Frequently Asked Questions

How can I reduce my carbon footprint?

There are numerous opportunities to decrease your business’s carbon footprint. Whether it be simply education to staff to drive behaviour change, adopting the latest technologies or engaging suppliers.

We can help develop a strategic decarbonisation plan for your company and value chain, and provide a holistic sustainability lens over your business to identify risks and opportunities that may not have been considered.

What are scope 3 emissions?

Scope 3 emissions are the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the activities of your business. These are classed as indirect emissions as they are not directly generated by your business compared to Scope 1 emissions. Scope 3 emissions are associated with businesses along your supply chain, both upstream and downstream of your company’s operations. In total, there are 15 Scope 3 categories including:

Purchased goods and services
Capital goods
Fuel- and energy-related activities (not included in scope 1 or scope 2)
Upstream transportation and distribution
Waste generated in operations
Business travel
Employee commuting
Upstream leased assets
Downstream transportation and distribution
Processing of sold products
Use of sold products
End-of-life treatment of sold products
Downstream leased assets
Franchises
Investments

What are my levers to reduce scope 3 emissions?

There are several ways to target reductions of your scope 3 emissions, these include:

Applying a carbon price
Supplier engagement
Sustainable procurement policy
Operational policies
Embedding requirements in contracts
Setting a target
Changing business model
Change product design

What is a materiality assessment/hotspot analysis?

A materiality assessment or hotspot analysis is a key decision-making tool that identify areas of risk to your company.

From a value chain emissions perspective, this helps your company to understand the major emission sources along your value chain, and where intervention is required.

From a sustainability perspective, it assists companies to understand stakeholders’ key concerns and how they interact with business operations now and in the future.

It’s an initial step in developing a sustainability or decarbonisation road map and focuses the company’s efforts to achieve sustainable improvements and to mitigate risk.

How does systems thinking help our business understand our holistic impacts?

Companies need a holistic view to understand the real impacts on the environment and surrounding communities, both direct and indirect, from the decisions they are making today. Solving problems without considering the holistic context in which they exist can trigger indirect impacts that are more severe than the current problem.

Systems thinking is an approach for tackling the complexities and interdependent challenges that form our current world. Instead of looking at problems in isolation, we examine the relationships, how different parts of a system interact. We take an integrated view of these issues (beyond just climate change), acknowledging the interconnectedness and root causes.

What is the Circular Economy?

A circular economy is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.

An excellent resource for learning more about the circular economy is the Ellen MacArthur Foundation here.

Can I embed Sustainable Development Goals in our business offerings?

Yes, we can help you map out the Sustainable Development Goals that you would like to make an impact on. Inherently, the work we do aims to accelerate system-wide progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

How does a circular business model increase my business resilience and sustainability?

There are several types of circular business models depending on your business. A circular business model aims to:

Design out waste and applying value to resources.
Increase material or energy efficiency, thus decreasing resource dependence and increasing business resilience.
Shift customers from being consumers to users of your business products, thus maintaining your product ownership.
Move from extraction to regeneration of natural ecosystems.

By adopting the above, your business can benefit from future resource security, risk reduction, build stronger relationships across your value chain, improve reputation, regenerate natural ecosystems, and increase revenue through new product streams.

How do I understand my business risks and opportunities from Climate Change?

A climate change risk assessment will help your company understand both the physical and transition risks in a number of climate change scenarios. From this, opportunities can be identified to mitigate the risk and to increase the future sustainability and resilience of your company.