Our Client
The Royal College of Pathologists (hereafter RCPath) is a professional membership body with over 12,000 global members. They are medical professionals who not only work in laboratories, but directly in hospitals and communities and are concerned with the causes of disease.
Having previously worked with other professional associations on their sustainability journey (such as The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow), we were confident that we could use our experience to work with RCPath and help kickstart their Net Zero journey.
The Project
Among a multitude of risks posed by a changing climate, it has been predicted that rising global temperatures could lead to an increased risk of future pandemics. RCPath are aware of the severity of the climate emergency and want to play their part in a low-carbon future. RCPath approached Beyond Green seeking guidance to develop a Net Zero strategy with clear follow-on actions.
Project Delivery
An Iterative Carbon Baseline
The project aimed to develop a Net Zero strategy that connects to RCPath’s core values of Service, Teamwork and Ambition. When any organisation begins their Net Zero journey, the first thing they need to do is to calculate their carbon baseline. Ideally, an organisation would calculate emissions for all the categories outlined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GGP) that apply to them. Most organisations do not possess the resources to measure emissions for all categories from the outset but should make plans to do so over time. RCPath committed to measuring eleven out of the eighteen categories in their baseline year – which is an admirable starting point!
We worked with RCPath to identify the categories that were most relevant to them. Afterwards, we identified the data requirements that were necessary to allow us to calculate their organisational footprint. We sought to do this using spend data for complex categories such as purchased goods and services, and activity data such as kWh consumption for electricity and natural gas. Throughout the project RCPath’s baseline emissions were revised as new information was uncovered, which is not uncommon at the start of an organisation’s Net Zero journey.
Collaboration to Reduce Emissions
After calculating RCPath’s baseline emissions, the next step was to generate ideas for carbon reduction opportunities. Nobody knows the organisation better than the people keeping it running, so we wanted to make sure to hear from a range of voices throughout RCPath to help us outline their roadmap. We set up workshops with stakeholders in four key areas of their operations, within which team members could brainstorm decarbonisation ideas:
- Energy and facilities
- Exams
- Procurement
Tapping into expertise from targeted areas of the business allowed us to identify decarbonisation ideas that were not only tailored and specific, but also practical. For example, following this project RCPath plans to provide plant-based catering for its internal events. However, we realised that they could not take control of the catering provided for external clients at their office, who routinely book the space.
Accessibility
Accessibility is important to us, so we took steps to ensure that all attendees at the carbon reduction workshops were able to contribute comfortably. Firstly, we sent a briefing ahead of each meeting, outlining the structure of the workshop to the RCPath team. We also made the carbon baseline report available to all participants to allow members of the team who had not previously been involved in the project to get up to speed in advance of the meeting. In addition, we gave participants the opportunity to add ideas to our workshop Miro board asynchronously, in case they were not able to do so during the meeting.
I was particularly impressed with the collaborative nature of Beyond Green’s work and how they adapted their process to meet our needs.
Daniel Ross, Chief Executive Officer of The Royal College of Pathologists
Clear Actions
Following the carbon reduction workshops, we used our Net Zero toolkit to project the impact of the proposed actions on RCPath’s carbon emissions to 2032. For each action, we were able to outline how much carbon could be saved for each emissions category. We also mapped each measure to one of the four categories, to allow for easy digestion by key decision makers within RCPath:
Text description of graph
This graphic outlines the four categories of emissions reduction measures that we assigned to RCPath, based on a scale of ease of implementation (low to high) and Impact (Low to high).
- Long-term projects: Actions that could be implemented at a later point in RCPath’s Net Zero journey (High Impact, Low Ease of Implementation)
- Priority tasks: These were actions that may take time to implement, but could yield significant carbon savings. (High Impact, High Ease of Implementation)
- Resource drains: These Actions were disregarded as it was anticipated that they would use excessive resources, without yielding significant carbon savings (Low Impact, Low Ease of Implementation)
- Quick wins: These were actions that were relatively straightforward to implement, and are proven to reduce carbon emissions (Low Impact, High Ease of Implementation)
Improving Carbon Management Processes
Lastly, in the final project report, we recommended ways that RCPath could streamline their carbon management processes to drive efficiencies and improve the reliability of their sustainability reporting.
RCPath’s next steps are to:
- Implement the carbon reduction measures which were identified throughout this project
- Monitor their progress towards their interim emissions reduction target
- Expand their carbon boundary in the coming years to include emissions categories which were not measured initially
Ultimately, their ambition is to reach Net Zero by 2040, allowing for time for contingency in the journey ahead, while being ahead of the UK 2050 target.
Client Feedback
At the end of the project, we reached out to Daniel Ross, Chief Executive Officer of The Royal College of Pathologists, who said the following:
Looking for more real business examples of our work? You can find our other case studies here.