Our Net Zero Journey: What We've Learned So Far

Our journey toward becoming a net zero business began back in 2020, and since then, it’s been one of learning, growth, and big changes.  

We first measured our carbon footprint for the 2021/22 reporting period—and we’re proud to say that for the 2023/24 period, we’ve eliminated our Scope 1 and 2 emissions, as well as surpassing our Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) SBTi near-term target six years early. 

We are now focused on reviewing our spending habits and identifying further areas for improvement, which not only led to reductions in emissions but cost savings too.  

Reducing what we can control 

To reach zero for our Scope 1 & 2 emissions and reduce our overall footprint we began by taking action on the emissions we could control: 

• we gave up our office space. 

• became a fully remote working model thereby reducing employee commuting. 

• removed our company car. 

• improved our travel policy, opening up conversations with the team about the impact of their journeys. 

• tracked our digital emissions and asked the whole team to have a Digital Detox; reviewed all website pages, deleted drafts documents and screenshot and emptied the recycle bin 

Embedding carbon reduction in our policies and decision-making, and engaging the team throughout the process, has led to positive behaviour changes and has significantly impacted our carbon emissions, helping us reach zero emissions for scopes 1 and 2. 

We can’t count everything, but it still matters 

We’ve taken several steps to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our positive impact, but it is not possible to accurately measure the benefits of all of the steps taken.  For example, we moved to an ethical bank and transferred all employee pensions into ethical funds with Nest. And in 2024 we planted our 25,000th tree with Ecologi, all of our employees became Certified Carbon Literate, and we started training other businesses in Carbon Literacy. However, unfortunately, even though these are more sustainable choices, the carbon reduction associated is not easily captured in our reporting. Nevertheless, these actions and the knowledge we’ve shared will inspire a behaviour change that will have a ripple effect on others' carbon emissions, leading to even greater impact. 

Tackling Scope 3 

For AG, where things get more complicated is with Scope 3 emissions, which come from our supply chain. Suppliers are often the largest part of a company’s carbon footprint, and they’re also the hardest to measure and influence because they are independently run businesses, usually SMEs with limited resources and capacity. 

To aid our focus on scope 3 emissions, for our 2024 reporting we asked our top 21 suppliers, with who we have the biggest spend, to measure their own carbon footprints and put together a reduction plan through our  partner, Green Small Business. 

100% of those suppliers identified (we call them AG Members) agreed to report annually and take part in our supplier programme, where we offer guidance, support, policy advice and action planning to help reduce emissions. We also provided all AG Members with Carbon Literacy Training, certified through The Carbon Literacy Project.  

Reporting challenges 

While supplier reporting has given us a more accurate view of our total impact, it also comes with its challenges, e.g. different accounting methods and mismatched financial years. As we have broadened the scope of our measurements, our Scope 3 footprint has gone up significantly—but so did the accuracy and credibility of our reporting. 

Now that we’ve expanded our Scope 3 measurement, we’ve also had to re-baseline our emissions data in line with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol – our carbon data is available to view in the table below. According to the GHG Protocol guidance, recalculation is required when there have been changes to activities or categories included in the Scope 3 inventory.  

Still, even after re-baselining, we’re proud to report a 16.1% absolute reduction in emissions since our baseline, year and a 39.4% reduction in emissions intensity (our emissions relative to our turnover). 

Further reducing Scope 3 emissions is our next big focus, and we’re already exploring how best to do it —whether this be by adapting our business model, re-evaluating spending behaviours or continuing to influence others through our work.  

What's next? 

AG is growing, and as the business grows, so do our emissions. That’s the huge challenge we’re facing: how can we continue to expand as a business while staying on course to meet our SBTI goals? 

We hope that by asking our suppliers to measure and reflect on their own carbon footprints, we’ll encourage change beyond our own operations. But we know these shifts take time. The question is, how long before these changes show up in the numbers? 

Reaching net zero is no easy feat. Without more support from suppliers, broader societal changes, and more accurate carbon reporting systems, it’s going to be difficult, especially for growing organisations like AG. 

But we are ready for this challenge! 

 Are you facing similar challenges? We’d love to connect and learn about your story.  

Get in touch to share, learn or get help on your Net Zero journey.

Summary of our Data (re-baselined in March 2025)