DAISY ESG. BUILDING A BETTER BUSINESS AND A BETTER PLANET

Making a positive difference, together
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ESG is about how we as Daisy operate; the decisions we make and how we make them (which is Governance). This decision making is crucial to determining our impact on People and the Planet (the Social and Environmental). When these are brought together, they drive new services to our customers.

The way we work at Daisy and how we and others feel about work has changed. This has been driven by the pandemic and has opened minds to how we work and the possibilities technologies can bring: improving inclusivity, the new work patterns that enable opportunity for sustainable infrastructures, and making a difference in our communities, workforce and environment.

Our ESG journey so far…

We will continue to build on the progress we have made on our ESG strategy:

Carbon Net Zero
We are aiming to reach our Carbon Net Zero Scope 1 and 2 a year earlier than planned, in 2025/26. Our analytical approach to our carbon journey will enable us to aid our customers in the same way, driving collaboration in their sustainable digital journey
Achievements
We have achieved:

Blue Carbon Initiative
One of our most interesting initiatives is our involvement in setting up a new kelp farm in Scotland, as we predict Blue Carbon initiative is going to be the new, ‘Plant a Tree’ approach to sustainability
NHS Evergreen Sustainable Supplier
On completing an assessment, suppliers receive a maturity score against NHS priorities, indicating their progress. Our maturity score of level 2 score demonstrates our commitment to comprehensive net zero targets and transparent reporting for carbon emissions. Next submission, we expect to receive a maturity score of level 3, after the planned external validation of our targets later this year
Modern Slavery Assessment
Our Modern Slavery Assessment report has improved from 56% to 87% making us a top-rated public sector supplier
Charity Initiatives
Thriving social value initiatives we continue to build on, include STEM learning, Girlguiding, Greggs Foundation, Chapter One, Outward Bound Trust, and more

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Action Roots

These are our Daisy ESG Action Roots. They represent the 10 areas we focus on at Daisy as we develop. This Root design was produced alongside our business strategy. As such, they incorporate our values, how we make decisions, how we develop products and services; and how we can make positive environmental and social impacts whilst we do this. This includes biodiversity, water, climate, as well as equality, inclusion, education and communities.

Traction and Bridging the Gap

The Towards Resilient Action group at Daisy was set up to focus on how the UN-SDGs need to be installed into our work to play our part in their delivery. The message from Daisy’s view of the UN-SDGs is that we have a direct or indirect impact on everyone. As we improve our understanding, we will learn how we approach each.

Ultimately, we are bringing people together internally to form ideas that can impact three areas:

  1. How we work internally
  2. How we work with our customers and suppliers
  3. How we work with the outside world

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LIAISE: The Seven Pillars of the Circular Economy

The seven pillars of the circular economy is the structure that is driving our LIAISE programme. It is a structure that has been widely adopted internationally. It has been used to drive circularity in Europe and the USA, in organisations of various types and governments of differing sizes. It clearly shows that an actual circular economy goes beyond recycling materials. It is about the broader systemic impacts environmentally, socially and for decision-making (governance).

The Materials pillar is the most widely known within the circular economy. It requires the reuse of materials in new products. This may mean the material is taken back to its base element/state, or it may be part constructed. The more complex the material, the greater the potential positive environmental and social impacts become. The rarer the material, the shorter the timescale targeted for reuse should be. Minimising the distance such materials need to travel to be reused is crucial. Part of this is how the product is designed and manufactured to readily enable reuse. This improves recoverability considerably and the long-term implications.
Any energy used to manufacture new products needs to be renewably sourced. There is already energy embodied in the materials reused, attached to their extraction and processing to make them usable. This also means locating manufacturing closer to the energy source to maximise density and reduce losses. This is balanced with any transport requirements relating to the manufacture/distribution of the newly formed product. The process by which this is performed needs consideration in the long-term success interests of the manufacturing exercise.
Biodiversity is both supported and enhanced through activities attached to the process. This enhancement is a core concern. There is likely already damage due to the materials’ original extraction, and attempts to reverse this damage should be made. The new products manufactured should not intrude on habitats. Ecological diversity should be ensured. The preservation of biodiversity is more important than energy efficiency when considering any tradeoff.
People’s society and culture are preserved, including diversity – therefore resilience. The culture where an organisation is based has duties to its communities, and those that rely upon the organisation have a duty to ensure that these are upheld. This duty means that appropriate governance needs to be in place and an assurance that the rule of law will be maintained. This further means not implementing activities that structurally prohibit the maintenance or existence of human cultures are avoided, even at a high cost.
The Health and Wellbeing of humans and other species are supported. This means that activities that may be toxic or otherwise hazardous are minimised. When present, they are highly controlled and should ultimately be eliminated. We do not want to ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’. Economic activities do not threaten health or well-being in a circular economy. Recycling e-waste in a way that causes further toxicity (than ‘natural’ degradation) is not circular, even if it results in material recovery.
The new process needs to generate social value. This need is because materials and energy are not infinite, even renewables. Their use, therefore, still needs to be considered conservatively. There is a value that exceeds financial, whether emotional, ecological or otherwise. It is not possible to grade this in a common manner as the value will depend on the circumstance. Therefore that circumstance needs to be explained. They need to be viewed as value categories that can be presented. The decision to maximise resource use should be considered in terms of what industries it can support rather than the financial gain. This means the recovery of precious metals from e-waste needs to be considered beyond its weighted value.
Water, one of the world’s most important shared resources, is utilised conservatively. Water is critical to survival, let alone the economy. In circularity, water is intrinsically valued. Its indefinite cycling is needed, including where resources may need to be recovered from it. This means minimising freshwater usage whilst maximising nutrient and energy recovery from wastewater. Any harmful emissions, directly or indirectly to water, are avoided as a priority.
7 pillar diagram

Sustainable Development Goals

No Poverty
Zero Hunger
Good Health and Wellbeing
Quality Education
Gender Equality
Clean Water and Sanitation
Affordable Clean Energy
Decent Work and Economic Growth
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Reduced Inequality
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Responsible Consumption and Production
Climate Action
Life Below Water
Life on Land
Peace and Strong Institutions
Partnerships For Change

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are an internationally recognised way of communicating work that private and public organisations use to guide and demonstrate what they are doing to positively influence. The IT industry has a substantial global impact that can be seen in every SDG. As part of this Industry, Daisy also has a direct or indirect impact. That means changing what we do ourselves as well as partnering with others to enable change. We summarise that impact here. We do not contend to have the answers, nor that we are perfect. We see that helping to achieve these goals and the objectives behind our Roots, including LIAISE, will only be achieved in partnership with others (the 17th SDG and one of our three values).

7.

AFFORDABLE CLEAN ENERGY

11.

SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

13.

CLIMATE ACTION

14.

LIFE BELOW WATER

15.

LIFE ON LAND

16.

PEACE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS

17.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR CHANGE

Carbon and Net-Zero

Net-Zero is often the main, or only, the focus of an organisation’s stated work on ESG. Hopefully, these action roots demonstrate how much broader ESG is. It is vital to ensure that reducing emissions is a top priority of an organisation. Still, it isn’t the only one in ESG terms. A full impact assessment requires understanding regulatory change. These impacts will affect how organisations in our supply chain operations in the future.

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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

With our community involvement and development initiative we are on a journey of bringing people together, investing and delivering environmental social and community projects for us and our customers. It’s important to us that we work with organisations and charities that are close to our hearts and that can help make a difference to future generations and so we’re proud to present our dedicated partnerships.

Find out more about our community initiatives

stem ambassadors image

Carbon Reduction Plan 2024