Carbon Reduction Plan

Stone Technologies Ltd is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2030

Commitment to achieving Net Zero

Stone Technologies Ltd is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2030.

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.

Baseline Year: 2019 (*Scope 3 baseline 2020)
Additional Details relating to the Baseline Emissions calculations.
Baseline calculations are based on those emissions over which Stone has direct control with Scope 3 emissions initially limited to those produced from the company’s grey fleet. Work is currently being undertaken to calculate both upstream and downstream Scope 3 though it is already apparent from the work completed to date that meaningful reductions will only be achieved with the co-operation of both suppliers and customers. For example, Stone is one of a small number of technology resellers able to recycle used IT equipment. By organising the collection of redundant equipment at the point of delivery of new technology, the number of single-load journeys could be significantly reduced.

Baseline year emissions:

EMISSIONS	TOTAL (tCO2e)
Scope 1	552.4 tCO2e
Scope 2	182.7 tCO2e
Scope 3 (Included Sources)	13.8 tCO2e*
Total Emissions	748.9 tCO2e net after offsets

Current Emissions Reporting

Reporting Year: 2022

EMISSIONS	TOTAL (tCO2e)
Scope 1	702.8 tCO2e
Scope 2	152.6 tCO2e
Scope 3 (Included Sources)	6 tCO2e
Total Emissions	861.4 tCO2e net after offsets

Emissions Reduction Targets

A key challenge in managing the reduction in net emissions is accommodating the additional impact of underlying growth in business activities. The Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) disclosure included in the company’s annual accounts reports an intensity measure, stated in tonnes of CO2 per £1m of revenue, to better reflect the extent to which the business has managed these divergent challenges.

The 2022 intensity measure is 5.90, almost 25% down on the 2019 baseline intensity measure of 7.80. However, we must not lose sight of the pathway target which requires reductions in absolute amounts of emissions. 78% of 2022 actual emissions were from the company’s fleet of vehicles and despite the progress made in moving company cars to either full EV or hybrid models, significant progress towards achieving our 2030 target remains difficult whilst there are few if any low or no emission commercial vehicles currently available in the UK. In this regard, Stone is reporting increasing levels of emissions as a result of the market-leading work it is doing in collecting and repurposing over 1.2m e-waste devices, for the benefit of others.

In order to continue our progress in achieving Net Zero, we have adopted the following carbon reduction targets.

We project that carbon emissions can be halved to 375 tCO2e by 2026.

Our carbon reduction targets are:

50% by 2026
75% by 2028
100% Net Zero by 2030.

Progress against these targets can be seen in the graph below:

Carbon Reduction Projects

Completed Carbon Reduction Initiatives

The following environmental management measures and projects have been completed or implemented since the 2019 baseline and the measures will be in effect when performing the contract:

Environmental performance:

Improvements to our packaging materials
- Stone used new and innovative packaging techniques and materials for its own brand products to remove all unnecessary single use plastic packaging
- Encouraged palletised deliveries to reduce amount of protection packaging for items.
- Adopted unbleached packaging boxes and reinforced paper tape
- Adopted paper based protective packaging product that is both 100%recycled and 100% recyclable
- Implemented a new packaging system utilising carboard inserts to reduce the usage of bubble wrap
Implemented ITAD (Information Technology Asset Disposal) service where Stone provide a take back and data cleansing service for unwanted IT equipment for equipment provided by Stone and from other UK based companies, driving data security and protecting the environment from a build-up of electronic waste (the fastest growing waste stream in the world today)
Waste segregation for food waste recycling companies (for means like turning it into fuel through anaerobic digestion)

It is impossible to measure the impact on CO2 savings of each individual initiative as a number commenced before the baseline calculations were performed. However, we take comfort from the fact that the absolute level of emissions over which we have direct control fell between the baseline and 2021 and is in line with the reductions we are targeting. Indeed, when considering the intensity measure of emissions per £1m of revenue (the most meaningful measure in terms of reporting results given revenue has grown by 35% since the baseline year) we have achieved a 35% reduction in CO2 emissions per £1M turnover in the two years since the baseline date.

The 2022 intensity measure is 5.90, almost 25% down on the 2019 baseline intensity measure of 7.80.

As identified in 2022 the commercial fleet is a major contributing factor to our carbon emissions and work are working closely with providers to address this.

In the future, we hope to implement further measures including:

Products

Our Environmental Strategy Implementation Team (ESIT) works with our in-house R&D facility and component suppliers to calculate an estimated whole-life product carbon cost per unit. This includes costs from:

The manufacture of components and sub-assemblies
Final unit assembly in our configuration facility
Logistics
Servicing
Energy required to run the device throughout its service life.

By measuring these costs, Stone Technologies has been able to baseline the current average cost per unit and set targets for lowering this. Our targeted average whole-life carbon cost per unit reduction is 35% over the next 5 years.

The largest single contributor to the carbon cost per unit we are able to influence are those relating to the logistics involved in sourcing and supplying the product. We are working with our extended supply chain to reduce the whole-life product carbon cost per unit and welcome the opportunity to discuss potential savings with our customers.

Product whole-life carbon cost reduction strategies

Fuel efficiency and reduction of CO2 per £1m turnover:
- Targeting further annual reduction by using electric vehicles.
- Target of a 10%/£1M reduction in fuel usage and carbon emissions related to business travel, both for pre-sales/sales activities, and for our warranty services divisions, over the next 3 years.
Supply chain: Stone Technologies has set its supply chain component partners a target of 20% carbon cost reduction in the manufacture and nested supplier supply chain logistics footprint over the next 5 years.
Implementation of new industry technologies for power consumption reduction as soon as they become available, to reduce the energy consumption and carbon cost whilst in use.
Stone Technologies is planning to install solar panels at the site during 2023 and has future zero carbon energy plans including the use of facility ground heat-pumps and wind turbines.

Product materials and features

Our current product targets are:

An overall increase in the use of recycled plastics in our monitors and base unit plastics: up to 60% by 2025
Stone Technologies now uses 80Plus Bronze Power Supplies as standard, with Gold and Platinum versions available across the range. We plan to move to Gold as standard in 2023 and Platinum by 2024 (with Titanium available); we are working with component manufacturers to achieve cost parity as soon as possible
Replace all remaining packaging materials that are not cardboard with compostable, nonplastic versions by the end of 2023
Increase the use of bioplastics, such as tree-based bio-plastics: up to 10% by 2025.

PAS2060

Stone Technologies are working towards PAS2060 certification by 2030, highlighting our commitment to carbon neutrality.

Stone Technologies has committed a £2.5M of investment for 2022-2024 as part of our CMS and carbon neutrality planning, and our planned PAS2060 (Carbon Neutrality) accreditation.

Declaration and Sign Off

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and 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 Stone Technologies CEO,
Simon Harbridge.

Signed on behalf of the Supplier: