Notes on our sustainability efforts can be found here - Last update August 2024
Having launched our initial strategy toward making NetWatch a greener company in 2019, we have made great progress on our sustainability journey.
Going forward our ongoing efforts will be showcased online and you will be able to find our latest notes here and within the blog area.
Ashleigh Barratt co-ordinates and tracks our sustainability efforts within NetWatch, and can be contacted on abarratt@netwatchglobal.com. You can also read the blog post launching this page through the link below.
Here at NetWatch we are committed to a more sustainable future. The climate emergency remains the biggest challenge of our time, and this section of our website is dedicated to our policy and strategy. On this page you can learn about our commitments, our aims and our metrics, as well as the challenges we face as a business and our next steps to tackle these. NetWatch has prioritized commitments which are evidence based, as well as following the lead of global experts, such as the United Nation’s Division for Sustainable Development Goals (UN DSDG).
We have the following sustainability aims as a company:
In July 2023, NetWatch joined the Science Based Targets Initiative which seeks to ensure that all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets are science based and feasible. The organization sets standards and guidance for company’s seeking to set science-based targets, validates these targets and publishes regular progression data and resources.
NetWatch has committed to reducing scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions by 42% by 2030 from a 2022 base year, and to measure and reduce its scope 3 emissions. We have also committed to reaching net-zero by 2050 and as part of this have committed to reducing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 90% by 2050 from a 2022 base year.
NetWatch has chosen four of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) as part of a holistic approach to improving our sustainability and reducing our impact on the environment. These Sustainable Development Goals are: Affordable and Clean Energy; Good Health and Wellbeing; Responsible Consumption and Production; and Climate Action. These four areas have been chosen as focus points as they most closely interact with our business and have been detailed below. Specific guidance for employees on how to mitigate each of these issues is provided in the Environment & Sustainability Policy as well as the Environment & Sustainability Handbook.
Energy is the largest single aspect of our carbon footprint. Our aim is to be energy efficient and utilize low-carbon energy across all our operations. NetWatch is based in Alpha Tower, Birmingham and as a leased asset, we don’t have full control over the consumption of electricity and gas by the overall site, although we do not use any gas in our specific leased office. Alpha Tower uses a 100% renewable energy tariff and is equally committed to reducing the consumption of gas and electricity on the site. Between July 2023 and July 2024, Alpha Tower reported a 3% drop in total electricity consumption, and a 33% drop in total gas consumption compared to the previous year. NetWatch is committed to working with CEG (owner of Alpha Tower) and other tenants in order to continue to make progress towards reducing our energy footprint by encouraging energy efficiency and innovation.
Hybrid working has been embraced by our staff, which does lower the energy demands of the office environment. However, this creates additional energy usage by staff at home which may not be under a renewable tariff. Tracking and tackling this consumption is a key challenge in our emissions roadmap, and guidance is offered to staff in our E&S Handbook for how to reduce their home emissions while working. Likewise, we also offer guidance on reducing emissions incurred through travel for work, either commuting or other purposes. NetWatch is part of the Bike2Work scheme, which encourages staff to take up active travel when commuting, and reduces the initial financial burden of making the switch cycling.
As part of our SBTi commitment, NetWatch measures our energy usage by kWh from both on-site assets and any off-site assets such as cloud storage or external services.
The health and wellbeing of staff is important to NetWatch and we strive to create and maintain a healthy and productive environment for all. We are proud to foster a safe, fair and diversified culture and team. To maintain this, we encourage staff feedback and engagement through surveys and focus groups, looking not just at the work but also the office environment. Staff have access to flexible working arrangements in order to suit their needs, as well as the Pirkx wellbeing benefits platform, which includes the ability to book GP appointments, encouraging a healthy environment for colleagues. This platform also has access to private counselling, financial advice and discounts. NetWatch also monitors the health and safety of staff, logging and tracking any incidents which occur and putting mitigation strategies in place where needed.
At NetWatch we want to minimize our resource use and improve our performance against the waste hierarchy, which gives priority to preventing waste in the first place and places disposal (i.e. landfill) at the bottom, encouraging reuse or recycling ahead of this. NetWatch offers guidance to staff when they are considering whether a purchase is necessary, as part of our Responsible Purchasing Guidance in the E&S Handbook, and whether alternatives can be used instead. When purchases are necessary, the Handbook also sets out guidance on what sources to prioritize (such FSC for paper products).
At our Alpha Tower office, we have separate in-office bins for recycling and general waste, and there are on-site bins breaking this down further into dry mixed recyclables, paper and carboard, organic food waste and mixed municipal waste. NetWatch encourages all staff to observe the specific bins provided, and Alpha Tower overall has a 50% recycling rate, with a goal of achieving a 65% recycling rate.
NetWatch uses a paperless system, introduced in 2019, which has eliminated a vast amount of our paper usage. However, there are still some services for which clients require paper copies be provided and for these we are committed to working with our clients and suppliers to further reduce our paper usage. NetWatch is also committed to reducing the presence of single-use plastics in our office environment, through our Responsible Purchasing Guidance.
Our progress on these aspects will be measured by tonnes of waste to landfill per annum, percentage of waste recycled, water consumption by m2 and Embodied Carbon emissions per annum.
As we progress towards our 2030 and 2050 SBTi target years, NetWatch will continue to work to decarbonize our operations, contributing to the UK’s overall net zero target. We will continue to monitor our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and work to reduce these through operational changes and co-operation from staff. Likewise, we will work together with staff to help them understand and decrease their own carbon footprints and to make better informed decisions that will help protect our environment.
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