INTRODUCTION
ESG is essential. We want to grow sustainably by doing the right thing, which means caring for our staff, customers, communities, and environment.
Our ongoing review of ESG is geared towards ensuring our business is sustainable and capable of flourishing in the long-term. More than just a business strategy, it is a commitment to giving back to the communities where we operate and creating a positive impact.
Our focus is on creating a ripple effect of benefits for all stakeholders, including our dedicated staff, future recruits, loyal customers, suppliers, shareholders, and the broader society.
We believe that with strong ESG policies, we are not just improving our brand perception and desirability but also contributing to a better life for everyone connected to Ramsdens.
Ramsdens has always embraced its corporate social responsibilities because we believe it is the right thing to do, and it fundamentally aligns with our values.
APPROACH
Significant strides have been made this year in the enhancement of Ramsdens' ESG Strategy.
We have a long history of supporting our community and charities, particularly across the Tees Valley where our Head Office is situated. We have also actively sought team engagement, listened and acted on what was important to our people.
Recognising the need for expert guidance, we engaged an ESG specialist consultancy, Purpose Driven Business, to assist in the formulation and implementation of our 2023 ESG strategy. This has helped to align our business objectives with ESG goals, ensuring that our strategy is both robust and actionable.
A series of workshops were conducted to define the Group's purpose and values in the context of ESG. These sessions involved senior management and were facilitated by our specialist. The outcome was a clear articulation of our purpose:
"To grow sustainably by doing the right thing and caring for our staff, customers, communities, and environment."
Building on our defined purpose and values, we established top-line aims and stage one priorities for Environment, Social (People and Community) and Governance.
To ensure that our ESG strategy is rooted in the perspectives of various stakeholders we initially conducted materiality surveys with a cross section of all employees. These surveys helped identify key areas of opportunity, which were then incorporated into our ESG priorities.
During the year an ESG management committee, chaired by the CEO, was formed. The committee comprises key members of the wider executive committee. Each member is responsible for overseeing specific aspects of ESG and liaises with other relevant teams within the business as necessary to ensure cohesive execution.
ENVIRONMENT
Our aim is to build a culture where individuals actively make a difference. We will not only support these efforts but also ensure that our strategic decisions demonstrate that profitability and environmental stewardship can coexist.
Energy use
We have a fixed contract for energy through to February 2024. We have entered a new contract from March 2024 which guarantees that our electricity is 100% supplied from renewable sources.
Our main energy use is the heating and lighting of our premises. Smart meters are fitted in many stores with more being fitted on an ongoing basis.
Our water use is relatively low and facilitates staff personal needs as opposed to an operational requirement. Water meters are installed at all stores where possible.
We use energy efficient LED lighting and motion sensors in all new stores and have a programme of converting older stores.
Nearly all our stores have air conditioning and guidance is given to staff on the most efficient way to heat or cool our premises.
We have continued to make greater use of video conferencing thereby reducing business travel but face to face meetings, especially for training purposes, are still required.
While we incur logistic costs and use energy to ship our goods to stores, we use couriers to do so, thereby sharing the transportation energy use with other businesses. We try to minimise the number of deliveries we make while also managing the security aspects of transferring high value parcels.
Our methodology in calculating GHG emissions relies on estimated bill readings. Part of our ESG action plan is to better measure energy use by store so that we can reward staff for reducing energy use.
We are working with our energy supplier to access this data.
We aim to complete the installation of solar panels at our head office location within the next two years, with the hope that the building can be self-sufficient in energy use.
We work with landlords on the energy performance ratings of our stores. Following our shop fits, energy performance certificates are often B rated. If a rating is less than B it is usually due to additional works being required by landlords on the older high street properties we occupy.
Packaging and waste
We work with our waste management company and shopping centres to recycle our waste and all staff are encouraged to recycle and reuse where possible. Our confidential waste paperwork is shredded and recycled. None of the waste we are responsible for disposing of goes to landfill.
