Tackling scope 3 emissions in the public sector

The public sector still needs to get to grips with the extent of their Scope 3 emissions. That was one key takeaway from a session dedicated to sustainability at the recent Think Data for Government event in London.

Scope 3 emissions are indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur across a company’s value chain, and are not the result of the company’s own activities. They can account for anywhere between 80-95 percent of the total value chain of an organisation’s footprint.

“You could focus on reducing your electricity bill, switching to XRC pumps, electric vehicles, but…you’ve still got 85-90 percent that’s not touched by that,” said Ishmael Burdeau, lead business sustainability architect at DWP Digital (pictured, middle.)

Ninety percent of DWP’s own emissions are scope 3, explained Burdeau.

“We are probably the second biggest emitter of CO2 in government, after the MoD, because they have tanks and things like that. We don’t have tanks, although we’re the same size as the British army. Digital is a big part of that, but there’s also all the other stuff that goes with that, like travel and all the sort of infrastructure that enables us to run.”

But while most organisations have ways to measure and report on their scope 1 and 2 emissions, many struggle to report on their scope 3 emissions accurately.

“Understanding exactly what’s happening in your supply chains is key, but also just your everyday work habits, your digital footprint and so forth,” he said.

Hannah Prior, climate resilience lead, worldwide government solutions at Microsoft (pictured, right.) agreed that “scope 3 is really tricky for everybody, not least Microsoft. We’re still trying to understand our whole supply chain, but if everybody gets their scope 1 and 2 in order, the scope 3 becomes a lot easier to deal with.”

‘Data is the new plastic’

In terms of changing the momentum, organisations must understand their suppliers, hold them to account, and making sure to identify the challenges they have – particularly as AI has the potential to dramatically increase emissions, said Burdeau.

He added that government agencies must also putting procedures in place like cost benefit analysis for projects that identify how much CO2 will be generated.

“For that, you need skills in-house, reporting tools that can help teams make calculations and predictions at the policy stage or design stage.”

“The tools now exist for you to gain insights from your data, so you can make those decisions based on the data, rather than just assumptions. The piles of PDFs that people often have on tables, we can draw insights in terms of graphs, data, tables, text. So that’s a game changer,” said Prior.

Burdeau also highlighted the importance of data hygiene for helping to lower an organisation’s carbon footprint.

“We always hear this cliché: ‘data is the new oil’. Oil’s not that great. What we’re hearing more and more now is like data is the new plastic. So it’s single use, it’s disposable, it’s everywhere. We can’t get rid of it. And I think that’s a better metaphor than most data we do: internal audits, multiple courses across different organisations – redundant data, duplicate data, out of date data, so having a better governance on keeping data for less time,” he said.

“Data hygiene is a real issue for most organisations, and many don’t have people in charge of keeping that in check. I think there’s a lot we can do there. There’s a lot that organisations like Microsoft can do to work with public sector bodies to try and clean up, do a spring cleaning in house,” said Prior.

I think people are seeing data in a disposable way, and we need to change our mindset around that.”

Supporting a sustainable future

Additionally, Prior stressed the importance to government of achieving other sustainability development goals, so that citizens have water security and food security.

“I think you’re in a very difficult position in order to maintain that sustainable future for the citizens of the UK, but also making sure you’ve got your own house in order, and you can report on that,” she told attendees.

She raised the need for a data flow for effective reporting. Prior said the UK’s long legacy of data reporting has led to data silos, which IT companies like Microsoft are addressing.

“[We] are working quite actively to enable you to bring out those insights from data that are really important to making that transformation, not just in terms of the way that you report internally to make regulations around ESG, but also ensuring that you can take those steps forward to supporting a sustainable future for society,” she said.