This is our second year of reporting the greenhouse gas emissions of our UK operations, in line with our commitment as part of the ClimateWise initiative.
To do this, we engaged the support of an external consultancy, Scott Wilson, to verify our approach and calculations. They have given this Assurance Statement (130KB, pdf) which includes their reporting scope and any data limitations.
We have calculated our 2008 greenhouse gas emissions according to the internationally recognised Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. These can be summarised as follows:
Building Energy 13,580 tonnes
Travel 769 tonnes
TOTAL 14,349 tonnes
Building Energy
During 2008 we switched to renewable electricity for the Lloyd’s Building and the Chatham office. The figure for building energy, shown above, states emissions at the standard emissions rate for electricity, following DEFRA's latest best practice guidelines. Under previous reporting guidelines, the renewable electricity would have been zero rated, reducing building emissions to 4,997 tonnes.
The Lloyd’s Building (which accounts for 90% of Lloyd’s building-related emissions in the UK) presents challenges in terms of energy management due to variations in tenancy occupancy rates and also due to the variation in the flow of people in and out of the building each day. Underlying building energy consumption increased compared to 2007 (2007: 12,891 tonnes).
Further comment on the building energy emissions can be found in the Assurance Statement (130KB, pdf) under points i) and ii) of the ‘Limitations’ section.
Travel
Travel-related greenhouse gas emissions increased (2007: 493 tonnes). This was primarily due to a significant change in 2008 in DEFRA’s guidance on how to calculate emissions from international air travel. It also reflected an increase in international flights due to greater overseas activity, which included a global IT roll-out project to standardise equipment across Lloyd’s global office network. For the first time in 2008, emissions generated by rail travel were also included.
Further comment on the travel emissions can be found in the Assurance Statement (130KB, pdf) under points iii) and iv) of the ‘Limitations’ section.
This data helps us to better understand the environmental impact of the operations under our direct control and to take steps to improve our impact going forward, through the implementation of an environmental action plan.