We now order cardboard or polished wood jewellery boxes for our retail jewellery items. We have also introduced paper bags for customers and have where possible recycled older plastic bags. Any legacy plastic bags or boxes still within the business are being used as a preference to disposing through landfill.
As part of our foreign currency exchange service, we have moved from a clear plastic bag, which was specifically designed to meet the airport security standards for carry on liquids, to a paper wallet.
All staff have been issued with a re-useable drinking flask to reduce the number of plastic water bottles used by our staff.
Our staff forum ‘Think Green’ initiative continues to make all staff more conscious of energy use. By influencing staff to be more personally responsible, and to create new behaviours towards energy use and waste at work and at home, we are confident that collectively the Ramsdens team can play its part in improving our environmental footprint.
ESOS Audits and data collection
We have complied with our ESOS audit requirements. Our audits have been undertaken by Green Team Consulting. Through these audits and our wider review, the business has developed a better understanding of its energy use.
SOCIAL
Our social responsibility extends to our People and our Communities, including customers.
People
Our aim is to cultivate an environment of well-being where every member feels valued, nurtured, and inspired to grow. We believe our people are our greatest asset. When our people flourish, so does our business.
The people within the business are the reason for the success that the Group has enjoyed and are the fundamental platform on which Ramsdens builds its strategic ambitions. It is their application of living our values and being guided by our culture that sets Ramsdens apart.
We understand the contribution that staff make, and we believe that our people should be paid fairly. In recent years we have followed the recommendation by the Real Living Wage (RLW) Foundation to set our entry level pay. We recognise that each staff member has an increased cost of living and therefore we will continue to follow the Foundation’s recommendations and are committed to paying the RLW of £12 per hour by May 2024, an increase of 10% on 2023. Once staff have had a period of induction and are contributing more to the business, their pay is increased. This is usually after six months. Following this, each employee has an opportunity to earn more as they contribute further and take on more responsibility or through the bonus schemes available to them.
The Group has a philosophy of wanting to share the financial success of the business with staff. In recognition of the milestone £10m profit being achieved, staff members with at least three months’ service received a ‘thank you’ bonus. This payment was in addition to the other available bonus schemes; cross selling success, branch manager performance bonus and a head office bonus scheme.
We are also keen to recognise and reward great behaviours for going over and beyond for our customers. Following its launch in June 2023, a new recognition scheme identified and rewarded non sales related behaviours and we have issued over 200 retail vouchers per month. We are not surprised by these positive results as the passion shown by all our employees continues to create a working environment of infectious enthusiasm to deliver the Group’s mission statement, namely to provide a great customer offering and give such fantastic service that our customers become ambassadors for Ramsdens.
The Group recognises and values long service. Each staff member receives an additional day of holiday entitlement for their first five years’ service and upon reaching their fifth anniversary they receive company-wide recognition and a monetary award. Further recognition happens at every five-year milestone thereafter with additional holidays and financial rewards at those milestones. We were pleased to recognise 98 members of staff who celebrated a long service award milestone in FY23 and two people who achieved a 25-year service milestone.
In addition, all staff benefited from their birthday being an additional day’s holiday during the year as well as the additional bank holiday for the King’s coronation.
The National Pawnbrokers Association recognised Ramsdens as the industry’s Employer of the Year, praising the Group for its focus on its employees. While this recognises the Group, we in turn want to recognise our employees and be the employer of choice within our industry and in the wider retail community.
Our philosophy with the Group’s long-term remuneration incentives is to have wider participation across various senior managers, currently 21 participants. The Group offers a Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) which is awarded according to performance against targets for EPS growth and total shareholder return, and a Company Share Option Plan scheme (CSOP).
The remuneration of the two Executive Directors is not currently specifically linked to ESG objectives. The Senior Bonus Scheme has various clauses that enables the Remuneration Committee to have discretionary powers over any bonus amounts taking into account all aspects of the business including ESG. All bonus schemes including LTIPs have malus and clawback provisions.
