Our Carbon Calculations

 

Description (Units)	Quantity		Conversion Factor (KgCO2/unit)	CO2e (Tonnes)		Source
	2008	2009		2008	2009
Scope 1 - Direct Emissions
Gas Oil (Litres)	3,254,268	2,535,083	2.762	8,988	7,002	Goods received notes
Natural Gas (M3)	20,256	26,994	2.009	41	54	Utility Bills
Diesel (Litres)	804,944	783,876	2.639	2,124	2,069	Fuel Cards
Petrol (Litres)	47,260	82,900	2.304	109	01910	Fuel Cards
Scope 2 - Indirect Emissions (electricity & import)
Electricity (kWh)	322,859	302,232	0.541	175	164	Utility Bills
Scope 3 - Other Indirect Emissions
Not included at present
Total				11,437	9,478
Tonnes CO2e per £100,000 turnover				12.03	11.02

Our calculation uses the methodology and conversion factors set out by the Carbon Trust.

As well as consumption of gas oil on our construction sites and natural gas to heat our main offices, Scope 1 also measures emissions associated with the petrol and diesel used in our fleet vehicles (cars and vans) as well as any private vehicles used for business.

All employees with a car (or car allowance) have a fuel card for business and private mileage.  Strictly, emissions from private mileage should be excluded from our calculation and those from commuting should be included in Scope 3, however we do not have a process in place to separate business, commuting and private miles.

We estimate that this variance in fuel use would account for less than 10% of our carbon footprint, so efforts to separate the figures would have little impact on our results.  We also believe that a properly executed environmental strategy should influence employee behaviour inside and outside work.  We have therefore chosen to include all fuel in Scope 1 of our carbon footprint calculation and are making efforts to reduce our overall impact in this area.

Indirect emissions included in Scope 2 of the carbon calculation represent our electricity consumption and whilst we have not included any Scope 3 emissions in the calculation to date, we are working towards measuring water usage and waste in this section in future.