Where an In-Scope Organisation has determined that the measure applies to the procurement, suppliers wishing to bid for that contract are required at the selection stage to submit a Carbon Reduction Plan which details their organisational carbon footprint and confirms their commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2050.

Carbon Reduction Plans are to be completed by the bidding supplier and must meet the reporting requirements set out in supporting guidance, and include the supplier’s current carbon footprint and its commitment to reducing emissions to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050.

The CRP should be specific to the bidding entity, or, provided certain criteria are met, may cover the bidding entity and its parent organisation. In order to ensure the CRP remains relevant, a Carbon Reduction Plan covering the bidding entity and its parent organisation is only permissible where the detailed requirements of the CRP are met in full, as set out in the Technical Standard  and Guidance and all of the following criteria are met:

• The bidding entity is wholly owned by the parent;
• The commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 for UK operations is set out in the CRP for the parent and is supported and adopted by the bidding entity, demonstrated by the inclusion in the CRP of a statement that this will apply to the bidding entity;
• The environmental measures set out are stated to be able to be applied by the bidding entity when performing the relevant contract; and
• The CRP is published on the bidding entity’s website.

Bidding entities must take steps to ensure they have their own CRP as soon as reasonably practicable and should note that the ability to rely on a parent organisation’s Carbon Reduction Plan may only be a temporary measure under this selection criterion.

The Carbon Reduction Plan should be updated regularly (at least annually) and published and clearly signposted on the supplier’s UK website. It should be approved by a director (or equivalent senior leadership) within the supplier’s organisation to demonstrate a clear commitment to emissions reduction at the highest level. Suppliers may wish to adopt the key objectives of the Carbon Reduction Plan within their strategic plans.

A template for the Carbon Reduction Plan is set out below. Please complete and publish your Carbon Reduction Plan in accordance with the reporting standard published alongside this PPN.

Supplier name: Ultima Business SolutionsPublication date: May 2022
Commitment to achieving Net Zero
Ultima Business Solutions is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2035.

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: 2019/2020Additional Details relating to the Baseline Emissions calculations.

Baseline year emissions cover the consumption and emissions arising for Ultima Business Solutions and related business activities. Emissions data have not been officially published in prior years, therefore we have selected Ultima Business Solutions Financial Year 2019/20 as the baseline in line with Streamline Energy and Carbon Reporting.
The calculations have been approved by a PAS51215 compliant body via our third-party SERC provider. Scope data is for business travel. Data estimation for business travel is one car (EO56DTH) is assumed to have been a medium sized engine.

Baseline year emissions: April 2019-March 2020
EMISSIONS TOTAL (tCO2e)

Scope 1 6.39
Scope 2 280.08
Scope 3 191.21
TOTAL EMISSIONS: 477.68

We have historically collected some data around scope 3 activities but not published.

Current Emissions ReportingReporting Year: April 21- March 2022.

Please note that we had a -57.83% decrease in Scope 2 emissions in 2020-2021, reflected in our increase in working from home due to COVID-19, and a reduction in Scope 3 emissions from business travel. This trend has continued across our Scopes due to our home working policy

EMISSIONS TOTAL (tCO2e)

Scope 1 10
Scope 2 190
Scope 3 55
TOTAL EMISSIONS: 255

We have historically collected some data around Scope 3 activities but not published. We are increasing Scope 3 reporting for subsequent reporting periods.

Emissions reduction targets

The year of 2022 is the first year we are capturing emissions across all of our scopes and implementing a carbon reduction strategy for 2023-2030. This is against our baseline year of 2019.

We know that our Scope 1 & 2 represent 477 tCO2e in our baseline year. If we estimate that this represents 10% of our total emissions, we can therefore extrapolate that our full carbon footprint would be 4770 tCO2e. Our reduction targets are:

Net zero by 2024 for our Scope 1 & 2
Net zero by 2035 for our Scope 3

We project that carbon emissions will decrease over the next five years to 2385 tCO2e by 2027. This is a reduction of 50% and reach net zero by 2035.

