Environmental impact

Environment

As part of HomeServe's commitment to reduce its impact on the environment, a full environmental review of the business has commenced, facilitated by the Group Environmental Manager, and will continue over the next 12 months.

The Environmental Policy has been reviewed during the year and in the UK, the Senior Management Team has signed up to an Environmental Commitment to ensure environmental improvements are achieved across the business.

As part of the environmental review, the Group Environmental Manager has been working with key stakeholders to set the roadmap for HomeServe's environmental journey. This roadmap comprises short, medium and longterm environmental objectives, each supported by a full set of Key Performance Indicators.

Environmental management system

As part of HomeServe's commitment to continuous improvement, the HomeServe Environmental Management System (EMS) will be reviewed and re-launched over the coming year. HomeServe believes that an EMS is essential and will help to:

• Improve the management of environmental impacts.
• Set targets to reduce energy use, water use & waste to landfill.
• Initiate and maintain procedures to improve efficiencies including:
  
  • Environmentally friendly purchasing procedures;
  • Preferred business travel option.
• Define key responsibilities for achieving targets.
• Monitor and measure environmental performance against key indicators.
• Regularly assess progress towards achieving set objectives.
• Ensure due diligence and ongoing consideration of legal and other environmental requirements.
• Contribute to preferred employer status
• Achieve cost savings.

The EMS will be externally audited in future, ultimately enabling HomeServe to achieve ISO14001 and demonstrate that we work to an accredited standard.

Environmental training

Staff training and environmental awareness are essential to improving environmental performance. During the year a comprehensive training programme was launched in the UK for all key members of staff. The first phase of the programme targeted the HomeServe engineers and technicians and included topics such as; the importance of being an environmentally friendly company, pollution prevention, legal compliance, waste management and efficient driving. The next phase will involve job specific training for those whose roles have greatest environmental impact.

Fleet initiatives and company cars

Due to the nature of the business, one of the largest elements of HomeServe's carbon footprint results from fuel consumed by the commercial fleet. As a result, this is an area of particular focus and a number of initiatives have been implemented or will be implemented over the coming year including:

• Monthly fleet review meetings with all the key stakeholders to ensure that data such as MPG and fuel purchased are reviewed on a regular basis and action taken to reduce the environmental and financial cost to the business.
• Use of the telematics system fitted in every van to monitor, amongst other measures, the speed and the distance travelled in any given period.
• Publishing a league table of the commercial fleet drivers to show their individual fuel efficiency levels thereby encouraging employees to drive more efficiently. An award is presented to the employee with the highest miles per gallon in each area.
• Replacement of 60 of the Vauxhall Movano vans used in the network with Mercedes Sprinters with the latest Euro 5 compliant engines which incorporate Start/Stop technology. The new vans reduced our CO₂ by 13g per kilometre, and overall, this programme resulted in a total saving of 36,050 tonnes of CO₂.

The company car list is reviewed on a regular basis. As new technology improves the fuel efficiency of new cars on the market, HomeServe will continue to improve the fuel efficiency of its company car fleet. The car with the highest carbon dioxide emission levels per kilometre vehicle is now 180g CO₂ per km, as opposed to 225g CO₂ per km formerly. Employees can now select vehicles with emission levels as low as 109g CO₂ per km.

Recycling

HomeServe has worked hard with its waste sub-contractors and waste brokers to ensure that as little waste as possible ends up in landfill. In most cases, when general waste leaves a HomeServe site, it is sent to a mixed recycling facility where any recyclable material is removed. Currently, of the 49% of waste that leaves UK sites as general waste, only 17% actually ends up in landfill. Over the next year, HomeServe will be working on its internal waste systems to ensure it further implements the waste hierarchy that is, eliminate, reduce, reuse and recycle. This will ensure as much waste as possible is segregated on site and will improve the Company's overall recycling rates.

Reducing our paper consumption

Customer communication is a vital component of the HomeServe model but we recognise the need to reduce the environmental impact of our mailings. HomeServe uses a number of external suppliers to produce and distribute our mailings and we work closely with them to ensure they meet our minimum requirements and strive for continual improvement. Some key areas include ensuring:

• All stock is FSC, FSC mixed or Recycled accredited.
• All inks are alcohol free and/or vegetable or water based.
• All printer waste is either recycled or disposed of in line with European management standards.
• Compliance with PAS2020 and ISO14001 across our entire supplier base (some suppliers are also carbon neutral).
• Compliance with Royal Mail Responsible Mail and TNT Post's Green Post entry level criteria.

HomeServe's carbon footprint

As the HomeServe business grows outside the UK it is essential that we share best practice. Whilst the carbon footprint for 2010/11 below is for the UK operation, the Group Environmental Manager is working with other businesses to enable them to start analysing and reducing their carbon footprint. This will allow HomeServe to monitor, manage and reduce its overall carbon footprint and environmental impact. In the UK, HomeServe will be subject to the CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) Energy Efficiency Scheme.

The carbon footprint for HomeServe's UK operation in 2010/11 was 11,488 tco2e.