We are committed to environmental sustainability
It is our mission to empower our customers to accelerate the development of vehicles that are not only safer, but also more efficient with less of an impact on the environment.
Our commitment
We are committed to the goal of becoming net zero for market based Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040 and working to be a net zero organisation by 2050. Our definition of net zero is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero or to a residual level consistent with reaching net zero emissions at the global or sector level, and to neutralise any residual emissions by the net zero target date, and any GHG emissions released into the atmosphere thereafter with certified emission reductions. Our net zero commitments are in line with the United Nations and Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) definition.
Our goal is to be net zero by 2040 for Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
Our approach
We are actively seeking steps to reduce our environmental impact to achieve our net zero goal. The focus of our ongoing emissions reduction efforts includes greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, the use of renewable energy, water resources and the reduction and management of waste.
Improvements in FY 2024
In FY 2024, we continued to develop our approach towards reducing carbon across our operations. Some of the significant milestones include:
- Collection of Scope 3 emissions data expanded to include all material Scope 3 emissions for our UK locations
- Improvements made in the collection of standardised data across the Group and the development of the Group’s carbon reduction plans
- Successful re-certification of the ISO 14001 standard for our Environmental Management System applicable to Anthony Best Dynamics Limited, our largest subsidiary, and AB Dynamics GmbH, our largest German subsidiary
- Continued use of green renewable energy in the UK and Germany, including the use of solar panels at two of our UK sites, which generated a total of 133,119 kWh of power in FY 2024
- Completed assessment of our climate-related risks and opportunities in alignment with the recommendations of the TCFD
- Successful Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) audit completed for our UK businesses with energy saving recommendations identified for implementation in future periods
- MSCI ESG rating of AAA achieved
Energy and greenhouse gas emissions for FY 2024
The Group’s activities can be summarised as largely manufacturing and assembly operations, combined with office based research, product development and vehicle testing. Therefore, the Group’s main direct impact on the environment is limited to the consumption of heating and power in its manufacturing operations, and fuel or electricity for customer vehicles while providing test services or developing and testing products. The Group does not use its own logistics or freight. We recognise the importance of monitoring, controlling and improving our environmental performance in order to meet our net zero targets. We are expanding our Scope 3 emissions coverage and during the year we undertook a comprehensive project with our external advisers to better understand our Scope 3 baseline carbon footprint, allowing us to begin to collect data for all material categories for the UK part of our business. Note that the data relating to the new categories is not yet available for the global Group and is therefore excluded from the reported GHG emissions values. The categories which are currently included in the Scope 3 emissions data for the Group disclosed below are as follows:
- Category 1: Purchased goods and services – currently we collect data for water supply and treatment
- Category 6: Business travel – currently we collect data on air travel, automotive hire and hotel usage
We are continuing to review the following categories, which we believe will capture all emission types that are material to the Group, and have begun collecting data for our UK locations:
- Category 1: Purchased goods and services
- Category 2: Capital goods
- Category 3: Fuel and energy-related activities
- Category 4: Upstream transportation and distribution
- Category 5: Waste generated in operations
- Category 6: Business travel
- Category 7: Employee commuting
- Category 9: Downstream transportation and distribution
The Group’s emissions are broken down by Scope 1, Scope 2 and some Scope 3 emissions. Scope 2 emissions associated with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol ‘market based’ method have also been calculated, in addition to ‘location based’ Scope 2 emissions.
AB Dynamics plc energy consumption and emissions
| 2024 | 2023 | YoY % change in total |
||||||
| Units | UK | Global (excl. UK) |
Group | UK | Global (excl. UK) |
Group | ||
| Scope 1 total | tCO2e | 110 | 393 | 503 | 129 | 228 | 357 | 41% |
| Gas | tCO2e | 95 | 19 | 114 | 109 | 18 | 127 | -10% |
| Company owned vehicle use | tCO2e | 15 | 374 | 389 | 20 | 210 | 230 | 69% |
| Scope 2 (location based) | tCO2e | 154 | 947 | 1,101 | 184 | 371 | 555 | 98% |
| Scope 2 (market based) | tCO2e | 70 | 726 | 796 | 112 | 362 | 474 | 68% |
| Total Scope 1 and 2 (location based) | tCO2e | 264 | 1,340 | 1,604 | 313 | 599 | 912 | 76% |
| Total Scope 1 and 2 (market based) | tCO2e | 180 | 1,119 | 1,299 | 241 | 590 | 831 | 56% |
| Scope 3 total | tCO2e | 1,051 | 869 | 1,920 | 798 | 332 | 1,130 | 70% |
| Business travel | tCO2e | 1,050 | 868 | 1,918 | 797 | 331 | 1,128 | 70% |
| Water supply and treatment | tCO2e | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0% |
| Total Scope 1, 2 and 3 (location based) | tCO2e | 1,315 | 2,209 | 3,524 | 1,111 | 931 | 2,042 | 73% |
| Total Scope 1, 2 and 3 (market based) | tCO2e | 1,231 | 1,988 | 3,219 | 1,039 | 922 | 1,961 | 64% |
Notes:
Emissions for the Group are calculated using methodologies consistent with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. Source data (meter readings) has been used wherever possible; where this is not available, this has been supplemented by billed data and an amount of estimated data.
For FY 2024, the UK government’s GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting 2024 (DEFRA factors) were used for fuels and UK electricity. Emissions factors provided by Carbon Footprint Ltd and US EPA were used for operations in other locations globally.
Scope 1 vehicle emissions include Group owned vehicles and those that are controlled by the Group for testing purposes.
The Scope 2 emissions associated with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol ‘market based’ method have been calculated in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidance. This figure has been calculated using residual-mix emissions factors where available (Germany and UK). In our other operating regions where residual-mix emissions factors were unavailable, country-specific emissions factors have been used instead (as per the location based method) in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidance. Where sites consume grid electricity backed by REGOs, this has been taken into consideration within the calculations.
Business travel data is inclusive of private vehicles used for business purposes, train travel, air travel, car hire and hotel stays. Metering and monitoring improvements continue to be implemented to capture and improve the Company’s data stream.
Water usage data across the Group continues to be collected this year so we are able to set a baseline and future targets to reduce water consumption can be identified and established across the business. The Group’s usage of water is minimal and predominantly relates to cleaning, bathrooms and staff refreshments. Water is not widely used in the design, manufacturing or servicing of our products; however, we acknowledge that water is a scarce resource and careful management of water consumption is essential to minimise our impact on water availability and quality.
| 2024 | 2023 | |
| Freshwater withdrawal (m3) | 7,176 | 1,960 |
| Intensity ratio (m3 per £m revenue) | 64.5 | 19.4 |