Cutting direct carbon emissions

Carbon emissions relative to turnover for the year ending 31 July 2011 (tonnes CO2e per £million)

In the last year we have reduced absolute carbon emissions from office energy consumption and business travel by 2743 tonnes.   Premises Total consumption % overall footprint Absolute emissions (tCO2e) Electicity (kWhrs) 8,773,567.60 55.88 4,603.79 Gas (kWhrs) 4,200,225.59 1.01 83.62 Premises We ensure that carbon emissions from our offices are monitored and, where possible reduced. As many of our offices are on short-term lease, it is not always commercially viable to 'retrofit' them with low-carbon plant or building fabric. Instead, the Group focuses on educating staff about more efficient use of office space and on ensuring that new equipment, such as IT hardware, is energy A-rated. We also operate office selection criteria - developed against recognised BREEAM standards - which ensures that future office locations are assessed in accordance with best practice models, and can support long-term, low-carbon operations. To find out more about BREEAM, the design and assesement method for sustainable buildings, visit their website at http://www.breeam.org/.

Business travel

Travelling on business is sometimes unavoidable and we continue to raise awareness among staff of greener forms of travel, providing the tools - including a Bike-2- Work scheme, interest-free season ticket loans for public transport, a company carshare scheme, and virtual meeting systems - to encourage staff to take responsibility for their emissions.

Our annual employee travel survey provides feedback on the most appropriate methods for reducing the environmental impact of travel as well as informing the Group's Sustainable Travel Plan and providing focus for travel campaigns.

Avoiding travel altogether is the most effective means of carbon reduction, and we continue to promote tele-, video- and web-conferencing systems and we work in partnership with the UK's largest provider of corporate car-sharing tools - liftshare.com to provide employees with access to a secure online travel portal, which matches their journey requirements with other staff in their region.