Three years beyond Net Zero

Thu, 01/08/2024 - 11:26

AES Engineering Ltd group went beyond Net Zero in 2023 for the third year running with a positive environmental impact over this period equivalent to a forest of 15 million trees.

As well as helping customers reduce their carbon footprints by a total of almost 1 million tonnes of CO₂e, since 2021 the group has also cut its own direct and indirect energy use (Scope 1 and Scope 2) substantially.

AES Engineering Managing Director Chris Rea says:

It is a tribute to all of our team that we managed to lower in absolute terms our Scope 1 and Scope 2 footprint during a period of rapid growth and global expansion, with sales from UK exports now over £100 million annually and turnover up 38% to £261 million.

In parallel, the group, with main global brands AESSEAL and AVT Reliability, has demonstrated that energy savings made by customers due to its market activities during 2023 substantially exceeded the carbon footprint in its supply chain (Scope 3).

Scottish Enterprise says:

For your business to achieve Net Zero, its activities, supply chain, products and services should result in no net impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

All calculations and figures have been verified by the UK’s leading standards body, BSI, showing that AES Engineering has gone ‘beyond Net Zero’ since 2021.

During October 2022 to the September 2023, the audited market-based carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of AES Engineering Ltd were:

Scope 1: 2,330 tonnes CO₂e
Scope 2: 1,538 tonnes CO₂e
Scope 3: 129,812 tonnes CO₂e

Scope 1 & 2 operational emissions have been lowered in absolute terms and as a proportion of turnover are down by 34% and 43% respectively since 2019-2020. This was achieved by buying green energy, installing solar panels and other environmental investments as part of the group’s 29by29 pledge to invest £29 million ($40 million) in the environment by 2029. The remaining direct and indirect carbon footprint was offset in 2023 by purchasing 5,007 tonnes of credits through Gold Standard and VERRA schemes.

For the 2023 period, AES products and activities produced a reduction of 433,879 tonnes of CO₂e in the operational emissions of other organisations – three times greater than the Scope 3 ‘penalty’ due to emissions in the group’s supply chain of 129,812 tonnes CO₂e. The value of avoided emissions from products sold has also been verified by BSI as part of the ISO 14064-1 assessment.

This brings the net positive impact over the three years AES has gone ‘beyond net zero’ to just under 1 million tonnes CO₂e (943,631 tonnes) - the equivalent to the carbon reducing impact of around 15 million trees, or 7,500 hectares (16,500 acres) of forest.