CARBON REDUCTION PLAN - AUGUST 2023

AG Axton & Sons (Wholesale) is committed to achieving Net Zero Emissions by 2050.

We are aware that reducing our Greenhouse Gas Emissions represents significant benefits for us, our customers, suppliers and the wider community.

Our Carbon Reduction Plan covers the strategies for AG Axton’s ongoing commitment to the management and reduction of our business-related carbon emissions.

The plan will cover AG Axton’s baseline year information, setting clear targets for reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and listing our planned projects to achieve carbon net zero by 2050.

While some of these achievements will be achieved through behavioural change, it is noted that, where funding is needed, it will be accessed to take these projects to the right outcome.

We will be pushing our business and working with all of our employees and supply partners to embrace this plan and work collaboratively to achieve the overall goal of Carbon Net Zero by 2050.

The points below show the journey we are taking:
• AG Axton’s aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 71.42% by 2028 based on our 2023 baseline
• AG Axton’s GHG baseline emissions were 360.09498 tCO2e in 2023
• Numerous staff training and behaviour change projects have been identified that will work to achieve net zero emissions by 2050

Meeting the reporting requirements
This Carbon Reduction Plan is completed in compliance with PPN06/21 as published by the Cabinet Office June 2021. This document will be reviewed and updated annually in line with the AG Axtons reporting of statutory accounts. It will reflect any changes in organisational structure and take account of the efforts made to reduce our emissions over time to achieve net zero by 2050.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol breaks emissions down into three categories, or Scopes. Our Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) focusses upon the recording and reporting of Scope 1 and 2 emissions and introduces additional reporting against a set of Scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 emissions represent the vast majority of any organisations carbon emissions. Scope 3 emissions comprise of 15 sub categories of which AG Axtons has identified 5 which relate to our business. These are discussed in more detail further in this document.

Our low carbon vision
As an organisation, AG Axton’s is committed to integrating sustainable development into everyday practice by minimising environmental impact wherever possible. During the process of developing this Carbon Reduction Plan, a number of key areas have been selected that will allow us to demonstrate reductions in the carbon emissions generated by our activities. Our carbon reduction plan identifies our current carbon footprint and our plan to achieve net zero emissions.

Method of data collection
We have adopted methodology set out by the government to ensure we are reporting as accurately as possible, thereby giving all stakeholders the ability to assess our performance as a business in this area.

Operational control
AG Axton’s carbon footprint will be reported using the operational control methodology. We will report sources of carbon emissions over which we have operational control. We are deemed to have operational control over a service if we have full authority to introduce and implement its operating policies.

Baseline year 2023
Although reducing our GHG emission has been a core focus of the company’s strategies for many years, AG Axtons has never before published it’s Carbon Reduction Plan. In accordance with government guidelines we are using this year, 2023 as our baseline year. We have chosen to report up until the end of August each year because this date falls in line with our obligations to submit other statutory reports.

Scope 1
Company Vehicles: we renew our fleet regularly in order to utilise the best and most efficient engines available. Ideally we would like to possess a distribution fleet to include as many electric vehicles as possible, however, currently, there is no feasible electric vehicle option open to us due to battery range/load limitations. We continue to work with our vehicle supply partner to keep this under constant review.

Scope 2
We are responsible for the purchase of electricity for our operation. We are pleased to have signed an extended contract with Engie who we believe has an outstanding record for delivering sustainable and renewable energy and who we feel provide us with tools to enable us to transition to carbon neutrality.

Scope 3
Of the 15 categories included for Scope 3 emissions, AG Axtons has identified the following categories as being relevant to our operation. Categories 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Categories 1 and 4 – Purchased goods and services and upstream transportation and distribution
Collation of accurate data for these categories is extremely difficult because the full journey from ‘cradle to gate’ is not always assessable. Although we work specifically with UK growers whenever possible, which would make assessing this data easier, this is not always possible, and certain items of produce can only be sourced from Europe and beyond (banana’s from Costa Rica for example). AG Axtons is committed to working with it’s suppliers to better understand the GHG emissions data from it’s purchases so that we may accurately report on it and analyse where and how we can make improvements.

For the year ending August 2023 our combined total emissions for this category was estimated at 157.5009 tCO2e.

Categories 5, 6 and 7, waste generated in operations and employee commuting are easier to assess.

Category 5
Waste generated in operations is predominantly waste food which is purchased as part of our operation, but which has spoiled to the extent that it is no longer meeting the expectations of our customers.

Any food items held within the business which do not meet our customer’s expectations, but are still fit for human consumption (i.e. not class 1), is redistributed to a number of clients where it is used in their animal feed.

Any food waste comprising of food unfit for human consumption is redirected to a local pig farmer who is licensed to collect and utilise waste food in this manner. Any waste which cannot be redistributed gets sent to landfill.

