Climate change – taking responsibility at business level
The climate issue is one of the greatest challenges of our time and it is high on Intrum’s agenda. In order to get a more comprehensive view of our climate footprint, during the year, we have expanded our reporting to include additional categories of emissions. In doing so, we are able to take further responsibility and address the climate footprint we bring through our operations, directly and indirectly.
Taking responsibility for the climate and our impact on the planet is an important business responsibility. In recent years, issues around the environment and climate footprint have, rightly, risen up the agenda. From Intrum’s own research, we know that consumers are increasingly prepared to turn away from businesses that fail to live up to their responsibilities in this area.
All of this is positive change and, as a business, we are working hard to track, reduce and mitigate our carbon footprint. Our objective is to achieve climate neutrality before 2030 and to reduce our total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% compared with 2019.
Expanded reporting
This year Intrum has worked to form an even more comprehensive picture of the group’s climate footprint, expanding reporting to include additional categories of emissions in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This will enable us to take further responsibility and address the climate footprint that results from operations, both directly and indirectly.
As well as tracking the emissions from owned cars under Scope 1, we’ve added leakage from refrigerants from our offices and server halls. We’ve also expanded mapping of indirect emissions under Scope 3 from business travel by car, air and train, to include hotel nights, purchased IT equipment, employee commuting and other fuel and energy-related activities.
Due to expanded reporting, total reported emissions have increased from 5,947 to 18,058 tonnes. In a comparison of the same emissions reported last year, total emissions have increased slightly from 5,947 tonnes to 6,551 tonnes – around 10%.
This increase is a result of increased travel after the end of pandemic restrictions. Overall emissions are down 10% on the 2019 baseline. The reported levels come mainly from employee commuting, purchased IT equipment, business trips and office energy consumption.
Increasing climate footprint transparency
As part of the endeavour to increase transparency and accountability over climate issues, Intrum submitted its first full disclosure to Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) in 2022, receiving a B score. The B rating is higher than the average among Specialized Professional Service companies (C) and above the global average (C).
The score is external recognition that we are taking co-ordinated action on climate issues. With few examples of similar disclosures among credit management servicers, we hope that we can set a direction for our industry.Vanessa Söderberg, Intrum Sustainability Director
She adds: “Addressing the environmental impact of our business is a central part of Intrum’s overall sustainability agenda. This rating is a proof point of our efforts to ensure good environmental management by measuring, managing, disclosing and ultimately reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”
Taking further action
Scope 2 emissions reduced during the year by -14% thanks to energy efficiency measures, such as reduced office space as a result of homeworking and an increase in the share of renewable electricity from 49% to 64%.
Daily climate work is managed via local action plans and includes, among other things, continued energy efficiency of offices, for example through an increased share of renewable electricity, the use of LED lighting and reduced paper consumption, as well as by continuing to minimise travel through more digital meetings.
Annual Sustainability Report 2022
This information is taken from Intrum’s Annual and Sustainability Report 2022. The full report is available for download in English and Swedish today.
