JNP Group has always had a Social Conscience and take our Corporate Social Responsibility seriously.
Respecting our colleagues, our clients, our communities, and supply chain and being committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion in all our undertakings whilst prioritising safety and protection of the environment has always been at the forefront of our thinking.
Tackling the climate crisis and cutting carbon emissions has become one of the key issues facing all societies and become a key challenge that all businesses must address.
The built environment continues to contribute approximately 40% of Global carbon emissions and we must now think in terms of whole lifecycle. Construction materials have a carbon intensive load and represent one of the biggest contributors to embodied carbon.
Therefore, as a service provider one of the biggest impacts we can make is to work and collaborate with other professionals and supply chains to support our clients in meeting their net-zero carbon aspirations.
A key factor in collaborating to achieve net-zero for Greenhouse Gas Emissions, in line with the UK Government’s commitment under the Climate Change Act for decarbonising of the United Kingdom as a whole, is to address our own carbon emissions and implement JNP’s carbon reduction plans.
Commitment to achieving Net Zero
As a service-based SME our environmental footprint is relatively small, however JNP Group are committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2040.
Baseline Emissions Footprint
Baseline emissions are a record of the greenhouse gases that have been produced in the past and were produced prior to the introduction of any strategies to reduce emissions. Baseline emissions are the reference point against which emissions reduction can be measured.
JNP Group set our Baseline as 2019 as this records what our Carbon Footprint was for the way we operated before the onset of the Pandemic and implementation of our carbon reduction strategies. This can be mapped against our current emissions each year to monitor the changes we have made to the way JNP operates. This can then be compared with future measures of our carbon emissions which will be calculated on an annual basis using our trading year from 1st January to 31st December to monitor our progress towards achieving carbon net-zero by our committed target date.
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Baseline Year: 2019 |
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Additional Details relating to the Baseline Emissions calculations. |
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JNP Group have carried out an audit of our carbon emissions in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the Government Guidelines for PPN 06/21 to assess our Scope 1 and 2 and a selection of Scope 3 emissions which are relevant to our business operations. We have assessed our emissions utilising the GHG Protocol Emissions Calculation Tool and the relevant UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting. All of our 7 Offices are leased and where it was not possible to identify precise consumption figures for purchase/consumed energy sources then appropriate proportional usage estimates were applied to calculate our Scope 2 emissions. Where available specific data in relation to our scope 3 emissions was fairly limited at that current time then appropriate average allowances were made and GHG conversion factors applied to calculate the likely emissions. This data continues to be refined over future years through collaboration with our supply chain and staff. The following 5 defined categories have been considered in the assessment of Scope 3 emissions: – 4. Upstream transportation and distribution – As a service-based company our purchase of products is relatively limited but appropriate allowances have been calculated and will continue to be refined over future reporting years. 5. Waste generated – The only waste generated from our operations is general domestic type waste arising from a typical office environment, which is disposed of via Local Authority waste collection services set up by our property Landlords. Typical allowances have been used. 6. Business travel – Detailed data was available and utilised in calculations. 7. Employee commuting – Average allowances were calculated, with the intention that reporting data would be refined over future reporting years through consultations with staff. 9. Downstream transport and distribution – JNP Group do not generate carbon emissions via this category, all our outputs are issued electronically, which is included within our energy purchase/consumption of our Scope 2 emissions.
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Baseline year emissions: 2019 |
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EMISSIONS |
TOTAL (tCO2e) |
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Scope 1 |
22.62 |
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Scope 2 |
81.51 |
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Scope 3 (Included Sources) |
388.54 |
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Total Emissions |
492.67 |
Last Year’s Emissions Reporting (2022)
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Reporting Year: 2022 |
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EMISSIONS |
TOTAL (tCO2e) |
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Scope 1 |
16.17 |
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Scope 2 |
67.57 |
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Scope 3 (Included Sources) |
113.18 |
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Total Emissions |
196.92 |
Current Year’s Emissions Reporting (2023)
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Reporting Year: 2023 |
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EMISSIONS |
TOTAL (tCO2e) |
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Scope 1 |
21.71 |
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Scope 2 |
64.77 |
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Scope 3 (Included Sources) |
123.26 |
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Total Emissions |
209.74 |
Emission reduction targets
This is the third Carbon Reduction Plan compiled by JNP Group in accordance with PPN 06/21 and the associated guidance and reporting standards for Carbon Reduction Plans.
Where assumed average allowances were utilised in previous years our data capture for 2022 and 2023 has continued to be refined through collaboration with our supply chain and staff travel data surveys to provide more accurate data.
For our Scope 2 emissions of purchased heating and power a combination of actual recorded consumption figures and appropriate proportional use estimates continue to be used for this class of emissions. All 7 of our offices are leased serviced offices. Proportional usage estimates have been assessed for 5 of our 7 offices where charges are included in the service charges and not separately metered.
JNP Group’s small fleet of company vans have increased from 4 to 6 due to expansion of our Geo-Environmental team. The number of company cars has reduced from 7 to 6, all of which are currently diesel models.
It was intended for the fleet of company vehicles to be replenished over the following 5 year period from 2021 with fully electric or hybrid models. However, this is restricted by the available infrastructure at the office locations which is determined by our Landlords. Currently only 1 out of our 7 offices has access to an EV charging point. So, although this target is likely to slip it is still our intention to try to work with and influence our Landlords to install EV charging points wherever practicable.
