Groundwork East’s Climate Commitment and Net Zero Journey
At Groundwork East we recognise that the delivery of our services can have an impact on the climate crisis and we are committed to managing and reducing the emissions and wider environmental impacts arising from our own activities.
Groundwork East has therefore committed to reach Net Zero before the government’s current target of 2050.
Following careful consideration and a detailed review of our operations and associated emissions our Sustainable Business Services team has established our own detailed Decarbonisation Pathway, assessing the required investment costs and calculating the associated cost and carbon savings from each of our planned actions.
In line with this Decarbonisation Pathway, we have set the following interim targets:
- To reduce our baseline emissions by one third (32%) by March 2026
- To reduce our baseline emissions by half (50%) by March 2035
We are proud to report that our emissions have decreased by 52% since our baseline year (from 160.0tCO2e in 2019/20 to 76.8tCO2e in 2024/25.
Our market-based emissions statement (taking into account the purchase of renewable and zero carbon electricity supply) is 73.1tCO2e in 2024/25.
As we have now exceeded both of our interim targets, we will use the coming year to reprofile our decarbonisation pathway, continue to improve data collection systems and investigate additional carbon reduction measures. This will enable us to set additional interim targets to 2050.
Some example of the environmental management measures and projects we have completed or implemented since the 2019/20 baseline are:
- Measuring our Carbon Footprint and reporting annually on our Scope1, Scope 2 and key Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions arising from our activities and the delivery of our project work and services
- Ensuring that all Groundwork East staff have taken part in Carbon Literacy training so that they understand their role in reducing emissions
- Working towards challenging targets to reduce business mileage and staff commuting emissions through a programme of electric vehicle upgrades and hybrid and remote working
- Installing solar PV and electric vehicle charging points at our offices
- Calculating emissions associated with project delivery and identifying ways to reduce these at project planning stage
- Improved employee commuting and working from home data recording systems have been introduced
- Certified to Environmental Management Standard BS 8555 with a view to move to ISO 14001
We report publicly on our carbon footprint and progress towards our carbon reduction targets through our own Carbon Reduction Plan.
Whilst the environment is at the very core of everything we do and we fully support the need for Net Zero this process has not been easy. As a small charity ourselves we understand the investment required around this work and the important discussions and decisions that need to take place from the outset. We are on a continual journey and look forward to sharing this with you. If you would like our Sustainability Consultants to help your organisation on its Net Zero journey, please click below to get in touch.