The Group is keen to engage with our people and does this in a variety of ways.
Ramsdens undertakes regular anonymous employee engagement surveys. The last survey, undertaken in July 2023, saw 87% of staff members complete the survey. The Board is grateful for the high level of participation. The results of the survey are transparently shared with all staff and an action plan created for the Group to raise the bar where possible as part of its continuous improvement ethos.
The key findings in 2023 were:
91% of employees say their branch / department is a happy place to work
96% of employees believe they have job security
87% of the employees said they look forward to coming to work and are enthusiastic about the job they do.
The Group operates a staff suggestion scheme and a department feedback scheme. The popularity of the scheme has grown, and we currently receive approximately 70 suggestions / feedback comments per month. Our people using our systems are best placed to evolve and improve our products or processes. Suggestions which have been implemented include changes to the Group’s core IT system which have improved the customer experience, the available data on which business decisions are made, as well as suggested changes to the Group’s marketing initiatives, environmental initiatives and staff reward schemes.
The Group has an Employee Forum which met three times in FY23. The Forum comprises staff in a variety of roles from head office and branches. The Employee Forum has a remit of discussing general matters that affect the business and has included how the Group can improve with the use of technology and reduce its environment impact.
Our aim is to ensure we remain focused on how we communicate and engage with all our staff members. We have weekly and monthly companywide communications. The newsletter format is a mix of written word, presenter led videos and interview videos. This included ‘Ask the CEO’ which covered a wide range of topics, business and non-business related. We believe this level of communication is important so that all staff are part of the Ramsdens family.
The development of our people is crucial to delivering on our continuous improvement ethos. All employees have a face-to-face discussion with their line managers dedicated to their development twice a year. These meetings focus on happiness, wellbeing, how supported the individual feels and development activity, in order that the staff member can be more successful in their career. A bespoke training and development plan is then created for that individual.
The Group has comprehensive training programmes. New to Ramsdens employees will, depending upon their circumstances, go through an induction programme in their local store which is part e-learning, part face to face training and instore mentoring or alternatively will be part of a week-long, classroom-based induction into the business. As experience is gained, new starters receive on-going instore product mentoring, additional e-learning courses, remote training e.g. virtual video classroom and face to face training sessions.
Certain training courses are mandatory and must be completed on an annual basis e.g. health and safety, data protection, FCA conduct rules, cyber risks and anti-money laundering.
While we have other courses that take focus on the development of an individual’s skills, the ESG review identified a need for various other structured programmes that can be applied across the business to take a branch assistant to an Area Manager and beyond.
The Group also offers knowledge skills training in jewellery, diamonds and premium watches to improve how we can best help customers find the jewellery item they want, or the best value if they wish to pledge or sell an item. This is complimented with training in the softer selling skills.
We also appreciate the wellbeing needs of our staff. We provide an Employee Assistance Program through Health Assured and we have been focussing this year on ensuring that employees know what support is available to them and how to access it. This programme provides hints and tips to manage and improve a staff member’s health and wellbeing but also includes confidential expert advice and support when needed. In addition, as part of the wellbeing focus each staff member was issued with a Ramsdens branded drinks bottle and encouraged to drink more water.
The Group is an equal opportunities employer and we believe in appointing the best person based purely on merit to any role within the business. The Group is committed to ensuring that people undertaking the same or similar work are paid equally and have an equal opportunity to progress. The Group encourages flexible working arrangements for employees to continue to develop their careers whilst choosing how to maintain their balance between work and home life.
At Ramsdens we believe that being a diverse organisation allows us to grow and become the business we aspire to be. The Group’s main executive committee, which is tasked with delivering the Group’s strategic plan, consists of twelve people representing all disciplines across the Group. The committee continues to have great constructive and diverse input to how we move forward.
