Environmental, Social and Governance
Our strategy
Our approach to ESG and sustainability activities continues to focus on providing safe, long-term employment for the local economy whilst
generating sustainable value for stakeholders (set out on page 5) in a manner which is consistent with our governance obligations.
The group presents its ESG Report for the year to 31 March 2023 taking note of relevant industrial data points suggested in the London Stock
Exchange guidance on ESG reporting. These metrics are used both in the context of wider ESG reporting and to support our Task Force on
Climate-related Financial Disclosures (‘TCFD’) metric reporting.
At a glance
Completed initiatives
- 100% renewable electricity powering the groups plant.
- 100% green gas from 1 October 2023.
- Investment in plastic, cardboard and coolant recycling facilities.
- Investment in compactors to allow recycling of swarf from machining business to be remelted in the foundries.
- Appointment of additional independent non-executive director
On-going initiatives
- Investment in energy efficient cooling plant in collaboration with the BEIS Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
- Upgrades to compressor systems to improve energy efficiency.
- Technical appraisal of sand reclamation equipment to enable foundry sand to be re-used.
- Application for a solar PV system at the Brownhills site, currently rejected and under appeal.
Environmental
As an energy-intensive industry, we understand that we must evolve in order to meet the needs of our stakeholders. The group continues to
improve its environmental credentials in a commercially viable manner, with numerous success stories to date. We are taking proactive steps to
build on this further, working in collaboration with customers, suppliers, industry bodies and research organisations as set out in our report under
the TCFD framework on pages 16 and 17. The data set out in this section corroborates the strong environmental credentials of the group.
Carbon emissions
We have calculated our carbon footprint according to the World Resources Institute (‘WRI’) and World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (‘WBCSD’) GHG Protocol, which is the internationally recognised standard for corporate carbon reporting. The group’s total CO2
emission data is based on Scope 1 and Scope 2. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions resulting from fuel usage and operation of facilities.
Scope 2 emissions are indirect energy emissions resulting from purchased electricity and other power for own use.
The group collects monthly consumption information from each facility and converts to tonnes of CO2e (‘tCO2e’) produced using the DEFRA
published national carbon conversion factors.
Energy consumption and intensity
A key priority of the company is to manage energy efficiently, thus reducing our carbon footprint and creating value for our stakeholders. It is
pleasing to report, in the table below, the high level trend of a reducing MWh of energy consumption as a proportion of revenue generated.
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | 20,011 | 16,235 | 12,829 |
| Scope 2 | 137,160 | 132,548 | 104,644 |
| Total energy consumption (MWh) | 157,171 | 148,783 | 117,493 |
| Total energy intensity (MWh per £000 revenue) | 0.785 | 1.001 | 1.024 |
Greenhouse Gas (‘GHG’) emissions (tCO2e)
GHG emissions are set out below under both location and market-based methods. The location-based method reflects the average emissions
intensity of the grids on which energy consumption occurs (using mostly grid-average emission factor data), namely the UK grid for the group.
The market-based method reflects emissions from electricity that companies have specifically chosen. It derives emission factors from
contractual instruments, which include any type of contract between two parties for the sale and purchase of energy bundled with attributes
about the energy generation. Market-based emissions are therefore shown net of electricity supplied to the group under OFGEM certified
renewable contracts.