Energy use and GHG emissions in addition to low-carbon transition and climate impacts came out as two sustainability areas our stakeholders value as important to the business. Our Net Zero Plan and the supporting strategy to follow support our ambition to minimise the global impact of our operations and protect our environment as well as our response to and management of climate risk.
Our energy consumption in FY22 was 41,021 MWh; of this, the U.K. accounted for 28% of our global energy use. Several factors have contributed to the increase in the Group’s energy use, including a ramp‑up of production in several locations which includes offering last time buys for key armor business customers as we wind-down the business. A delay in contracts also resulted in increased energy use that would have otherwise been generated during FY21.
The focus for the year has been to improve our process for capturing data relating to energy consumption and set an appropriate base year for measuring against which has been achieved. As a result, we did not undertake any Group-led energy efficiency projects during the year; however, it is likely that site-led process improvements have been undertaken that have positively impacted energy efficiency but these have not been captured.
A representative at each of our sites has responsibility for the reporting of energy use throughout the year. The collected data allows us to calculate and monitor carbon emissions and is a vital tool for measuring progress towards reducing our emissions.
During the year we reviewed the sources of GHG emissions generated at our sites to ensure we are reporting all the relevant emissions. As we start to extend our reporting into scope 3 we will continue to report in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standards.
In FY22 our carbon emissions amounted to 10,856 tCO2e; of this, the U.K. accounted for 20% of our total scope 1 and 2 emissions (location based). With a revenue of $271.9 million this gives us an intensity ratio of 39.9 tCO2e per $million revenue. We have established that tonnes of CO2e per $million revenue is an appropriate business metric which we will continue to use to define our emissions data and will be helpful for assessing our performance as we evolve.
Scope 3 emissions quantify a company’s indirect GHG throughout the value chain. This includes everything from the impact of purchased products and services to transportation and distribution all the way to end-of-life treatment of sold products. In total, there are 15 scope 3 categories that need to be accounted for. A top-level view on which scope 3 categories are likely to be relevant suggests ‘purchased goods and services category’ as significant and likely to be greater than our scope 1 and 2 emissions. We will be staging projects throughout the coming years to set up appropriate data collection and research into each category.
The availability of data on business travel enabled us to measure our impact ahead of schedule. Due to our COVID-19 travel policy and country regulations our business travel was limited in 2021 resulting in 80 tCO2e. Since travel has been allowed our business has ensured every trip has an intended purpose. The business recognises the importance of meeting with our colleagues outside of the virtual environment, but must track the environmental impact. FY22 is a more reflective year of travel amounting to 382 tCO2e.
There is further work ongoing on other scope 3 emissions so we can determine how relevant the scope 3 categories are for the organisation. We will continue to monitor business travel and report on it.
Our U.K. operations continue to conform to ISO 14001:2015 which reinforces how we manage our environmental responsibilities. In April, we also obtained certification for our U.S. site in California as part of bringing all our manufacturing sites under this certification. In support of this we have undergone further strengthening of our management by appointing EHS coverage at all sites which will be responsible for managing our licences. We will look to undertake two further certifications next year.
Water consumption across all six of our sites is limited to mainly domestic use, for drinking and sanitary disposal. Where water discharges do occur due to product testing, they are disposed of in line with local government guidelines.
During the year we established centralised tracking and monitoring of our different waste streams at our U.K. headquarters which identified that over 97% of waste generated from operations at this site is either recovered or recycled (290.15 tonnes of waste generated during FY22). For the purpose of establishing baseline waste figures for the Group and assessing our scope 3 emissions we will look at setting up similar data reporting requirements at our other sites.
We also commenced our partnership with one of our suppliers, AK Industries Limited, to reuse packaging for all products delivered. All packaging the site receives from AK Industries is sent back to the supplier in Correx packaging for them to reuse, which resulted in 5,000 boxes being reused during the year. By doing this we help to conserve resources, reduce waste and avoid emissions generated through needless reprocessing.
Any hazardous waste generated, as defined by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health and U.S. Environment Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), is disposed of in line with local guidelines.
There have been no environmental incidents as defined by the U.K. Environment Agency or the U.S. EPA at any of our sites or in relation to our supply chain throughout the 2022 financial year.