Carbon Reduction Plan

Published September 2024

Summary

Migrant Help and Clear Voice are committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

We are aware that reducing our greenhouse gas emissions represents significant benefits for us, our service users, clients, suppliers, and the wider community. Our Carbon Reduction Plan covers the strategies for Mirant Help and subsidiaries’ ongoing commitment to the management and reduction of our business-related carbon emissions.

The strategy will cover the organisations baseline year information, setting clear targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions setting key timelines, deadlines and listing our planned projects to achieve carbon net zero by 2050.

While some these objectives will be achieved through behavioural change, it is noted that, where funding is needed, it will be accessed to take these projects to the right outcome. The objectives will be aligned with the organisation’s five-yearly strategic planning process with clear goals to take us on our journey to achieve Carbon Net Zero by 2050.

As a charity whose services are to support some of the most vulnerable, we strive to continuously improve our services working with all of our employees, partners, and contractors to embrace this plan and work collaboratively to achieve the overall goal of Carbon Net Zero by 2050.

The points below show the journey we are taking:

• Migrant Help aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 5% by 2029 based on its 2022/23 baseline. With a further pledge to achieve additional 10% reductions by 2035. 
• Migrant Help GHG baseline emissions were 86,301 kgCO2e 
• We will provide staff training and adopt behaviour change projects to assist us with our objective to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. 
• We will undertake a programme of continuously collaborating with all stakeholders to support and identify opportunities for reducing emissions, increasing social value, and highlighting the link between environmental impacts and climate migration.

 

Meeting our Reporting Requirements

This Carbon Reduction Plan is completed to meet the requirements set out in our Energy Management Strategy. This document will be reviewed and updated annually in line with the Migrant Help annual reporting cycle and reflect the objectives set out in the organisation’s five-yearly strategic plans. It will reflect any changes in organisational structure and take account of the efforts made to reduce our emissions over time to achieve Carbon Net Zero by 2050.

 

Our Low Carbon Vision

Migrant Help and Clear Voice are committed to integrating sustainable development into everyday practice by minimising our environmental impact wherever possible.

 

Method of Data Collection

Due to the unique nature of our business, we have detailed below the methodology used for our reporting.

Carbon Footprint Methodology

In accordance with the GHG protocol’s corporate standard, the reported emissions should be reported against an operational boundary using one of three types of reporting methodology:

• Equity share
• Financial control
• Operational control

Equity Share – This is how an organisation accounts for GHG emissions from operations according to their share of equity in the operation. This model may be helpful where emissions are collated and recorded centrally across a range of services, for example recorded UK wide by the Organisations headquarters rather than at the regional level.

Financial Control – The organisation reports on all sources of carbon emissions over which it has supply and financial control. The organisation is deemed to have financial control over a service if it has the ability to direct the financial and operating policies of the service with a view to financially managing its activities, for example:

• Setting budgets
• Managing expenditure
• Obtaining an ‘income’, such as donations and fund-raising activities.

Operational Control – Migrant Help reports on all sources of carbon emissions over which it has operational control. The organisation is deemed to have operational control over a service if it has full authority to introduce and implement its operating policies. Migrant Helps’ carbon footprint will be reported using the equity share methodology based on our operational model being mostly office-based advice activities and that our premises are controlled by third party providers.

 

Previous Baseline Year (2016/17)

Scope 1

Direct emissions from the activities that are under an organisation’s direct control – as tenants in the majority of premises occupied it is for third party providers, landlord and management companies to manage these buildings. Data is reported on offices and buildings for which we have control of supply, and those premises mentioned earlier will be excluded to avoid double reporting.

Scope 2

Indirect emissions related to the production of electricity, heat and steam that is bought by the organisation – We report on the offices and premises where we control supply. We do not report on buildings where supply is controlled by third party providers, landlords and management companies.

Scope 3

All other indirect emissions resulting from activities that are not owned or controlled by the organisation (this includes emissions related to the use of consumer goods, transportation, waste treatment, and employee travel)

Category 4 and 9 Upstream and Downstream Distribution

Migrant Help is largely administrative based and purchase goods and services to support these activities. We do not collect data on and do not report on categories 4 and 9.

Category 5 Waste Generated in Operations

We report on waste generation at offices and premises where we control collection and disposal of our waste. We generate waste through employee printing, service user pamphlets, confidential paper waste and other materials. Waste includes plastics and other items from meal and rest breaks.

Category 6 Business Travel

Business travel by employee vehicles is collected, measured, and reported annually. We do not collect information on official travel by rail or air.