In order to continue our progress to achieving Net Zero, we have adopted the following carbon reduction targets.
Carbon Reduction Projects – Existing Carbon Reduction Initiatives

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

We are developing technology-led solutions to aid our client and customer base to measure and reduce emissions via the application of Cloud based solutions.

Flexible Working

Our strong flexible working policy and homeworking policies, as well as changed working patterns resulting from Covid, have given staff increased flexibility over where they work.

This in turn decreases the need for travel and is reducing the demand for office space, driving a reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions, as well as those Scope 3 emissions associated with business travel and employee commute.

Our Estate

Where we have control over our energy suppliers, we already source our electricity from renewable sources via our landlord.
Energy efficient equipment is used throughout the building. All office, meeting rooms and communal area lighting are controlled by PIR sensors and non-occupancy timers to minimise energy wastage in un-occupied areas.

We have successfully worked with our catering suppliers to remove single-use plastics from our office kitchens. To reduce the consumption of single-use plastic we provide employees with a pack including a reusable water bottle, coffee cup and lunchbox. We do not supply any disposable plastic such as cutlery or cups.

We are moving all of our servers to Cloud based platforms and this migration will be complete by year end.

Net Zero Carbon Travel Commitment

We are in the process of understanding whether we can provide an electric car salary sacrifice scheme to our employees to make the move to electric car usage more appealing and cost effective.

We are mindful in our travel procedures to deliver better management of employee travel, to ensure that digital meetings are prioritised and that lower carbon transport alternatives are selected wherever possible to reduce carbon emissions associated with business travel.

We participate in the Cycle2Work scheme, which provides employees with significant savings on the cost of a bicycle, encouraging them to this use mode of transport rather than drive and help reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.

Net Zero Culture

We have embedded a green culture throughout our organization, by aligning the interests of our employees, customers, community and the environment, so that we can truly become a sustainable organization and create a positive impact for future generations.

We have an Ultima Eco Pledge behavioural change initiative, targeted at actions individuals can take to help drive a reduction in our corporate carbon footprint in relation things like waste, energy use and business travel, as well as looking at their own personal carbon footprint and lifestyle impacts.

We hold an annual ESG month to inform and encourage all our staff on our low carbon ambitions. This is coupled with an Intranet site covering all of our sustainability and ESG projects and initiatives.
We provide ESG and low carbon training via our E-learning platform EdApp.

Carbon Removal Initiatives

We’ve partnered with Ecologi working in collaboration with The Eden Reforestation Projects.
Ecologi plant millions of trees around the world each month to combat climate change.

We plant a tree for every new employee, event registration, and cloud customer. To date we have planted over 2,000 trees and aim to have 3,000 trees planted in Ultima’s Virtual Forest, by 2023.

We will be investing in high quality certified offsetting programmes to offset residual emissions, prioritising offsetting programs which enhance the existing native ecology, increase biodiversity, creating social value and economic value for local communities where we operate.

Future Carbon Reduction Initiatives

Behavioural Change

We will run ongoing programmes of behavioural change to support changes to business travel and to reduce demand for energy consumption. By promoting an environmental culture, creating awareness, educating and providing employees with the tools to allow them to take into consideration, the environment in all decision-making processes and through employee empowerment to further decarbonise our business.

Scope 3

We are reviewing our Scope 3 emissions to identify further carbon reduction opportunities, refine and improve data quality and capture. We are collecting data and will drive a carbon reduction strategy in relation to:

Purchased goods and services
Waste generation
Employee commuting
Business travel
Use of sold products
End of life of sold products

Decarbonise our supply chain

We will engage with key suppliers and encourage them to decarbonise and set emissions reduction targets. CO2 emission reduction priorities will be integrated into our contracts.

Gap Analysis

We will be undertaking a materiality assessment to better understand how Ultima Business Solutions can help achieve our Net Zero target in line with our material impacts.

This work will enable us to talk about how our strategic decision making is undertaken. This will align with the UK’s Net Zero Ambition and the initiatives such as the Science Based Targets Initiative.

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 the board of directors (or equivalent management body).

Signed on behalf of the Supplier: Tamsin Ashmore, 18th May 2022