Responsible Business
Sustainability
We’re building a new network, purpose built for the data age
Our network is fibre only and enables our partners to provide connections so quick and reliable they can be taken for granted. As we build the UK’s finest digital infrastructure, we strive to lead our industry, not just in terms of speed, reliability and service quality, but through our sustainable and responsible business practices too. Because our network is purpose built for the data age, we can make carbon-smart decisions up front, benefit from the latest power efficient technology and manage the environment in which that technology lives carefully to optimise its lifecycle and reduce waste.
Our commitment & focus
We’re stepping up to protect our planet’s resources by constantly seeking opportunities to use less energy and raw materials, ensuring robust systems are in place to enable us to leave a fairer, greener, and healthier world behind us.
As part of this, we carefully select the partners we work with, ensuring they share our commitment to working more sustainably.
We’re committed to:
- Achieving our ‘net zero carbon emissions by 2030’ plan
- Monitoring, managing and publicly reporting on energy use and carbon performance on an ongoing basis
- Embedding our commitment into all aspects of our organisation and taking our people with us on the journey.
We’re focused on:
- Innovating with our supply chain to minimise the upstream environmental impact of rollout and operations – taking every opportunity to reuse raw materials and minimise waste
- Embedding our responsible procurement practices across our operations
- Working closely with suppliers to make environmentally-conscious equipment and product decisions.
Managing & monitoring
CityFibre’s Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with the Procurement Policy Note 06/21 (PPN 06/21). Our plan is aligned with the guidance and format for PPN 06/21 and meets the required detail as compared to the template for the Carbon Reduction Plan.
Emissions calculations and records are in accordance with the published standard for emission reporting; the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard. Data is processed using the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been reported using the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) methodology to identify and communicate material emission sources. The required subset of Scope 3 emissions is reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard.
The Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by CityFibre’s Board of Directors.
The 12 months to 31 December 2021 is the first reporting year to be compared against our 2020 baseline year.
The decrease in Scope 1 emissions is due to the business successfully improving fuel consumption efficiency of FEX sites and company vehicles. The emissions increase across Scope 2 and Scope 3 is in line with CityFibre’s expectations and can be explained by the following:
•CityFibre’s general level of business-related activity, such as commuting and other travel, was drastically reduced due to Covid in our 2020 baseline year. This directly translated into our emission totals being lower than would otherwise have been the case.
•Covid also reduced our Scope 3 Build Partner emissions; the 2020 baseline year represents far less activity being undertaken by our Build Partners than was possible in 2021.
•CityFibre invested in many new build projects during 2021, these additional builds have generated higher initial emissions that will reduce in subsequent years once operating normally.
Notes:
•Upstream transport and distribution and downstream transport and distribution are not applicable to CityFibre.
•All 2021 emissions have been calculated using the Defra 2021 emissions factors.
•Scope 3 includes employee cars, flights, rail, public transport, taxi, paper, waste, electricity (transmission and distribution).
•Our greenhouse gas accounting and reporting follows the principles of relevance, completeness, consistency, accuracy, and transparency. These principles are applied when collecting and verifying the data used to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions for Scope 1 and 2 as well as selected Scope 3.
This is in accordance with the requirements of the following:
•World Resources Institute (WRI) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Standard (revised version).
•Defra’s Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting requirements, March 2019.
Never standing still
We are currently defining our ‘net zero carbon emissions by 2030’ strategy and have already begun work on a number of carbon reduction projects.
Since 2020 we have:
• Started moving our Fibre Exchange (FEX) electricity tariffs to renewable origin electricity or covering the energy consumption with a REGO to cover a high percentage share of the fuel mix with renewables.
• Refined our FEX model specifications, cutting energy use by 23 per cent compared to the earlier specifications.
We are releasing our emission roadmap in 2023, this will include our plans for:
• Implementing a sustainable transport policy
• Collaboration with our supply chain on Scope 3 emissions
• Further expansion of 100% renewable energy sources to cover all electric consumption
• Shift to electric vehicles and developing electric infrastructure
• Reducing emissions across the lifecycle of our connections.
Our sustainability declaration
The Carbon Reduction Plan outlined above 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 use the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been 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 signed off by CityFibre’s Board of Directors.