The head office departments are led by six senior male and three senior female key influencers. All department heads have been with Ramsdens at least five years providing great stability while the business continues to grow.
The store network is led by three regional managers who manage 16 area managers. All regional managers were internal promotions. Regional manager, Kim Edwards, joined the business as a trainer 13 years ago and has progressed through the ranks, from branch manager to area manager and now regional manager. We strongly believe, where possible, on promoting from within. Nine of the 16 area managers are female and six were promoted from within the business. Our other key influencers are our field audit team. Three of the six auditors are female and five of the team were promoted from branch roles. 75% of the branch managers are female and 80% of the staff are female.
One of our biggest challenges 12 months ago was the inexperience within the staff with c30% of all staff having less than one year service. We have seen a notable improvement reducing this to c24%, and this includes all staff for new stores plus an increasing head count to cope with the growth of our jewellery retail operations. 40% of all staff have over five years’ service which is significantly beneficial in achieving our long-term objectives.
Community Goal: Deepen community roots, leverage business success for local benefit.
Our aim is to intertwine our success with the well-being of our neighbourhoods. We believe a thriving community relationship supports a thriving business. We are not just in our communities; we are part of them.
Ramsdens’ responsible lending
Ramsdens is FCA authorised for its consumer credit activities of Pawnbroking and Credit Broking. As such, it is highly regulated and follows the FCA’s 12 principles, adheres to the Senior Manager and Certification Regime, Conduct Rules and the Consumer Duty.
Ramsdens considers itself a responsible lender, offering transparent straightforward loans which are easily understood by customers.
Access to credit can be a lifeline to some and offering pawnbroking loans can be an essential service to our local communities. Unlike other forms of credit, pawnbrokers can assess creditworthiness based on the value of the goods, negating the need for affordability assessments which would exclude many from obtaining mainstream credit.
Pawnbroking loans are typically small sum and are served face to face which results in a high cost to deliver with interest rates varying from 1.99% - 9.90% per month depending on the loan value. As at 30 September 2023 our mean average loan was £325 and our median average loan was £174. Interest is charged daily so the quicker a customer can repay the less interest is paid. When we issue a loan to a customer, we take time to ensure they understand the payment options available to them and how best they can save money which includes using our online facility to repay their loans when convenient for them and then collecting the pledged goods later.
We believe that our policies for pawnbroking and looking out for vulnerable customers are industry-leading in seeking good outcomes for customers. The Group understands that circumstances change for customers and works with customers offering tailored financial solutions where necessary, as well as having automatic forbearance interventions that reduce interest rates for customers and in certain instances, stops charging interest altogether.
The introduction of the Consumer Duty formalised the regular review that we undertake to ensure that our pawnbroking service meets the needs of customers. As part of the review, we improved the training materials reinforcing the expectations and support available, we improved the oversight to focus on key areas where customers could be deemed to be at risk of a bad outcome, and we made a conscious decision to automatically reduce interest rates after one year.
A pawnbroking loan is a flexible loan in that there are no expected weekly or monthly instalments. The customer chooses when they repay their loan. As such there are no missed payments until the loan period expires. Once a loan approaches its expiry date, Ramsdens contacts its customers to see what they wish to do and as part of that process signposts providers of financial debt advice should a customer need to consider this.
Where a customer’s pledged items do need to be sold to repay the loan, Ramsdens caps the interest payable by the customer. If the item sells for more than the amount owed, the surplus monies are returned to the customer. If the item sells for less than the amount is owed, the shortfall is written off by the Group and there are no ongoing debt consequences for the customer.
Customer service levels
The Group prides itself on its high repeat customer rates and the low number of complaints it receives.
The Group is committed to offering the highest standards of customer service and appreciates that at times things go wrong. The Ramsdens philosophy is to see every complaint from the customer’s perspective and use a root cause analysis approach to put things right as quickly as possible and learn from any mistakes.
