2. Softcat
Scope 1 and 2 emissions:
Location based: 563 tCO2e (0%)
Market based: 184 tCO2e (-19%)
Gross invoiced income (GII): £2.56bn
Emissions per £1m GII: 0.2 tCO2e (location based), 0.1 tCO2e (market based)
Softcat in July 2022 became the first IT company in Europe to have its targets on climate action approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.
Under these plans, the LSE-listed powerhouse aims to slash its emissions by 45% by 2030 for scopes 1, 2 and 3, and by 90% by 2040 (relative to a 2021 base year).
In its fiscal 2023 Sustainability Report, CEO Graham Charlton said Softcat made “meaningful strides” in reducing emissions during the period, implementing 100% renewable energy across all its locations. In April it completed the installation of solar panels at its Marlow HQ.
The period also saw Softcat link exec pay partly to environmental targets and actions for the first time.
Scope 3 accounted for 99.8% of Softcat’s reported emissions in 2023 (with the ‘purchased goods and services’ category alone contributing 292,000 tCO2e).
Its ’10 in 10’ plan consequently strives to work with vendors, suppliers, customers and employees to “guide them on their sustainability journey and, in turn, help us on ours” (Softcat own sustainability platform, ‘Enexo’, is designed to allow SMEs to lower their carbon footprint, for instance).
1. Computacenter
Scope 1 and 2 emissions: 4,001 tCO2e (-9%)
Gross invoiced income (GII): £10.1bn
Emissions per £1m GII: 0.4 tCO2e
Computacenter passed another milestone on its net zero journey in June 2023 when its targets were validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
The LSE-listed giant is committed to slashing its absolute Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 90% by 2040 (from a base year of 2019 for Scope 1 and 2, and a base year of 2021 for Scope 3).
In the near term, it is aiming by 2032 to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 82.1% and Scope 3 emissions by 50.4%, on the same basis.
Computacenter cut its reported Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 9% in calendar 2023. It benefits from electricity generation from its solar panel installations at its Hatfield HQ, as well as in Germany, the US, and – most recently – the Netherlands. In total it claims to have the capacity to generate over 4m kWh of our own electricity, avoiding up to 1,994 tCO2e annually.
The £10bn-sales goliath also harbours a target to reduce emissions from business travel by up to 35% by 2025, compared to the baseline in 2019.
Computacenter CEO Mike Norris recently set a 1:1 device recovery target to ensure its execs have another sustainability-related quest they can chase in the coming years.
It represents a more “practical, sensible” goal Norris can “affect”, he told IT Channel Oxygen.
