Our Net Zero Journey

We take our role seriously in driving meaningful climate action as part of the transition to a low carbon economy, having defined science-based targets and recognising wider Net Zero ambitions for 2050.
 

Our commitment

We have made strong progress since we first announced public climate commitments in 2021.

We have:

• increased internal and external awareness of our environmental impact abatement strategy;
• established a Climate Committee, a Net Zero Working Group and appointed expert climate consultants;
• determined our baseline and had science-based targets approved by the SBTi;
• implemented a number of workstreams to reduce our carbon emissions within all three Scopes;
• achieved level ‘B’ in the CDP Climate benchmark, reflecting our active management approach to climate.

In addition to our priority reduction activities, we have included in our climate action strategy ‘beyond-value chain mitigation’. This has involved us investing in certified carbon removal credits. 

We are pursuing a best practice approach to climate action which involves keeping pace with the evolving definitions and guidance. Our approach is to primarily focus on our near-term targets which we have approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). As we have done with these near-term targets we expect to explore and set Net Zero targets in alignment with an aspiration to achieve net zero by 2050, as part of next steps and with a plan for action.  

Emissions reduction targets

In determining our global Climate Strategy we have set science-based targets (SBTs) to reduce our GHG emissions. We have adopted the following company-wide carbon reduction targets that apply to all of our Hays operations:

• To reduce absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 50% by 2026 from a 2020 base year.
• To reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services and capital goods by 50% by 2030 from a 2020 base year.
• To reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from business travel by 40% by FY2026 from a FY2020 base year.

In addition, we are investing in beyond-value chain carbon-mitigation as part of our commitment to carbon neutrality for our total group Scope 1, 2 and Scope 3 business travel. We only invest in high quality projects that are certified and our primary focus and commitment remains to reduce emissions.

For more information on the amazing work we are doing in this area, please visit Our Carbon Reduction plan.

Driving progress

Our analysis of our carbon footprint has found hot spots where we can best target meaningful climate reduction activities. These include annual emissions resulting from energy consumption in our offices, road and air travel, the purchase of goods and services as well as capital spend. Our global Net Zero Working Group consists of senior directors from each Hays region, tasked to permanently reduce our GHG emissions. This Group has already identified and begun implementing numerous new activities, including:

• Transitioning of our office electricity to renewable sources
• Embedding video and virtual meetings in our workflows to materially – and permanently – reduce all forms of travel
• Significantly increasing the proportion of hybrid and electric vehicles in our fleet, and offering alternative transport options, such as flexible car-sharing and annual train ticket loans
• Moving from desktop PC's to laptops, which can use up to 65% less power and have automatic sleep modes to save energy
• Writing to office landlords and our wider supply chain to inform them of our climate commitment and to seek their alignment and support; and
• Changing the way we purchase and engage suppliers with a stronger focus on climate and efficiencies.