The Group uses Trustpilot for customer feedback on its retail jewellery and foreign currency offerings. Both services currently enjoy excellent 5-star ratings. In addition, Ramsdens occasionally undertakes customer pulse surveys through its branch network to obtain customer feedback. The data is used to improve the Group’s communication strategies.
Charitable endeavours
The Group believes it has an obligation to give back where it can and has a programme of supporting local and national charities.
This support has included directly financially donating, offering raffle and auction prizes, sponsoring events and the collection of foreign coins. The Group also uses its expertise, including IT skills, to help smaller local businesses and charities.
In FY23, the Group has directly contributed over £27,000 to various charities.
The ESG review challenged the activities and support levels given. The Group is committed to benefit charities by approximately 0.5% of the Group’s prior year’s post tax profit. We have chosen Teesside Hospice to be our lead charity and we are working with the hospice to make more of a difference with a longer-term project and greater financial commitment. This initiative will also see the Company further embrace volunteer days, encouraging more staff to get involved in giving back while being paid by Ramsdens for doing so. Branches will still collect foreign coins for local charities that they themselves choose. We also support all staff by offering a ‘match fund’ scheme should individuals raise funds for causes close to their hearts. We will have branch wide ‘dress down’ events where funds will be raised for national causes e.g. Save the Children and Christmas jumper day, which is always popular.
Supplier relationships including franchisees
The Group has a limited number of key trade suppliers. Strong relationships have been built up over many years, with the supplier and Ramsdens working together to improve the trade for both parties. Ramsdens reports on its supplier payment practices and believes in paying all suppliers as and when payments are due. The Group undertakes a periodic review of all material suppliers to seek assurance that they have no modern slavery practices within their supply chains, are managing their cyber risks and more generally have the same ethos as Ramsdens on sustainability and the environment. The Group's statement on its compliance with the Modern Slavery Act is available at www.ramsdensplc.com.
The Group has two franchisees operating two franchised stores. Both franchised businesses are well established and were regularly audited to ensure they meet the standards required by Ramsdens.
GOVERNANCE
The Group has always prided itself on acting responsibly in every aspect of the business. Our aim is to be open and accountable - an industry leader in all that we do. We put ESG at the centre of our plans and ensure our results are clear. For Ramsdens, it is about doing the right thing for all our stakeholders, and doing it well.
While we do not believe that we monitor social and human capital issues to a recognised standard we have a substantial suite of policies that include data security, customer privacy, anti-bribery, combatting modern slavery, whistleblowing, staff welfare, anti-money laundering, as well as adhering to all aspects of the FCA’s Senior Manager Regime, Conduct Rules and the Consumer Duty.
The Group is a member of the QCA and adopts its code of conduct as detailed in our Corporate Governance section.
The Nominations Committee undertakes a board effectiveness review every year and as part of that review discusses diversity, equality and independence.
The Audit and Risk Committee have clear terms of reference on the oversight of managing risk within the Group.
The newly formed ESG management committee convenes monthly to assess progress, identify next steps, and troubleshoot challenges. ESG has been a standing agenda item on the monthly Board papers for many years but reporting will be enhanced with reference to the implementation of the agreed ESG action plan.
In addition to our top-down approach, bottom-up engagement is essential for the successful integration of ESG principles. To foster this, we implement an open channel for employees at all levels to contribute ideas, feedback, and solutions related to ESG initiatives. We also encourage the flow of ideas to identify and act on local opportunities for improvement. This dual approach ensures that ESG is a shared responsibility and passion.
Following our materiality assessment, opportunities were identified in the following areas - GHG emissions, Waste, Health & Wellness, Employee Development, Management of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Culture & Engagement, Employer Supported Volunteering, Charity Partnerships.
In 2024, we will continue to develop and improve our existing programmes to tackle the priorities identified.
Taskforce on Climate related Financial Disclosure (TCFD)
Everyday sustainability
The services offered by Ramsdens have a sustainability and recycling theme and embraces the ethos of a circular economy. Customers use already owned assets to obtain a loan or receive cash.