Our other main waste stream is cardboard and plastic packaging on goods inwards. We are very proud of our efforts to recycle cardboard boxes which are used to distribute orders to our customers. Inevitably, there will always be cardboard that we can no longer recycle because over time, cardboard will deteriorate to the point that is it no longer useful.

Once it has reached its limit of recyclability, all cardboard and waste plastic is sold to a registered waste handler who in turn send this waste to proper recycling facilities. Our waste partners produce reporting which allows us to monitor, analyse and report on our waste. We are audited annually by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to ensure best practise is being maintained.

We have calculated the emissions data for this category by using reports from our waste service providers and using the conversion factors published by .gov.uk.

For the year ending August 2023 our combined total emissions for this category was 30.36551 tCO2e

Category 6 Business Travel
We have identified business travel that relates to sales enquiries and other business meetings and separated this from travel which relates to our delivery service which is already reported in Scope 1. Due to operational requirements of the business, there has been very little business travel incurred which relate to sales generation or any other business type meeting. In the advent of the COVID- 19 pandemic, we have found that many of these meetings are capable of being conducted over the internet via video conferencing facilities. Although we will continue to encourage sales meetings by video conference, we acknowledge that this is not always possible and in the reporting year ending August 2024, we expect that face to face meetings will increase and we are likely to report an increase in GHG emissions in relation to sales generation and other business meetings.

Category 7 employee commuting
For the base year of 2023, we do not have the resources to monitor the exact data of how employees were travelling into their place of work. In accordance with guidelines, we have used a reliable estimate. To calculate our estimated figure we have taken the number of employees, their working pattern such as part time or full time, and taken account of annual leave and bank holidays and car sharing.

In 2023, there were a total of 5221.40 commutes to (and from) the workplace. Using the figure for the average UK commute of a return trip being 16.8 miles and the average UK car emissions are approximately 196.94 grams per mile. This brings in a total estimated figure of 17.27548tCO2e.

Strategies for carbon reduction
The carbon reduction opportunities in this plan, once fully implemented, will reduce AG AXTON’S GHG emissions each year in line to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The areas for concentrated reduction strategies are as follows:

Scope 1
We continue to keep informed on the availability of fleet opportunities to introduce electric vehicles into the business. At present, there are no viable options available to the business to incorporate electric vehicles into the fleet due to the heavy loads we carry versus the battery life of available vehicles. Our directors are leading by example however having purchased electric powered vehicles and by installing charging facilities at our premises to encourage staff to switch to electric.

Scope 2
We are happy to share that we have entered into an extended contract with Engie to supply us with our electricity requirements until 2028. We firmly believe that Engie are the industry leaders in renewable energy production and we believe that their vision for a greener future best aligns with our own company vision. We are actively pursuing the feasibility of introducing solar panels to our roof space which we believe will have a significant impact on reducing our GHG emissions. Feasibility and funding for this is being investigated and we hope to have enough information to make a decision within the next 12 months.

Scope 3 Business travel
Evaluate and, where possible, adopt means of reducing business travel, including continued use of video conferencing, to achieve sustainable long-term reduction of emissions that will be reported annually.

Employee commuting
We will continue to encourage lift sharing and cycling to work whenever possible which is something we have always done and are extremely proud of. In reporting year ending August 2023, we reduced the number of commutes to our workplace by 1043 commutes through lift sharing and a further 145 commutes to work through cycling. We have also identified areas of the business that can benefit from working from home and wherever possible, this is encouraged. At present, our finance team

operates 20% of its working hours from home thereby reducing unnecessary travel by up to 48 commutes per year, although this has not been reflected in this year’s figures as this has only been adopted relatively recently.

We have started to more accurately monitor staff commuting by identifying the exact number of miles each member of staff commutes each day. This means that in the reporting year ending August 2024, we will have more reliable data to report instead of using estimates based on the average UK driver commute.

Employee learning and behaviour change
A program will be created over the next 12 months to raise the environmental awareness for all employees and suppliers/contractors.

Working with all employees, we will encourage better energy use and reduced waste. During the pandemic for example, while the majority of employees were working from home, it highlighted how printing is not as essential as previously thought to our business operations as part of our daily work lives, and we will aim to maintain this as a goal for a more paperless office.

Leadership
The directors have given, and will continue to give, full support to this carbon reduction programme to achieve AG AXTON’S Net Zero ambitions. The directors will lead by example, by modelling best practice behaviours in carbon reduction wherever possible, by helping to push for and then implementing changes.

Declaration and sign off
This Carbon Reduction Plan has been completed in accordance with PPN 06/21 and associated guidance and reporting standards for Carbon Reduction Plans.

Emissions have been reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard and uses the appropriate government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.

Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions have been reported in accordance with SECR requirements, and the required subset of Scope 3 emissions have been reported in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard.

This Carbon Reduction Plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors (or equivalent management body).

Signed on behalf of AG Axton & Sons (Wholesale) Ltd.