Edition Two
ESG and our impact on society
Tamsin Ashmore, Ultima CFO
At Ultima, we believe in doing the right thing when it comes to ESG-related matters and our impact on society. But rather than just talking the talk, we’re actively walking the walk – and it’s something our entire organisation gets behind.
We believe in contributing to a more sustainable, equitable and ethical world, where we do the right thing in business, and invest in the future of our communities and environment. This is part of our value creation for our customers, embedded in how we operate and the Ultima culture. Our people are passionate about having a net positive impact to the world and champion the business initiatives.
Environmental
We’re constantly challenging ourselves to find ways to reduce our environmental impact. Sustainability is therefore at the core of our values and purpose. We’re committed to contributing towards the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement, and support all of our stakeholders to a transition to a decarbonised society.
From how we do business and the provision of our services, we are driven by our purpose to deliver value added sustainability. As a responsible and ethically led business, we’re here to help transition our customers to energy efficiency and low carbon business practices. We’re dedicated to achieving a better tomorrow for our future workforce.
Here are just some of the things we’re currently doing to help:
Our corporate carbon footprint:
Ultima has halved the Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2019 – this is from activities such as heating and powering offices by renewable energy, energy monitoring due to sub-metering, and efficiency in transferring the majority of our on-premises services to Cloud.
Ultima is committed to a paperless office and in our warehouse, all packaging is recycled or reused.
Since 2019, we have halved our employee commuting impact.
Ultima’s software services (IA Cloud and IA Connect) reduce the carbon impact for our customers by 50%
We pledge by 2030
To reduce our scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions and to be aligned with net-zero ambitions.
70% of the Ultima Services to our customers will reduce their carbon impact in our scope 3 value chain.
We will support our customers to reduce the impact of emissions due to business travel through a verified Carbon Offset provider.
We will partner with our suppliers to provide energy-efficient products and source materials within a circular economy enabling our customers to meet their own net zero ambitions.
Social
Our diversity, equality and inclusion strategy is driven via our culture of compassion, respect and acceptance.
Diversity plays a huge part in Ultima’s ethos and we are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working and learning environment for all employees, contractors, partners and customers. We believe every individual that represents our business enriches our diversity by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions.
Our leadership team are at the core of our culture, standing for inclusivity with a zero tolerance on discrimination, bullying and harassment. We have dedicated training across our organisation on diversity, equality and inclusion. As a business, we ensure a safe inclusive environment so that all our people have a sense of belonging.
Wellbeing is central to our business culture too – underpinned by our policies, benefits, management training and reinforced by our leadership team.
Giving back is a key part of our social change too:
Giving back
Giving back is all about helping to improve social outcomes across the country. We recognise that our role within the communities extends beyond providing technology services. We are committed to giving back to the communities where we live and work through partnerships and community-based support – where we engage with our best asset – our people. Ultima supports initiatives and organisations which are working to enhance prosperity, foster social progress and enrich the quality of people’s lives in our communities.
We pledge by 2030
To have volunteered a £1m of Ultima time to our communities and environment.
To have collected 5 tons of waste from our beaches and rivers.
Governance
When it comes to the ‘G’ of ‘ESG’, Ultima’s values include respect, putting people and the planet first; and passion, we will always go above and beyond.
Our leadership team are focused on the delivery of Ultima’s business objectives and take a forward-looking perspective. This includes anticipating changes in stakeholder expectations, regulatory requirements, market position, and reputational risk, while promoting a culture of sustainability and ethics across the organisation. That’s not all:
Management responsibility for sustainability underpins Ultima’s corporate governance practices, and the business’s sustainable and responsible long-term growth and prosperity.
For Ultima to contribute to human progress and protecting nature, we pledge to reduce our emissions to net zero and operate in line with Science Based Targets.
We see digitisation and decarbonisation moving in lockstep to ensure that digitisation acts as a driver for change in the next decade and beyond. We will be placing digital at the centre of our organisation’s decarbonisation journey, as global momentum accelerates towards a net zero future.
Our ESG programme is aligned to meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a universal call to action. We aim to promote health and wellbeing, protect the planet, and ensure responsible consumption and production, as goals central to our industry.
In 2022, Ultima was a signatory to the Carbon Call, a ClimateWorks Foundation-hosted initiative, to mobilise collective action, and accelerate ongoing work to improve measurement, reporting, and verification of GHG emissions and removal, primarily for the corporate sector.