While the expectation of a pawnbroking customer is to repay the loan in order to be able to borrow again, if they do not, the asset pledged is either refurbished and recycled by being sold to a retail jewellery customer or the item is melted for its intrinsic value with the precious metal content reused in the manufacturing of new jewellery or other manufacturing processes. The reclaimed precious stones are reused to manufacture new jewellery either directly by Ramsdens or through our trade contacts.
The same is true for our purchase of precious metals service. We buy from customers unwanted, damaged or un-hallmarked jewellery items. Those items are assessed for retail potential and refurbished, recycled and hallmarked accordingly or melted for their intrinsic value.
100% of the goods that Ramsdens process during these activities are retained within our circular economy.
Recycling, repairing or refurbishing jewellery limits the need to mine new gold, diamonds or other precious stones and thereby reduces the environmental impact.
Our retail jewellery offering is a mix of second-hand stock and new stock with a good proportion of the new stock containing diamonds and semi-precious stones which have been recycled.
Framework
The Board has overall responsibility for overseeing the climate related risks and opportunities – our approach to climate change is governed at the highest level within our business. To support the Board, we introduced into our governance framework an ESG Management Committee, who also manage the TCFD requirements. The ESG Management Committee has representatives from across the business.
Risk
We continue to develop our detailed understanding of climate related risks and opportunities, which fall into two categories, physical and transitional. At this time, we consider the risks to be minimal within the time horizon of our current strategic plan and we have therefore not undertaken any modelling of the identified risks. In addition, we have excluded climate change risk from our Principal Risks and Uncertainties.
The ESG Management Committee has identified the following risks and opportunities for the Business.
PHYSICAL RISKS
Our initial assessment of our store and head office locations identified minimal risk of physical climate hazards such as coastal and other flooding, and extreme heat or other weather events. To further our understanding, we will embark on a more granular review of our locations and the locations of our key suppliers in 2024. Our new store program incorporates assessment of physical climate risks.
Our risk assessment identified the following;
Buildings and Personnel: Risk to physical assets and employee safety due to extreme weather events.
Operational Disruptions: Risk of interrupted operations due to severe weather conditions.
Impact on Footfall: Risk of reduced customer presence due to extreme weather conditions like wind, heat, and rain.
TRANSITION RISKS
We have undertaken a climate materiality assessment exercise which has provided a foundation for building transition scenarios. This identified minimal risk within a medium term horizon.
Our risk assessment identified the following;
Reduced Air Travel: Risk of revenue loss due to regulatory or behavioural shifts away from air travel.
Infrastructure Upgrades: Capital risk associated with the need to upgrade infrastructure for sustainability as a result of changes in legislation e.g. the energy performance of buildings.
Regulatory Changes: Risk of increased operational costs due to evolving environmental regulations.
Increased Reporting Requirements: Risk of administrative burden and potential non-compliance.
Carbon Taxes: Financial risk associated with potential or existing carbon pricing mechanisms.
Lagging Industry Standards: Risk of reputational impairment due to failure to align with prevailing sustainability benchmarks within the industry.
Opportunity Cost of Delayed Sustainability Integration: Risk of forfeiting market share and competitive advantage owing to tardy adoption of sustainable practices.
OPPORTUNITIES
We have conducted an initial assessment of climate related opportunities and do not expect any material opportunities to develop within the short term. However, we are encouraged by growing consumer awareness of choosing sustainable products which may help grow our jewellery retail operations.
We identified the following climate related opportunities:
Energy Generation: Opportunity for revenue generation or cost saving through renewable energy projects, including solar panels on Company owned buildings.
Operational Efficiency: Opportunity for cost savings and revenue generation through waste reduction and material reuse.
Sustainable product offering: Opportunity to attract and retain customers by aligning with their sustainability expectations.
