Lowering our operational emissions through technological change

Sustainability lies at the heart of our decision making and has been a priority throughout our recent digital transformation.

We’re pleased to have made some carbon efficiencies through the way we use technology. By completing the migration of all our data and technology services to the cloud, we’ve managed to make significant reductions in our operational energy emissions.We are moving away from on-premises traditional datacentres, which can be CO2 intensive, to cloud-based platforms, such as Microsoft Azure.

We’ve decommissioned one physical datacentre and rationalised the other by 60 per cent, and our ambition is to have none. In March 2022 our datacentres consumed 7,111 kWh of power, and by March 2023, after the cloud migration, our datacentre and server consumption had reduced to 2,951 kWh. Because of our cloud-based services, we’ve also been able to introduce ‘Bring Your Own Device’, where employees are encouraged to use their own phones instead of corporate mobiles. in doing so, we’ve reduced the number of PPF-issued mobile phones by 72 per cent, so in time we will see less electronic waste being produced. As a result of our transformation programme, the digital services available to the PPF have increased and matured.

We’re now able to collaborate more seamlessly using digital services, leading to the reduction of our printers by 33 per cent. This has allowed us to lower our emissions footprint further, including toner cartridge disposal, site service attendance and paper usage.