Category 7 Employee Commuting

We do not collect data on how our employees travel to and from their place of work.

Emissions Reduction Targets

As an organisation whose services support some of the most vulnerable, we strive to continuously improve our services working with all our employees, partners, and contractors to embrace this plan and work collaboratively to achieve the overall goal of Carbon Net Zero by 2050.

The points below show the journey we are taking

• Migrant Help as the parent company and its subsidiary Clear Voice aim to reduce their GHG emissions by 5% by 2029 based on its 2022/23 baseline. With a further pledge to achieve additional 10% reductions by 2035.
• We will provide staff training and adopt behaviour change projects to assist us with our objective to achieve Carbon Net Zero emissions by 2050.

 

Carbon Reduction Projects

Completed Carbon Reduction Initiatives

The following environmental management measures and projects have been completed or implemented since the 2017 baseline:

Our existing waste carrier (Biffa) measures our performance on the percentage of general waste to landfill and that diverted to other forms of disposal, and we achieved 0% waste going to landfill during the most recent period.

There was a significant reduction in the generation of WEEE waste, included below, due to the adoption of reallocation and reuse of equipment.

Reductions in our energy use and waste generation were:

• 11% reduction in confidential paper waste.
• 11% reduction in weight of our mixed recycled waste.
• 67% reduction in WEEE waste.
• 9% reduction in gas energy use.

 

Energy Efficient Actions Undertaken

A rolling programme of measures have been undertaken throughout the period (Financial Year 2023-24). As part of ongoing refurbishment works of sites several retrofit, and efficiency projects have been undertaken inclusive of:

• Wakefield – As part of a suite of refurbishment works undertaken at the site, installation of energy efficient LED lighting and energy efficient air filtration systems for meeting spaces was undertaken.
• Liverpool and Coventry – Work was undertaken with current providers to ensure the newly created meeting spaces met current requirements for energy efficient LED lighting.
• Asset Management – Via the asset management process, furniture from decommissioned sites is repurposed where possible to be used at new sites in development.
• Awareness Campaign – A series of organisational communications was undertaken to raise employee awareness of efficient usage of both lighting and temperature controls.
• Charlton House, Dover – Work was undertaken to replace two air conditioning units from older gas systems to a newer, more energy efficient and environmentally friendly system. These works are part of a wider rolling programme of replacement. Additionally, old inefficient lighting was upgraded to meet energy efficient LED standards.

In the future we hope to implement further measures and are actively concentrating on several areas of focus, that once implemented will further reduce the organisations GHG emissions each year in line to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

 

Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme Phase 3 (ESOS3)

The organisation commissioned The Green Team consultancy to support its submission under the above. The Green Team are currently undertaking an energy audit across participating offices and findings will be published once complete.

 

Business Travel

Evaluate and, where possible, adopt means of reducing business travel, including continued use of video conferencing, to achieve sustainable long-term reduction of emissions that will be reported annually.

 

Employee Commuting

We will continue to maintain a hybrid and adopt a smarter working culture for all employees to reduce the amount of business travel and commuting for our colleagues, helping to reduce our CO₂ emissions.

Our hybrid and smarter working and workplace strategies will future proof the organisations offices whilst enabling our employees to make the right decisions about where and how they work whilst delivering essential services and making the best use of our workplaces and technology. It improves productivity through a focus on outputs rather than the need to be present in offices and supports the reduction of our carbon footprint by reducing unnecessary travel.

 

Communication

We will work with key partners and other stakeholders to achieve a better understanding of our emission contribution in the energy usage and waste emission categories. Even with some of these categories being out of our control, we will apply pressure to the contracting authorities to push towards emission reductions, including accommodation contractors, landlords and building management companies.

 

Employee Learning and Behaviour Change

A programme will be created to raise environmental awareness for all of the organisation’s employees, contractors, and volunteers.

Working with all employees, we will encourage better energy use and reduced waste. During the pandemic for example, while the majority of employees were working from home, it highlighted how printing is not as essential as previously thought to our operations and services as part of our daily work lives, and we will aim to maintain this as a goal for more paperless offices.

Since April 2022, the overarching organisation has taken considerable steps to reduce employee commuting by adopting hybrid working patterns and recruiting a higher percentage of home workers. The change of working practices with the adoption and implementation of collaborative working on Microsoft Teams and use of video conferencing significantly reduces need for employees to travel to offices for their everyday working and also the need to travel and attend meetings.

 

Leadership

The Senior Management Team and Board of Trustees has given, and will continue to give, their full support of this carbon reduction programme and the roles required to achieve the overarching organisations net zero ambitions.