Improved ESG Ratings: Opportunity for enhanced market reputation due to wider recognition and greater disclosure of improving ESG activities.
Strategic Priorities
TCFD Objective 1 - Carbon Footprint
In alignment with our overarching commitment to environmental stewardship, we have identified the reduction of our Carbon Footprint as key strategic priority. In FY24 we will move to a 100% renewable electricity supply contract from March to achieve our key target. We will continue to invest in energy-efficient technologies particularly in our new store openings. As we own our head office building we are able to invest for the long-term in renewable energy. We will investigate the viability of fitting solar panels with the hope that the building can be self-sufficient in energy use.
We have already ensured that our waste collection from high street stores and head office locations does no go to landfill. For stores located in shopping centres, the waste services are supplied by centre and in these instances we will encourage the centre to take the same approach with a target of 0% waste to landfill.
TCFD Objective 2 - Climate Change Governance
In recognition of the emerging risk from the impact of climate change on business operations and sustainability, we have identified the integration of climate change considerations into our formal risk management process as a strategic priority. This will involve a review and update of our existing risk management framework to include climate-related risks such as physical risks (e.g., extreme weather events) and transition risks (e.g., regulatory changes). We will collaborate with experts to develop robust climate risk assessment methodologies and will train our risk management team to effectively evaluate these risks. By doing so, we aim to ensure that our business strategies are resilient to the evolving landscape of climate-related challenges.
TCFD Objective 3 - Partner with Responsible Suppliers
We have identified sustainable procurement as a strategic priority. We will ensure we only partner with suppliers who demonstrate proactive and responsible business practices, including but not limited to environmental stewardship, fair labour practices, and ethical governance. We will formalise these expectations with suppliers and outline our requirements and expectations clearly. We will assess current and potential suppliers rigorously based on their sustainability and responsibility credentials through onboarding procedures and periodic supplier reviews.
Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting
Energy & water usage including greenhouse gas emissions
Our greenhouse gas emissions fall under Scope 2, indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. The Group’s methodology involves the initial collection of energy use data in respect of Electricity and Gas from suppliers, business mileage data for transport and the subsequent use of UK Government Conversion Factors to calculate emissions. The emission data set out below is for the year ended 30 September 2023 and is compiled in accordance with the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) regulations 2018, which implement the Government’s policy on Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting.
Methodology
In line with SECR requirements we have reported on the underlying energy used to calculate Group Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. All our GHG emissions relate to the UK. BEIS 2022 and 2023 emission factors have been used for all emission sources. The gas and electricity data has been obtained from our energy suppliers which is mainly SSE. The data provided includes estimated usage where smart meters are not installed. The Full Time Employees number has been estimated using the full time equivalent as at the year-end.
Summary
The reduction in Direct Transport emissions is consequence of a change in approach in providing company cars. The Group has phased out the use of company cars during the year. In FY24 the Group will only operate vans for the property maintenance team. The travel of those previously using company cars has transferred into scope 3 emissions given they are using their own personal vehicles. In the future we will investigate our scope 3 emissions in more detail and consider how we better report our impact in this area.
While the store estate has increased during the year, the headline energy consumption has reduced. We believe this is a result of improved data accuracy in 2023 with more smart meters and therefore less estimates, as opposed to a significant change in operations.
Targets
Our commitment is to manage our business operations in an environmentally responsible manner. This involves minimising waste, maximising our recycling efforts, and actively working to lesson our impact on the climate. We have already signed a new energy contract for 100% renewable electricity which starts in March 2024. We will continue to roll out smart meters and ensure our data accuracy improves further in the upcoming year. We will continue to use motion sensors and LED lighting for all new stores and where we refurbish existing stores.
Employee travel is an inevitable requirement in our business but we strive to minimise this by ensuring people consider public transport and car sharing.
We have targeted to deliver more training in FY24 using video conferencing.
We also have a communication plan to encourage all staff to minimise their personal energy consumption.