Our Carbon Reduction Plan
Global warming driven by emissions presents an existential risk to human life. Recognising this, Lifeline Language Services commits to achieving NetZero by 2050, although we are targeting 2040. Outlined below is our carbon reporting, and the actions we have in-hand or planned for the next 5 years to achieve appropriate progress toward this deadline.
As this is the first year of the activity, the Current year is also the Baseline year.
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Scope |
Description |
Baseline as at February 2025 |
Planned actions to reduce |
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Scope 1 |
Direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by us. Note that all utilities are provided by our Landlord and included in our rent; these fall outside our control. The Landlord cannot provide usage figures by tenancy as the metering is insufficiently granular. This Scope then covers only owned systems within our demise, plus an approximation of lighting aspects. Heating is unknown. |
IT systems: 10 PCs with 400W PSU but typically work at only 50% of that so 10 x 200W – 2000W. Server 650W PSU, assume 90% active so 585W. Monitors avg 25W per, 20 monitors so 500W, but on 8 hours/day max so pro-rata to 200W. Network allow 50W (20W router, plus ancillaries) 4 Lexmark printers mostly in sleep mode, Lexmark advise 3W per so 12W total. IT system total: 2847W, round-up to 3000W, 3kW. Currently on 24/7/365 so IT systems total (3kW, 24 x 7 x 365 hours) = 183,960 kWh per year. Kitchen: Kettle: 1800W, usage around 30 mins per day = 0.9kWh = 234kWh/year Fridge: average annual energy usage 697 kWh Microwave: 700W, usage around 15 mins per day = 0.175 kWh/day = 45kWh/year Total Kitchen = 976 kWh/year Lighting: Provided by 17 low-energy 600 x 600 mm panels, 40W. On during 8-hour working day approx. 350 days. Total consumption 1,904kWh. Total electricity consumption Scope 1 = 186,143 kWh. UK electricity CO2e is 0.162kg/kWh so Scope 1 total is then 30.155 kg, 30 tonnes CO2e.
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Historically, systems have run 24/7/365 for the purposes of backup, malware/virus scanning, and system updates. We are in discussion with our IT provider to instead modify BIOS settings to allow systems to be powered up for only a short window outside working hours to deliver these. That will significantly reduce carbon emissions while not compromising system security or impacting performance during working hours. Printer capacity has been reviewed, and will be reduced by 50% on conclusion of the current lease.
We work with the Landlord to suggest improvements to energy efficiency, and have already had basin handtaps, which were frequently left running by other building users, replaced by timed-flow push taps so saving both water and hot water heating |
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Scope 2 |
Indirect emissions from electricity or heat procured from an external supplier. |
Lifeline is a tenant in a large multi-tenant building in which all utilities are included. We have no visibility of, or control over, this aspect of our emissions. |
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Scope 3 |
5 categories, as: |
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3.1 |
Upstream Transportation and Distribution – emissions generated from the transportation of goods by suppliers to the company. |
Minimal; office and printer supplies. Most very local, but 6 deliveries/year approx. 10kg per, from supplier in Hampshire (400 km) so 24,000 kg-km. 1 kg by road transport = 0.1 kg CO2 per 1000 km so this equates to 2.4 kg CO2. |
Supplier is historical, we’re looking for a more local option. |
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3.2 |
Waste Generation – emissions from the treatment and disposal of operational waste. |
Paper, card, cans, plastics are all separated and recycled; other waste produced is too low to be relevant here. Emissions equivalent (Waste and Resources Metric, WARM) is taken from DEFRA’s Experimental Statistics on the carbon impact of waste from households managed. Annual recycled waste (separated and sent to local authority recycling centre) comprises: WEEE is delivered to the local authority recycling centre) or is disposed of responsibly by our IT provider, a local company we have worked with for many years. |
Internally-generated waste is reviewed on an ongoing basis, and we have halved our printing over last 2 years to move to a more paperless environment. The nature of our business however dictates that we will always need some printed material for translation checking and production of some legal formats. |
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3.3 |
Business Travel – emissions from employee business travel using vehicles not owned by the company. |
UK: client meetings. UK: 400 miles/year in own car = 640km. Emissions for a typical petrol car are 0.13kg/km, so this equates to 83 kg CO2/yr. Carbon emissions for the French trips are from operators’ websites, as: |
Rail is our preferred transport method and will always be used as far as possible. |
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3.4 |
Employee Commuting – emissions caused by employees commuting to and from work. |
TRAIN: One user: 25km each way so 50km/day, so 250km /week so 11,000 km/year. Diesel local trains emit 0.031 kg per passenger km so 341 kg CO2. |
Staff are encouraged to walk or cycle. On a wider note, we are pleased to note that at our suggestion, secure cycle storage has been installed for the building with the result that cycle use by other building tenants has increased. |
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3.5 |
Downstream Transportation and Distribution – emissions generated from the transportation of goods from the company to its end consumers. |
Mileage covered by our interpreters last 12 months totals 58,000 km by private car. Emissions for a typical petrol car are 0.13kg/km, so this equates to 7,540 kg CO2. |
We encourage clients to opt for remote interpreting where appropriate, and have seen a pronounced rise in this over last 2 years. However, remote interpreting is sub-optimal in some scenarios, particularly stressful situations such as medical appointments. As a result our healthcare clients will still often opt for on-site liaison (“face to face”, or F2F) for many of these; this is outside our control. We will continue to assess low-emission alternatives as technology progresses. |
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TOTAL SCOPE 3 |
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Scope 3: (2.4 – 523 + 83 + 270 + 2840 + 7540 = 10,152 kg) = 10.2 tonnes CO2e |
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OVERALL TOTAL |
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Scope 1 30 tonnes TOTAL 40.2 tonnes CO2e |
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This Carbon Reduction Plan is approved on 25/2/25 by: