We will achieve net zero by 2040
The climate crisis remains one of the greatest threats to our planet and we recognise the impact this has on business and supply chains, including our own. Addressing our climate risks and opportunities is a part of our Sustainability and Social Impact strategy.
We align our disclosures with the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and recommended disclosures. We comply with nine of the recommendations and continue to work on providing fuller disclosure on the resilience of our strategy and processes for managing climate risk. See pages 40-49 of our Annual Report.
Understanding the impacts of climate change on our business provides us with the opportunity to develop a strategic response to mitigate the risks, whilst building on the opportunities this presents for Currys. Exactly what scenario the world takes is completely unknown but the impacts will be felt globally and could happen anywhere at any time, indeed many impacts are already being felt. Our scenario analysis work provides an insight into how exposed Currys could be to climate change and helps us build effective mitigation plans, stress test our organisational resilience and improve the execution of our net zero strategy.
Climate action at a glance
You can read more about our governance structure, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets in our Annual Report.
Our progress on the delivery of our strategy is recognised externally. We have responded to the CDP questionnaire on climate change since 2016, scoring a B in the latest 2023 disclosure and we were rated the 2nd-highest retailer in the Financial Times (‘FT’) European 2024 ‘Climate Leaders Rankings’.
Net Zero Emissions
Net zero is the future and we're committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2040 by reducing the impact of the energy and resources we use in our operations - but also in our wider value chain.
Our emissions reduction targets to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% across the Group by FY2029/30, have also been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, as consistent with levels required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. We also support the British Retail Consortium's Climate Action Roadmap, committing the UK retail industry to be net zero by at least 2040.
Progress against our net zero target is positive, with a 52% reduction in Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions achieved in 2023/24 against a 2019/20 baseline. View our Energy & Carbon data in the Sustainable Business chapter of our 2023/24 Annual Report
Following the disposal of Kotsovolos on 10 April 2024, we will recalculate our target boundary and baseline during 2024/25.
We engaged KPMG LLP to undertake independent limited assurance under ISAE (UK) ISAE 3410 for selected energy consumption, e-waste and GHG emissions. View their assurance statement for 2023/24. View their assurance statement for 2023/24.
Progress to achieving net zero is one of two environmental metrics in our annual bonus scorecard, aligning our ESG goals with our reward framework. 2023/24 represented the third year with a Scope 1 and 2 emission-based KPI in the bonus scorecard for colleagues, affirming the importance of tackling climate change as a business. This target was met in 2023/24.
Currys GHG Emissions
The table below provides an overview of Currys’ emissions, including the reduction of our total emissions against a 2019/2020 baseline of 52%.
For further detail, please go to the Data tab on https://www.currysplc.com/sustainable-business/policies-disclosures/
GHG emissions | Tonnes of CO2e emitted 2023/24 | % change | Tonnes of CO2e emitted 2022/23 | Tonnes of CO2e emitted 2019/20 |
| Scope 1 | 16,479(†) | -5.0% | 17,352 | 20,742 |
| Scope 2 (location-based) | 27,775(†) | -7.0% | 29,865 | 51,131 |
| Scope 2 (market-based) | 1,221(†) | -65.1% | 3,499 | 16,121 |
| Scope 3. category 1: Purchased goods and services | 2,610,143(†) | -8.8% | 2,861,970 | 4,300,532 |
| Scope 3. category 3: Fuel- and energy-related activities | 14,795 | -8.7% | 16,200 | 15,905 |
| Scope 3. category 4: Upstream transportation and distribution | 67,900 | 15.5% | 58,765 | 165,115 |
| Scope 3. category 5: Waste generated in operations | 2,447 | -5.9% | 2,599 | 972 |
| Scope 3. category 6: Business travel | 4,836 | 35.3% | 3,574 | 2,754 |
| Scope 3. category 7: Employee commuting | 39,492 | -6.4% | 42,206 | 27,275 |
| Scope 3. category 9: Downstream transportation and distribution | 18,324 | -6.0% | 19,495 | 35,906 |
| Scope 3. category 11; Use of sold products | 14,089,417(†) | -16.1% | 16,784,068 | 30,425,451 |
| Scope 3. category 12: End-of-life treatment of sold products | 6,990 | -4.8% | 7,339 | 9,843 |
| Total: scope 1, scope 2 market-based, scope 3 (all categories(3)) | 16,872,044 | -14.9% | 19,817,066 | 35,020,616 |
Our Basis of Reporting includes an assessment of the relevant Scope 3 categories for Currys
(†) We engaged KPMG LLP to undertake independent limited assurance under ISAE (UK) 3000 and ISAE 3410 for selected energy consumption, e-waste and Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions which have been highlighted with an *. KPMG LLP’s assurance opinion is qualified in respect of Scope 2 Market and Location Based emissions. For more details of the scope of their work, please refer to their assurance opinion on our website.
