Carbon Reduction Plan

Commitment to achieving Net Zero

Agrimetrics is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050.

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Baseline Emissions Footprint

Baseline emissions are a record of the greenhouse gases that have been produced in the past and were produced prior to the introduction of any strategies to reduce emissions. Baseline emissions are the reference point against which emissions reduction can be measured.

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* This is a service-based business with no physical products being transported.

** This is an office-based business with no formal waste monitoring and negligible emissions arising from waste generated.

*** No staff commute regularly to the office, other than on foot.

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Emissions reduction targets

To progress towards achieving Net Zero by 2050, Agrimetrics has adopted the following carbon reduction targets.

• Office: Agrimetrics expects carbon emissions from office space to reduce in line with the University of Reading’s Net Zero Carbon Plan.  
• Cloud Computing: Agrimetrics expects carbon emissions from Azure cloud computing to reduce in line with Microsoft’s commitment to being carbon negative by 2030. 
• Business travel: a reduction of emissions per employee (FTE) of 50% by 2030.

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Carbon Reduction Projects

Completed Carbon Reduction Projects

Agrimetrics has designated 2022/23 as its baseline year but has completed or implemented the following environmental management measures and projects prior to this.  

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• Relocation to the University of Reading Enterprise Centre (REC) in 2019.
• This is a modern, energy-efficient building with centrally controlled utilities (over which Agrimetrics has no control) and full recycling facilities.The University of Reading is committed to becoming Net Zero Carbon by 2030.

• Closure of the Rothamsted Research office (again a small office space within a larger, shared, serviced office) in 2023.
• Retirement of on-premise servers in 2020, moving to cloud-based infrastructure hosted in Microsoft Azure.
• Microsoft has committed to being carbon negative by 2030, and to have removed all historical carbon emissions by 2050.
• Operation as a remote-by-default company since 2020 (choosing to maintain this status post the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions).  
• Per employee emissions from business mileage in 2022/23 stand at 33% of the 2019/20 level.

• The vast majority of staff no longer commute regularly to a place of work and most employment contracts have now been updated to not state an office location.
• Remote attendance at meetings is the default option and any face-to-face meetings are planned as hybrid events to facilitate remote participation.
• Where business travel is unavoidable, staff are encouraged through policy to use the most environmentally friendly option available (e.g. public transport rather than driving; car sharing where possible).  
• ISO 14001 certification was achieved in 2021.  As part of the certification process, Agrimetrics conducted assessments of the impact of its environmental aspects and these are regularly reviewed.
• Induction for new staff on ISO 14001 as part of an overall Compliance induction.  Staff are required to read Agrimetrics’ Environmental Guide which advises on the ways in which individuals can contribute to minimising Agrimetrics’ environmental impact.  
• The focus is on reducing use of resources, minimising waste, increasing recycling, and using environmentally sound sources where possible.
• Agrimetrics encourages staff to adopt the guidance within their home-working environment where this is practical.  
• Unwanted or depreciated equipment is offered to staff or local organisations prior to disposal by other means.
• If equipment cannot be reused in this way, Agrimetrics uses the services of a WEEE-verified and Environment Agency-registered IT recycling company. This company aims to divert 95% of their clients’ waste from landfill.

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Future Carbon Reduction Projects

Agrimetrics has committed to:

• Rationalising its Azure infrastructure to improve efficiency (which also reduces costs).
• Utilising Microsoft’s Emission Impact services for more accurate carbon accounting.
• Including additional business travel measures (air travel, public transport) to Scope 3 reporting.  

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Agrimetrics is considering future projects to implement further measures such as:  

• Setting further policies and incentivising staff to use public and/or shared transport, and to include emissions when considering cost-benefit analysis of flights over driving over rail/other public transport.
• Incentivising staff to make improvements to their WFH set-up and arrangements (e.g. switching to renewable energy at home).
• Upgrading older devices to more energy efficient models (lifecycle analysis to be considered in decisions to upgrade).  
• Incentivising staff to switch to electric vehicles (EVs).  
• The purchase of Carbon Credits to offset emissions.  

Declaration and Sign Off

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans.

Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard and uses the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.  

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Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, when available, will be reported in accordance with SECR requirements. The required subset of Scope 3 emissions have been reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard.

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and approved by Executive Management and will be reviewed at least annually.

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Approved 24th October 2023.