We are Committed to Sustainability
Houghton International is committed to promoting environmental sustainability. Our commitment extends beyond innovation, we work closely with our customers to develop new electrification technologies and aim to assist our customers in reducing their environmental impact by prioritising asset repair instead of replacement.
Furthermore, we are continuously striving to reduce our direct impact on the environment, our Sustainability Statement, unveiled in Spring 2023, outlines our commitment. A crucial initial step outlined in this statement involves quantifying our carbon footprint, serving as a baseline for future sustainability initiatives.
Driving Change: Our Sustainability Statement
Our sustainability statement details our strategy, objectives and metrics for monitoring, assessing and improving sustainability.
Our Emissions
In collaboration with Newcastle University, we conducted an independent third-party study, adhering to GHG (Greenhouse Gas) guidelines, to meticulously evaluate our activities and carbon emissions. The comprehensive analysis covers all emission scopes, while many of the companies used as comparators in the study typically focused on measuring Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, Houghton International takes a broader approach. Scope 1 involves internally generated emissions under the company’s direct control, such as those from company vehicles. Scope 2 relates to indirect emissions resulting from purchased energy. In 2022, our Scope 1 emissions totalled 36.0 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (“CO2e”), while Scope 2 emissions stood at 175.2 tonnes of CO2e.
Scope 3 emissions, representing upstream and downstream emissions beyond our direct control, constitute a significant portion of our carbon footprint. Scope 3 generally comprises the largest share of any company’s carbon footprint, but in the absence of a universally agreed method of what to include and a paucity of objective data, they are often excluded from a company’s published carbon footprint. Houghton International estimated Scope 3 emissions at 5,855.2 tonnes of CO2e in 2022. This calculation involved a significant number of assumptions in the absence of complete data. The total carbon footprint for Scopes 1, 2 & 3 reached 6,066.4 tonnes of CO2e in 2022.
Utilising this figure as a benchmark, we will access the impact of our sustainability initiatives and track our carbon footprint in the future. One of the first steps we intend to take in response to this study involves enhancing the data recorded within our ERP system to calculate Scope 3 emissions more accurately in the future, reducing the need for assumptions.
It is important to recognise that our Scope 3 emissions encompass Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of third-party companies, while our Scope 2 emissions constitute the Scope 1 emissions of our energy providers. The complexities surrounding the “legal ownership” boundary of such emissions contribute to the challenges faced by many firms in reporting their total emissions and are the reason a lot of companies do not report their total emissions.
A Call for Industry-wide Action
Despite the current reporting requirements mandating only large companies to disclose their carbon footprint figures, Houghton International voluntarily shares this information as part of our commitment to sustainability. Looking ahead, we advocate for a broader application of requirements, urging all UK limited companies to disclose their Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions in annual reports. This collective effort would pave the way for transparent and objective data, facilitating more accurate calculations of Scope 3 emissions and enabling informed decisions to integrate carbon reduction into procurement practices.
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