CASE STUDY: Sopra Steria

Reaching Net Zero

Sopra Steria has a three-stage approach to reaching its target of being “Net Zero” by 2028. The “three R’s” of tackling climate change:

1. Reduce consumption of energy, particularly energy from fossil fuels
2. Replace fossil fuels as a source of energy with renewable sources
3. Remove unavoidable emissions from the atmosphere

 

Reduce

While companies can reduce the consumption of energy in their offices by doing things like replacing lighting with LEDs, they could so much further with the help of Building Information Modelling from Sopra Steria’s subsidiary Active3D.  Through design-stage scenario modelling and a single view of assets, this technology can reduce energy consumption by up to 30% by enabling architects and engineers to analyse building performance and unlock Net Zero options.

Storing data – files and emails – and making them instantly available consumes resources and energy. In 2020 Sopra Steria ran a pilot “Digital Detox” campaign to reduce storage of emails and files; the campaign is on track to reduce the amounts, and costs, of storage by up to 10%.

Printing consumes paper, toner and energy. Sopra Steria goes beyond double-sided printing by using “closed-loop” paper made from recycled fibre, thereby avoiding the emissions associated with the manufacture of paper from virgin fibre. This uses 83% less water; 72% less energy and 53% less CO2 based on 500 sheets of A4 paper.

Manufacturing a computer consumes a huge amount of energy – for a laptop, for example, about 1MWh. Using that laptop for 8 hours a day for 200 days each year will consume only about 80kWh of electricity. In terms of emissions, then, it makes sense to continue to use such a laptop for as long as possible, and then to recycle the materials in it. In 2020 Sopra Steria reused or recycled 97% of its waste electronics worldwide.

Value chain emissions (Scope 3) account for the majority of an organisation’s carbon footprint. Therefore, Sopra Steria is working with its supply chain to ensure that 90% of Group suppliers, accounting for at least 70% of supply chain emissions, have set GHG emission reduction targets by 2025.

 

Replace

Switching to renewable electricity is one example of replacing a source of emissions – in this case, the generation of electricity from fossil fuels – by another with much lower emissions. 100% of the electricity that Sopra Steria consumes in the UK comes from renewable sources.

A cloud-based data centre solution uses as little as a tenth as much resources – computing power and energy – as a dedicated one. Sopra Steria makes cloud its default platform for such solutions.

Sopra Steria is moving to a new company car scheme for its employees, with only PHEV and BEV models available for selection. In addition, at our UK Head Office location we already have electric vehicle charging points which we will be upgrading soon, to reduce charge times and encourage a faster transition towards sustainable travel.

 

Remove

It’s difficult to avoid emissions from all sources – particularly those outside your control, such as supply chain and employee commuting. To cover these elements, Sopra Steria purchases carbon removal offsets. These are shares in projects – typically afforestation – that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which will help to reduce our emissions to zero by 2028.

Technology solutions are developing all the time and we are always open to new ideas of how we can more quickly accelerate out progress to Net Zero and indeed that of our clients.