We will continue to work with and endeavour to influence our landlords to improve carbon reduction and maximise energy efficiency at our offices through the use of LED/PIR’s, dynamic thermostatic controls, Improved/increased recycling/re-use of materials and components. We will also promote the purchase of the most carbon efficient electricity and heat and power fuel sources to our Landlords.
The largest generator of carbon from our operations remains transport from staff commuting and business travel. We have invested heavily in IT to promote the increased use of virtual meetings for both internal and external meetings. This has made a major contribution towards the reduction in our Scope 3 emissions.
We will continue to support and encourage the use of electric vehicles via the installation and maintenance of electric vehicle charging points at offices where practicable. To this end, in the last 12 months (2023) JNP have introduced a subsidised Electric Vehicle Leasing Scheme via salary sacrifice to try to incentivise staff to switch to electric vehicles. However, take-up of the scheme has been very limited to date (as at Jan 2024). It is considered that this has been influenced by perceptions of slow progress in the development of the EV charging infrastructure and the current financial climate deferring investment/capital spending among the staff. JNP will continue to support and encourage the use of more carbon efficient vehicles and expect the take-up of this staff benefit to increase as infrastructure installations accelerate and the economy improves.
JNP have undertaken a review of staff travel habits and used the data to promote carbon efficient solutions to travel for employees at all offices. Some of our staff that commute by car already drive carbon neutral via participation in the carbon offsetting initiatives implemented by the oil companies from which they purchase fuel, however these offsets have not been taken into account in measuring our carbon footprint.
JNP continues to operate a cycle to work scheme and will endeavour to promote this more widely.
JNP have introduced several short-term objectives to educate staff and reduce fuel usage through improved logistics planning and use of local office resources wherever possible and adopt improved driving and idling techniques. To reduce paper and printer usage and promote our paperless office policy to reduce our upstream transport and distribution contributions from purchase of goods. This includes investigating the use of virtual documents for administrative and promotional purposes to reduce the consumption of resources and generation of carbon.
JNP have formally adopted flexible working and will continue to monitor and promote positive outcomes from this policy. Employee commuting is the largest contributor to our carbon footprint and the implementation of our hybrid flexible working policy and the continued promotion of virtual meetings have been major factors in the reduction of our carbon emissions over the last 3 years.
JNP Group have achieved certification under ISO 14001 for Environmental Management and will continue to promote carbon efficient working and design solutions in our outputs.
JNP has established an internal Carbon Committee which convenes on a quarterly basis to monitor and drive forward our initiatives. The Committee includes technical representatives from all our design disciplines. We have a two-fold strategy to drive towards minimising our own carbon generation from our own operations and to develop the implementation of tools and guidance for producing carbon efficient designs to minimise embodied carbon within our design outputs as outlined within our Carbon Strategy document.
As an organisation our carbon emissions emanate from a limited number of sources, namely the servicing and heating/cooling of our leased offices and travel activities of staff for business and commuting to work and the activities of our small number of suppliers.
We have seen a slight increase in our Greenhouse Gas Emissions during 2023, but this was expected and inevitable. As part of our executive management structure changes and introduction of our new business and communications strategies our Directors and Senior Managers are visiting all branch offices on a more frequent basis. As part of our business strategy for growth we have seen an increase in staff numbers for 2023 with further increases planned over the next few years. Therefore, reviewing our emissions on a pro-rata basis to the number of staff will give a better comparison of our carbon efficiency and progress on reduction of emissions.
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Year |
Average No. Staff |
Total annual emissions (tCO2e) |
Carbon emissions per head |
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2019 |
117 |
492.67 |
4.211 |
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2020 |
116 |
292.15 |
2.519 |
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2021 |
110 |
252.24 |
2.293 |
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2022 |
111 |
196.92 |
1.774 |
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2023 |
115 |
209.74 |
1.824 |
It can be seen from above that since the first year we measured our carbon footprint in 2019 that JNP have continued to reduce our annual emissions each year with the exception of last year (2023) which was expected to increase slightly as outlined above.
At the start of this process JNP set a target to reduce our annual emissions by 20% of our baseline emissions (2019) over the following 5 year period. In our January 2023 Carbon Reduction Plan, we increased that target to a reduction of 50% from our baseline emissions over the next 5 year period. Comparison of the figures above demonstrates that for 2022 JNP had already achieved a 57.87% reduction per head over our 2019 baseline emissions and a 56.68% reduction per head over our 2019 baseline emissions for 2023. Therefore, we have already achieved our 5 year target even though there was a slight increase in our emissions for 2023 which was expected for the reasons outlined above.
As an organisation we consider that we are now at our optimum level of carbon emissions efficiency and there will only be minor variations/fluctuations over the next few years. It is unlikely that any further major improvements in reduction of our greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved without a substantial culture change in relation to our largest contributing factor to our carbon footprint of staff commuting. JNP predict that this will improve further as staff change to more carbon efficient modes of transport utilising less polluting fuel sources as the expansion of the EV infrastructure continues and improves over future years.
We will continue to measure and publish our carbon footprint on an annual basis and adopt any further improvement initiatives we can to improve our environmental performance.
Inevitably, even after implementation of all our initiatives it is likely there will always remain a residual balance of carbon emissions from JNP Group as a result of our operations. In order to achieve net-zero JNP acknowledge that we will need to invest in carbon offsetting initiatives. JNP will continue to research the best and most suitable carbon offsetting projects in which to invest over the next 10 years to achieve the best outcome, however the core focus will always remain to maximise the reduction in our own carbon emissions wherever possible and practicable.
Declaration and Sign Off
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and the 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 standard and uses the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.
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) Standard.
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors.
Signed on behalf of JNP Group
Date: January 2024