Since 2019, we have been reporting our annual carbon emissions and offsetting these emissions to be a carbon neutral organisation, with the initial intention of using 2019 as our baseline year. The nature of our business in 2019 was much reduced in scale, and the following years’ emissions inventory (2020-2022) was no longer representative of the business following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 2019-2023, Greengage remained committed to being a carbon neutral organisation by reducing our emissions where possible and offsetting our residual emissions. However, in line with the Paris Agreement and limiting global warming to 1.5°C, our strategy changed in 2024 with Greengage looking to achieve net zero and commit to the adoption of Science-based Targets (SBTs). This remains in the process of being formulated, with an official announcement intended to be made in the near future once we have validated our SBTs with the Science-based Target Initiative (SBTi).
2023 carbon footprint and re-baseline
By 2023, due to changes to our company structure including a growth in staff numbers and expansion with the opening of regional offices, outside of our London headquarters, in Sheffield, Manchester and Bristol, we decided to re-baseline our emissions to be representative of the current company structure and operations. As the company is on a growth trajectory, we also decided to use emissions intensity metrics based on full-time employees to assess and reduce our environmental impact without penalising our financial growth as a business.
During the year 2023, Greengage had an average of 44 full-time employees (FTEs) and the table below demonstrates the share of office space across each of our leased offices. Even though we don’t have direct control over our leased offices, we have considered the emissions arising from gas and electricity usage and refrigerant use in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, to prioritise reducing these emissions where possible.
Table 0.1 – Proportion of total desk space across each of Greengage’s offices in 2023.
Greengage’s 2023 carbon footprint is presented in the table below.
Table 0.2 – Greengage’s 2023 carbon footprint
Similar to other professional services firms, the majority (95%) of our emissions are attributable to our Scope 3 emissions and reduction in each of the Scope 3 categories will be our focus in the carbon reduction strategy. Nearly two-thirds of the Scope 3 total is attributable to business travel and the use of sub-contractors, the majority of which is as a result of ecological surveys and travel outside of urban areas scarcely serviced by public transport.
In line with our World Green Business Council (WGBC) Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, our 2023 carbon footprint has also been verified through a third-party audit undertaken by David Edwards of LM Environmental on 17th April 2025.
2024 carbon footprint
During the year 2024, Greengage had an average of 64 FTEs and the table below demonstrates the share of office space across each of our offices.
Table 0.3 – Proportion of total desk space across each of Greengage’s offices in 2023
Based upon the above company structure and set up, the table below outlines the company’s carbon footprint for 2024, showing an increase in emissions of 185tCO2e compared to the previous year. As the business has grown, the number of FTEs has increased by 20, which has naturally amounted to a greater PG&S spend, increasing emissions fourfold. A greater amount of business activity has also led to a rise in business travel emissions of 144tCO2e primarily resulting from a greater number of ecology site surveys throughout the summer; the impact of this is an increase in emissions intensity of 2.19tCO2e/FTE.
Overall, a combination of a growth in FTEs and business activities has resulted in an increase in emissions in 2024.
Table 0.4 – Greengage’s 2024 carbon footprint
2023 and 2024 carbon reduction strategies
As part of Greengage’s ambition to validate our targets with the SBTi, we are currently in the process of formulating our carbon reduction strategies for each of our scope categories to ensure that we can adequately and robustly follow through with our increased climate commitments. As such, these strategies will be released as and when we they have been completed, however they will be founded around the above carbon footprinting results.
Our offsetting strategy
Since Greengage has made a conscious decision for aiming to achieve net zero instead of carbon neutrality, we will be revisiting our offsetting strategy this year. Currently, our annual offset payments have been paused, with the remaining offsetting budget ring fenced to allow for potential future insetting and offsetting opportunities. We will also be publishing our stance around offsetting along with our carbon reduction strategy.
Conclusion
In line with WGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, Greengage will continue to publicly disclose our carbon footprint annually and we hope to encourage other organisations to start their journey on climate action by taking responsibility for their own environmental impact.
With our carbon reduction strategy providing us a roadmap for reducing emissions and validating our SBTs with the SBTi, Greengage aims to become a net zero organisation by 2050, at the latest, thereby contributing to the UK’s legally binding net zero target.