We engaged KPMG LLP to undertake independent limited assurance under ISAE (UK) 3000 and ISAE 3410 for selected energy consumption, e-waste and Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions which have been highlighted with an (†). KPMG LLP’s assurance opinion is qualified in respect of Scope 2 Market and Location Based emissions. For more details of the scope of their work, please refer to their assurance opinion on our website.
Footnotes:
(1) Our Basis of Reporting, available on our website, www.currysplc.com, includes an assessment of the relevant Scope 3 categories for Currys.
Scope 3 emissions
Our Scope 3 emissions include the indirect emissions from across our value chain which account for 99% of our total emissions. The most material impacts are within purchased goods and services and the use of sold products. We will achieve reductions in these emissions through a programme of activities involving our suppliers, our manufacturers and through colleague and customer engagement.
We are committed to reducing our absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services and use of sold products by 50% by 2029/30 from a 2019/20 base year. Including discontinued operations, we are proud to have achieved a 51.9% reduction to date with an in-year reduction of 15.0%. This in-year reduction is a result of continuing to increase granularity and use of more primary data to calculate our Scope 3 emissions as well as changes in our product mix towards more energy efficient products and away from more carbon intensive products.
Our cross functional, Group-wide working group continues to drive our approach and is led by our UK & Ireland Commercial team. We have made progress on a number of fronts, including implementing a supplier engagement trial, improving primary data mapping, introducing climate related questions into our Goods Not for Resale (‘GNFR’) tender process and developing a Scope 3 scorecard to measure our progress internally. We are building our short-term plan for Scope 3 emissions, extending this to cover our business planning horizon and then set out a roadmap to 2030 and 2040 net zero during 2023/24. Read more in our Annual Report.
Operational emissions
We continue to take action to reduce our use of energy, which leads to cost efficiencies and emissions reductions.
Renewable Energy Sources
We continue to have 100% of our properties in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Denmark powered with renewable electricity either through supplier contracts or backed by purchased REGOs. We have 15 sites across the Group with Solar PV installed and continue to explore opportunities to introduce Solar PV onto more buildings.
Low carbon fleet
We are a signatory to the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative which brings together companies committed to accelerating the transition to EVs. We are fully committed to transitioning 100% of our company cars and small van fleet and 50% of our medium to heavy fleet to electric or alternative fuel by 2030.
We have 16 EVs and one vehicle running on alternative fuels in service across the Group. Whilst this represents a small proportion of the total vehicles in our owned fleet, we plan to invest over £3m in the next three years to progress our transition away from diesel vehicles.
Solar panels are now operating on 307 of our 7.2 tonne Iveco Daily vans used for home delivery in the UK. In 2023/24 these vans avoided 178 tonnes of CO2e and generated 34,820kWh of solar energy and saved 69,500 litres of diesel.
Energy Consumption
We continue to take action to reduce our use of energy, which leads to cost efficiencies and emissions reductions.
We have continued certification of our Energy Management standard with ISO 50001:2018 for our UK & Ireland estate and fleet. Elkjøp Nordic, and our UK Customer Repair Centre in Newark are all ISO 14001 certified, and we use the Environmental Management system to continuously improve our environmental performance.
We continue to optimise our Building Management system control for Heating, Ventilation and Air conditioning (‘HVAC’) systems, increase the use of LEDs and optimise lighting levels, and improve our reporting and monitoring of energy consumption.
For more information, see pages 46-47 of our 2023/24 Annual Report.
Our environmental policy covers the impact of our operations, products and services - including everything to do with energy and greenhouse gas emissions, materials and resources, our suppliers, our customers, legislative compliance and risk.