Our commitment to net zero
Clear Voice and its parent organisation Migrant Help are committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 for emissions scopes 1, 2 and 3.
This commitment was made on 12 September 2024 by Clear Voice in accordance with PPN 06/21, associated guidance and reporting standards.
Our Carbon Reduction Plan for 2024 to 2029
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 Migrant Help’s (and its subsidiaries’) ongoing commitment to the management and reduction of our business-related carbon emissions.
The strategy will cover the organisation’s 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 of 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 net zero emissions by 2050.
As a charity whose services support some of the most vulnerable, Migrant Help strives to continuously improve its services, working with all employees, partners, and contractors to embrace this plan and work collaboratively to achieve the overall goal of net zero emissions 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 2023/24 baseline. With a further pledge to achieve additional 10% reductions by 2035.
- Migrant Help GHG baseline emissions were 50,158.61 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 net zero emissions 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 organisation’s 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.
Baseline Year Emissions (2016/17)
| Scope | Category | Total (kgCO2e) |
|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | 220 | |
| Scope 2 | 39,690 | |
| Scope 3 | Category 4 | 0 |
| Category 5 | 49,200 | |
| Category 6 | 5,830 | |
| Category 7 | 0 | |
| Category 9 | 0 | |
| Total Emissions | 94,940 |
Current and New Baseline Year (2023/24)
Scope 1
Direct emissions from the activities that are under an organisation’s direct control – We are tenants in the majority of our buildings which are managed by third party providers, landlord and management companies. This data will be reported on offices and buildings for which we have control of supply, other premises will be excluded to avoid double reporting.
Company Vehicles – We do not have company vehicles, so there are no emissions from this category included in our emissions data.
Scope 2
Indirect emissions related to the production of electricity, heat and steam that is bought by the organisation – We report on the small number of offices and premises where we have control of supply. We do not report on offices and buildings where we have no control, and these are covered 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 have not reported against categories 4 and 9 previously and are currently working up strategies to identify and report on these at a time to be decided in the future.
Category 5 Waste Generated in Operations
We report on waste generation at offices and premises where we have control of the collection and disposal of our waste. We do not report on waste generated at sites that are managed to third party providers, landlords or management companies. We do 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 currently collect data on how our employees travel into their place of work.
Current Year Emissions (2023/24)
| Scope | Category | Total (kgCO2e) |
|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | 43,686 | |
| Scope 2 | 6,361 | |
| Scope 3 | Category 4 | 0 |
| Category 5 | 111.61 | |
| Category 6 | Included in Scope 1 | |
| Category 7 | 0 | |
| Category 9 | 0 | |
| Total Emissions | 50,158.61 |
Strategies for Carbon Reduction
The carbon reduction opportunities in this plan, once fully implemented, will reduce Migrant Help’s GHG emissions each year in line to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
The areas for concentrated reduction strategies are as follows:
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Alternative Energy Sources
Work will be undertaken to identify the viability of the adoption of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic (Solar PV) on applicable sites throughout the organisation’s estate. Any possible opportunities for the use of renewable technologies will be considered further and where viable progressed.
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Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme Phase 3 (ESOS3)
The organisation commissioned The Green Team consultancy to support its submission under ESOS3. The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme is a mandatory scheme requiring large UK undertakings to report on their energy use and identify possible ways to use less energy.
The Green Team have undertaken an energy audit across participating offices and findings will be published once complete.
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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.
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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 Migrant Help’s 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.
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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 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.
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Employee Learning and Behaviour Change
A programme will be created to raise environmental awareness for all Migrant Help 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, Migrant Help 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 video conferencing significantly reduces to need for employees to travel to offices for their everyday working and also the need to travel and attend meetings.
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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 Migrant Helps’ net zero ambitions.