Carbon Reduction Plan

Science Based Targets – 2025

Base Year: 2024

Emissions Intensity (2024): 14.4 tCO₂e per £1 million turnover

Employees: 22

Source – Carbon Neutral Assessment Report – 2024 

QStory has been committed to being a Carbon Neutral Certified company since January 2022 and are proud to be the first Carbon Neutral business in our industry. The company already offsets 100% of its emissions via the Woodland Trust fund. The directors are committed to maintaining our carbon neutrality.

To align with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, QStory’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must halve by 2030 – and drop to Net Zero by 2050. 

In addition to calculating Scope 1, 2, and a subset of Scope 3 emissions in tCO₂e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) for the six GHG covered by the Kyoto Protocol, QStory is required to outline its reduction plans, and publish its Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) on its website.

GHG Emissions Breakdown (2024)

Scope 1 – Zero

Scope 2 – Zero

Scope 3 – 60.08 tCO₂e

• Business Travel (mostly Airline): 35.45 tCO₂e (59%) 
• Events/Hotels: 4.21 tCO₂e (7%) 
• Location-Based Energy Use/Other: 20.42 tCO₂e (14%) 
• Google Cloud-based activity: 12.02 tCO₂e (20%) 
• Organisation Waste: 0.01 tCO2e (0.01% of total emissions) 

The majority of our Scope 3 emissions occurred from business travel. Other emissions occurred from the location based energy consumption from use of Google data hosting centres, staff working at home (these emissions were attributed ‘additional’ energy consumption that would not have otherwise occurred at home).

Based on Intensity our emissions are 14.38 tCO₂e per £1m turnover.

Science-Based Targets 2025

1. Net-zero by 2050.
   Achieve net-zero GHG emissions across all operations by 2050.
   
2. 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030:
   Reduce emissions intensity by 50% per £1 million turnover by 2030, compared to the 2024 baseline.
   • Target Intensity (2030): ≤ 7.19 tCO₂e per £1 million turnover
   • Estimated Emissions Cap (2030): ≤ 72 tCO₂e
     
3. Offsetting strategy:
   Offset residual emissions annually using high-quality, verified carbon credits as a transitional measure until long-term reductions are fully achieved. Target to off set all unavoidable emissions of 2.578 tCO₂e per £1m t/o by 2050.

Intensity Based Target Incorporation

Our overall emissions intensity target aims to reduce emissions to ≤7.19 tCO₂e per £1M turnover by 2030.

Actual results will be reviewed annually using either the Carbon Neutral Britain audit to verify our emissions – or the EcoVadis Carbon Calculator. Targets will be adjusted annually as required.

This plan aligns our emissions trajectory with our business growth and leverages the decarbonisation of the travel and cloud computing sectors to meet our 2030 and 2050 targets.

Mitigation Measures 2025

• Aviation Sector Decarbonisation (50% emissions factor reduction) 
• Google Cloud Decarbonisation (50% emissions factor reduction).
• Travel Policy: reduce unnecessary flights, encourage rail/virtual meetings. 
• Sustainable Hotels & Events: partner with eco-certified venues and centralise locations. 
• Cloud Efficiency: monitor usage.
• Energy Efficiency: improvements in use of renewable energy and prioritise lower GHG technology.
• Employee Engagement: incentives and training. 
• Supplier Engagement: alignment with our standards.

(for full details see our Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation Review & Action Plan v4) 

This plan, which will be reviewed and updated annually, aligns QStory’s emissions trajectory with QStory’s business growth and leverages the decarbonisation of the travel and cloud computing sectors to meet our 2030 and 2050 targets.

Full details of our Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Policy available on request to hello@qstory.ai.