Carbon Reduction Plan

Introduction

Fincore Limited is fully cognizant of the fact that reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) missions will result in significant benefits for the company, our customers, and the wider community as a whole. We are committed to achieving net Zero Emissions by 2050.

This plan with baseline year 2019 information, setting clear targets for reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions over key timeframes and listing our planned projects to achieve carbon net zero by 2050.
This plan conforms to the requirements of Procurement Policy Note PPN06/21 as published by the Cabinet Office June 2021; “Taking Account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts”, published in June 2021 and the supporting “Technical standard for the Completion of Carbon
Reduction Plans”. This document will be reviewed and updated annually and each revision will reflect changes in the company structure and specific projects undertaken to reduce our Carbon Emissions.

The Fincore financial year starts on 1^st January and ends on 31^st December. Our carbon plan has been aligned to this reporting cycle. The current period covered is 1st January 2022 to 31^st December 2025.

Commitment to achieving Net Zero 

Fincore Ltd is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050.

Fincore is a software publishing business. Because of the nature of our operations, our primary emphasis is on Scope 2 where any reduction has the biggest impact on our total carbon footprint. However, we also recognise the importance of reducing our Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions to ensure steady progress towards achieving our Net Zero emissions target.

Reporting Standards and Scope

Fincore’s carbon footprint calculation is in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard.

Our current carbon footprint accounts for carbon emissions over which Fincore has direct financial control and Scope 3 emissions over which Fincore has direct influence.

The activities of related entities not under the direct control of Fincore Ltd are outside the scope of this report.

Baseline Emissions Footprint

Emissions Reduction Targets

In order to continue our progress to achieving Net Zero, we have adopted the following carbon reduction targets. 

We aim to reduce:

• Scope 1 emissions to zero gradually in the period to 2050 but as rapidly as market options allow by incentivizing the use of net-zero fuel options, e.g., The current vehicle used for company business is a fully electric car. Any future vehicle procurement for company business will use carbon-neutral electric energy.
• Scope 2 emissions by making use of energy efficient appliances and office equipment. Further improving software efficiency through tuning in order to eliminate at least a further 15-20% of energy use for equivalent workloads over the next 10 years through the use of more efficient algorithms.
• Promoting remote work policy: This reduces commuting emissions significantly.
• Sustainable Procurement: Work with suppliers who have strong environmental policies. This includes everything from office supplies to cloud service providers.
• Employee Engagement: Encourage employees to adopt sustainable practices, such as using public transport, cycling, or walking to the office.
• Waste Reduction: Cut back on paper and implement a robust recycling program in the office. Ensure that all electronic waste is properly recycled.
• Cloud Computing: Moving data storage to the cloud can reduce emissions, especially if the cloud provider uses renewable energy.

Fincore is already ahead of its projected target and near 50% below the baseline. We plan to continue to decrease carbon emissions over the next years to stay on track. 

Carbon Reduction Projects

Completed Carbon Reduction Initiatives

The following environmental management measures and projects have been completed or implemented since the 2019 baseline.

• Reduction of business travel as a % of turnover and incentivisation of travel options with a lower carbon footprint such as rail travel, including reduction in international air travel.
• Restricting face-to-face business meetings to most essential and encouraging ever increasing use of online video conferencing tools, e.g. Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp etc for business meetings.
• Reduction of carbon emissions from commuting through a more efficient mix of work from office/home. We have adopted a Hybrid model of working. Employees are now required to attend offices two to three days a week and work from home for the balance days.
• Performance improvements in our SaaS software to reduce energy use for equivalent workloads across different software products.
• Greater use of cloud services that have a lower carbon footprint than older data centers aiming for Net Zero by 2025.
• Fincore has already decommissioned its servers in off-site data centers and moved all data to cloud storage.
• Moving towards a totally paperless office, including e-signing.
• Downsizing the office space and, reducing the number of workstations & electronic equipment by over 50%. This includes no more use of telephones and reducing the number of printers/scanners and photocopiers.

Declaration and Sign Off

This Carbon Reduction Plan 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 standard¹ and use of the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting².

Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been reported in accordance with SECR requirements, and 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) Standard³.

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the directors. 

_{[1] https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard}

_{[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-conversion-factors-for-company-reporting}

_{[3] https://ghgprotocol.org/standards/scope-3-standard}