Our Sustainability Initiative

Setting new standards for corporate sustainability

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Introduction

Welcome to our Sustainability Initiative

Plan A is established as an environmentally and socially conscious company - with science deeply rooted in its DNA. At the heart of our work is the contention that businesses can transform their activities to make our transition to a sustainable and resilient economy a reality. We hope that this report can bring more transparency to our activities and encourage more companies of our size to create such a report for themselves and their stakeholders.

With immense pleasure; we are publishing our target setting report celebrating our Sustainability Initiative and measuring what remains to be achieved, both in reporting and action.

Sustainability Initiative

Why are we doing this?

As our teams expand, our commitment to sustainability grows ever faster. As a company, we have the objective to become the most sustainable version of ourselves.

To make this ambition a reality, we formed an action team, bringing members from our Sustainability Solutions, Operations, Customer Success, and Marketing teams to define, manage and steer our drive towards sustainability. These actions are supported by all levels of management, our advisory board included.

Decarbonisation

By 2025, Plan A will have decarbonised at least 80% of its avoidable emissions, internally and across its value chain

Net-zero emissions

Achieving net-zero targets before our public objective of 2030. We use the Plan A Platform to track our carbon emissions. We rely on third party institutions to validate our calculations (TÜV Rheinland), our approach and performance (B Corp).

Implementing sustainability holistically

Reflecting our core values of self-reflection, honesty, collaboration and empowerment, our commitment to sustainability has to go beyond expectations. As such, we implement sustainability in every aspect of our activities and way of working.

Lead with sustainability

We aspire to be a role model to aspiring companies and lead with sustainability. We aim to reach 1 Gt of carbon emissions under management by 2025, supporting hundreds of businesses to decarbonise their activities across all verticals and industries.

Emissions management

Our carbon impact

Our methodology is following the guidelines of the GHG Protocol - covering scopes 1, 2, 3 of carbon emissions.

  We use the same emission accounting methodology that we implement with our clients. It has been audited and certified by the TÜV Rheinland. We have implemented the same process when accounting for our own emissions.

Deep dive in our carbon footprint for 2020.

Download our Target Setting Report

Emissions 2020

85.74 tCO2e

All scopes

0 tCO2e

Scope 1 emissions

72.44 tCO2e

Scope 2 emissions

13.3 tCO2e

Scope 3 emissions

1 tonne means 1 metric tonne = 1,000kg

Commitments

Sustainability objectives and commitments

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes, but no plans.

Plan A received the B Corporation certification for its commitment to environmental, social and governance dimensions of its business, with a score of 114.5. We are aiming to score even higher in the next three years.

Plan A is committed to decarbonising at least 80% of our avoidable emissions by 2025 both internally and across our value chain. This objective goes beyond the Science-Based target initiative’s recommendations of 42% reduction targets for SMEs for scopes 1 and 2 only.

Plan A is one of the 313 signatories of The Climate Pledge. The pledge is based on three key principles to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040: regular reporting, carbon elimination and credible offsets.

Policies

Carbon reduction policies

- Implementation of sustainable procurement program while procuring goods.
- We only use refurbished laptops.
- Catering only vegetarian and vegan meals for team events.

Encouraging home office. On an average >50% of our employees work from home to reduce emissions from transportation.

Strict corporate policy to travel by rail instead of a flight for short distances within Europe.

Reducing our carbon emissions by 80% before implementing compensation actions for residual emissions.

Looking forward

What comes next

An ambitious journey like the one towards carbon negativity comes with a few milestones. Here are the key moments on our journey for the next years.

Q2 2022

Definition of science-based targets

With this report, we have made the first step towards intensive decarbonisation. We are now committed to ambitious and thorough targets to meet - and surpass - science-based targets.

Q4 2022

Decarbonisation Pathways publication

In the second half of 2022, we will make our decarbonisation pathway public to report on our achievements and announce further measurable carbon reduction action.

2023

42 % carbon reduction in line with SBTi

We plan on meeting our official science-based target milestone by the end of the year 2023. This will mean we have reached a halfway point in our internal decarbonisation strategy.

2025

80% carbon reduction on all emission scopes

We plan on reaching our self-set target by the end of 2025. This reduction plan will affect our own emissions (scope 1 & 2) and our scope 3 emissions, including suppliers.

2025

Reaching net-zero emissions

Once we will have eliminated all our avoidable carbon emissions, we will engage in compensation action to reach net-zero emissions and work our way towards carbon negativity.

“The Plan A sustainability team is working on reducing our impacts at the source, in our business operations and employee activities. The is core to our mission, and a great way to show our peers what is possible.”

Tom Kerby
Operations Manager

"As we are already working to help our customers calculate their emissions, it is a natural process to calculate our own Plan A emissions. Also such a great way to engage our team and get them involved and aware of their own contribution to the company’s overall emissions. It is only together that we can decarbonise and set a strong example to the business world and our collaborators."

Gemma Mackle
Customer Success Manager

“The Plan A sustainability team is shaping our action as a business towards net-zero. As a member of the team I am given the opportunity to create direct impact. I love that we are walking the important talk that we have daily with our partners and our community.”

Lisa Kreusch
ESG Reporting Analyst

“Why am I part of the Sustainability Initiative at Plan A? Because it feels like the most natural thing to do if your aim is to inspire and to lead by example. Plus it’s the shortest route you can take to great positive impact quickly."

Nicole Wendler
Training and Engagement Manager

“The sustainability initiative at Plan A allows us to hold ourselves accountable, with a focus on non-financial performance. Leading by example and sharing our values with our clients and community is the fundamental goal of this initiative."

Karim Berbari
Partnerships Manager