Case Study Sustainability – Advanced UK
How a division of Xerox Corporation siezed the initiative and has become the only non-public UK business in its sector to achieve a formal ESG rating, as used by such notable brands as Morgan Stanley The Word Bank, and Saudi Aramco.
THE COMPANY
Since 1991, Advanced UK has built a reputation as a leader in the field of digital transformation and innovation in the office technology sector. Their clients include the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Swissport, CBRE, Thrifty, and 1,000 more. In 2023, Advanced UK were purchased by Xerox and continue under this prestigious brand.
OVERVIEW
With no formal CSR, sustainability or carbon emissions programme in place, the challenge was to collate the many positives of Advanced UK and to produce a sustainability report according to the Global Report Index (GRI) framework which aligns with the three pillars of ESG: Environment, Social, and Governance.
Requiring evidence-based reporting, it was recognised that the challenge was significant, especially set against a compressed timeframe. The team at ESG PRO rose to the challenge and completed on-time and within budget.
The objectives
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Target
To have a sustainability report backed by meaningful standards demonstrating best practise to current and prospective clients.
Timeframe
The management team sought an approach which would see results within none months of the project inception.
Integration
We devised a project plan to incorporate both internal and external stakeholders, with all necessary training and support.
Joe Gallagher
Joe Gallagher, one of the board members of Advanced UK and also our key sponsor, explains the process:
“We made the decision to work with ESG PRO to help us build an ESG report to help us with our growing sustainability agenda and proposition plus help us maintain existing client relationships and improve our win rate on new bids and tenders.
It was a big decision and I know the key stakeholders were all nervous about the commitment to time on what sounded like a very complex topic.
The team at ESG PRO made the whole process work beautifully and ensured we had time for our core business activities. Because there is no software to be trained on and no on site meetings, it enabled us to work on the questions in time that worked best for us.
Therefore, week on week we had bite size chunks to complete and share. There were times when we were confused with some of the questions, and we simply flagged these to the ESG PRO team who then explained the question better and what it was seeking clarification on to help us then answer accordingly.
After four months we got our first report and, in every example, when we share it is receiving excellent feedback. We look forward to then improving our score and rating whilst taking on board some valuable quick wins suggestions from the ESG PRO team and we are now linking our sustainability message into the services we provide our clients to enable them to make carbon footprint reductions as well.”
Joe highlights the steps along the way
Our ESG rating
On 31 January, exactly nine months after the project kicked off, Advanced UK received their first ESG rating with a most impressive score of BBB. On time and on budget!
Remarkably, this makes Advanced UK the only non-publicly owned office technology vendor in the United Kingdom to have an ESG rating.
Verified carbon neutrality
Advanced UK are now working with ESG PRO to achieve verified carbon neutrality in 2024.
Supply Chain Auditing
In excess of 80% pf any company’s carbon is in its supply chain: we’re going to reduce it!
Community Initiatives
We’re advising on how to demonstrate social value to enhance their ESG rating scores.
Procurement Optimisation
We’re conducting joint workshops to enable the future sustainability to be self-funding.
