executive Director with responsibility for sustainability is identified as leading our carbon reduction programme. The policy also commits us to reporting our progress against the carbon reduction strategy at regular intervals.

Our carbon footprint

In 2007, we calculated our total UK carbon emissions, or carbon footprint, from our performance data for 2006. This gave us the baseline for our carbon reduction strategy and since then we have gathered data to produce updated carbon footprints for our UK business, which we have reported on our website. In 2009, for the first time, we also submitted our data to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). The CDP is an independent organisation that gathers carbon data from companies around the world. Its aim is to increase transparency and encourage both the management of carbon emissions and the consideration of climate issues in investment decisions.

Currently we gather data for scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, as defined by the UK Government’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol. We have established a strategy group to determine how we will measure scope 3 emissions and thus calculate a complete carbon footprint. Scope 3 covers indirect emissions from construction materials and their delivery to sites, facilities management services in client properties, and waste- and water-related emissions from projects. One of our construction sites has been selected as a pilot and we are currently gathering the data required to calculate its indirect emissions.

As a result of the acquisition of Alfred McAlpine plc, which resulted in the transfer of a number of energy-intensive operations, we restated our 2006 UK baseline in 2008 to compare like with like. This year we have again restated our UK baseline, as additional plant fuel emission sources were captured and recalculated for 2008. As a result of this, our 2008 UK footprint was recalculated to 118,581 CO2 equivalent (tCO2e), an addition of 18,693 tCO2e. In 2009, Carillion MENA gathered its emissions data, so our Middle East and North Africa operations are included in our footprint for the first time, along with the Caribbean. When combined this now shows a Group footprint of 251,646 tCO2e. We will be working with our Canadian operations with the intention of including their data from 2010.

Our UK footprint for 2009 is 103,934 tCO2e, 26% lower than our restated 2006 baseline of 140,337 tCO2e. This decrease is a result of a number of factors such as the introduction of control measures for use of plant fuel, internal reviews of fuel expenditure and group wide communications to reduce the need for travel. Since our emissions are relative to the scale of our business, our target is to halve tCO2e per £ million turnover by the end of 2010. In 2009, we generated 24.51 tCO2e per million turnover, a reduction of 24% compared to our baseline for 2006 (32.31 tCO2e). Further reductions are required to meet our target, and these are planned through our carbon reduction strategy.

Our carbon reduction strategy

Calculating our carbon footprint showed us that 94% of our measured emissions come from four areas: business travel, commercial vehicles, plant fuel oil and energy for offices. Our carbon reduction strategy therefore focuses on these areas. For each area there is an action plan including various initiatives that together enable us to meet our reduction target.

Already, many of these initiatives are being put into practice and we are starting to see the results. For example:

• > by the end of 2009, telephone conferencing levels were three times higher than in 2008
• > our emissions from company cars and commercial vehicles fell by 12% in 2009 compared with 2008
• > we have launched a Group-wide car sharing database
• > the theme for Sustainability Week was carbon reduction and during the week employees were informed of actions they can take to reduce carbon emissions
• > all employees in Construction and Infrastructure were issued with guidance on the efficient use of plant fuel oil
• > 93% of our company cars are diesel or hybrid
• > at each grade of our company car scheme we have identified a ‘green star car’ which offers even lower CO2 emissions and we are seeing many employees selecting these
• > all electricity procured by our central energy team is from renewable sources or combined heat and power plants
• > Al Futtaim Carillion introduced a GPS monitoring system for its trucks and employee buses, to help reduce speeding and idle time and improve fuel efficiency
• > we have capped the engine size of any cars hired at 1.2 litres
• > our company travel provider routinely challenges people making bookings about their need to travel
• > we produced a guide to reducing business travel and the spring 2009 issue of Spectrum, our Group-wide employee newspaper, included a centre spread full of tips for cutting our carbon emissions.
• > all of our energy procured in our UK central office locations is green climate change levy exempt

We are finding many areas of overlap between our carbon reduction strategy and our internal cost management programme: where we cut energy and travel use we usually also cut unnecessary costs.

Just as our carbon footprint is currently being expanded to include scope 3 emissions, we will extend our carbon reduction strategy to include ways of reducing those emissions. However, we expect it to be more challenging to deliver cuts in our scope 3 impact, since these are indirect emissions and therefore outside our direct control. Progress in this area will therefore require collaboration with our customers and suppliers.

In 2009 we reviewed our position regarding Carillion’s involvement in carrying out work for the nuclear power industry. We recognise the concerns that some of our stakeholders have about nuclear power, particularly around safety and environmental risks. However, we believe that nuclear power has a role to play in the UK’s shift to a low-carbon economy. There is insufficient renewable energy capacity to provide the power currently generated by coal- and gas-fired power stations. Therefore we agree with the UK Government’s position that nuclear power is a necessary and valuable option in addressing climate change, and we continue to work in the nuclear sector.