Sustainability

Introduction

Quadrangle Research Group Ltd ("Quadrangle") is committed to achieving the highest standards of environmental performance and recognises its corporate responsibility to the environment. Quadrangle acknowledges that its operations have a direct and indirect environmental impact and aims to minimise that impact and operate in an environmentally responsible manner.

This statement applies to all premises and activities within the control of Quadrangle.

Quadrangle will, so far as is reasonably practicable:

• ensure environmental risks are properly identified, prioritised and managed in an appropriate and timely way;
• establish sound environmental management policies and promote best practice;
• manage its operations in ways that are environmentally sustainable and economically feasible, by making efficient and environmentally responsible use of energy and water and exploiting opportunities to maximise efficiency;
• minimise environmental impact and reduce or, where practicable, prevent pollution;
• minimise waste production by reducing consumption and maintaining effective waste management and recycling procedures;
• collaborate with key suppliers to promote environmentally responsible procurement of goods and services;
• monitor results and audit policies and practices to ensure Quadrangle meets its policy goals;
• raise and maintain awareness amongst staff and promote individual good practice and encourage team participation.

It is the duty of all employees to conform to the environmental policy. The Directors of Quadrangle give their full support to the implementation of these principles.

Commitment to climate action

Quadrangle is a signee of the Market Research Society's Climate Pledge.

The pledge commits the business to:

1. Tracking: calculate and track carbon emissions each year, making improvements in data collection and calculation processes.
2. Reduction: make changes each year to result in year-on-year reductions per employee in emissions and energy use.
3. Transparency: provide data to the Market Research Society.
4. Collaboration: support conversations with employees, partners and clients about environmental concerns and sustainability.

The MRS Climate Pledge replaces the previous MRS Net Zero pledge, of which Quadrangle was also a signatory, which committed organisations to achieve Net Zero by 2026. The revised Climate Pledge places focus on climate action, rather than offsetting emissions. As a result, Quadrangle does not have a target to achieve Net Zero by a particular date by offsetting emissions, rather a target to reduce emissions year-on-year and minimise the environmental impact resulting from the business' activities.

Baseline Emissions Footprint

Quadrangle first began measuring carbon emissions of the business' activities in 2023, using the period 1 January 2022 – 31 December 2022 as a baseline.

To produce the baseline footprint, the company measured:

Scope 1 emissions: as a market research agency, providing services rather than products, this is not a significant proportion of the business' emissions.

Scope 2 emissions: any emissions created from purchased energy, such as electricity or water.

Scope 3 emissions: indirect emissions relating to the company's operations, including suppliers. Scope 3 is a significant proportion of the business' emissions.

Quadrangle's Carbon Footprint Reports are available on request.

Emissions reduction targets

The business has a target to achieve reductions per employee per year. This will be achieved by a combination of reducing emissions wherever possible and offsetting any that cannot be reduced further.

Quadrangle's sustainability-focused operating model

As a business we have implemented several changes to reduce our environmental impact.

Sustainable travel

The increased availability and adoption of virtual communication tools since the pandemic has allowed us to reduce the amount of travel required, as more meetings can be carried out virtually.

As a London-based business, we have good access to public transport for attending face-to-face meetings when they do happen. Travel by rail or tube is the company's preferred mode of transport. Many of our clients are UK based, so minimal air travel is required. When it is, we opt to offset the carbon emissions to reduce the impact.

We operate a hybrid working model, with employees working 80% of the time remotely, so have significantly reduced emissions from commuting.

We are continuing to monitor the company travel policy to reduce reliance on air and vehicle travel in particular.

Smaller office footprint

We have downsized our office space to reflect our current business needs and our hybrid working model. We have significantly reduced our office footprint and are now located in a serviced office building with shared meeting rooms and facilities. The serviced office provider (Work.life) are a B-Corp certified organisation. Measures that Work.life take to reduce environmental impact include all lighting uses LED bulbs and is on sensors, and the number of printers reduced to remove "vampire energy" devices.

The office lighting uses LED bulbs and is on timers. Work.life manage the heating and cooling of the space. There is only one printer in the building to reduce energy consumption.

Digital-first and cloud-based

The business is now 100% paperless; no new records are retained in hard copy. This has partially enabled the downsizing of the office as well as a reduction in off-site storage required for legacy documents. It is estimated that the business will no longer require the off-site archiving facility after the end of 2027.

We have also significantly reduced the business' IT footprint. We no longer have physical on-site servers or servers in an off-site data centre, as we are now a 100% cloud-based business.

Quadrangle's supply chain

Environmental factors are considered as a key factor in assessing suppliers, particularly those that have a significant impact on our scope 3 carbon emissions. For example, it was a specific factor in us selecting our serviced office provider and led to us selecting a B-Corp certified company.

We are now implementing environmental assessments for all prospective suppliers. Considerations will include, for example, whether technology suppliers use net zero data centres. The assessment will include questions on how prospective suppliers monitor and seek to reduce their environmental impact and requesting copies of any certifications or emissions reports. For our key suppliers, assessments will be re-done on an annual basis.

While we won't always be able to influence suppliers to make improvements, we work in a close partnership with many of our suppliers, so can collaborate with them to identify and introduce possible solutions.

Our sustainable research methods

Most focus groups and in-person interviews that Quadrangle conducts take place in town and city locations, so the moderator(s) can travel there by public transport. For more rural locations, we use virtual technology to conduct groups and interviews online, to reduce travel required for both moderators and participants.

Incentives are delivered to participants electronically, so physical waste is not produced and there is no requirement for physical materials, packaging or shipping emissions.

Reduce, Re-use & Recycle

Quadrangle's office provider is B-Corp certified, with recycling facilities for coffee grounds, food, card and paper, plastics, glass and aluminium.

Quadrangle also donates or recycles all electronics that are not repairable or no longer required. Staff laptops are leased so they are returned to the vendor at the end of contract. Office technology and equipment is properly maintained so to extend life.

More broadly, the business only purchases goods and supplies that are needed and we have increased purchasing of second-hand and/or recycled goods where possible, such as technology or stationery. We also collate supply orders so as to minimise the carbon impact of multiple deliveries.

Staff training

A key focus area for the business is to increase staff awareness on emissions reduction and sustainability measures. Areas to develop understanding of include: the importance of reducing waste, recycling, considered energy use and the impact of travel choices.

Declaration and Sign Off

Emissions are reported and recorded in accordance with the published reporting standard for Carbon Reduction Plans and the GHG Reporting Protocol corporate standard and will use the appropriate Government emission conversion factors for greenhouse gas company reporting.

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

This policy and plan has been reviewed and signed off by the board of Directors.

Alison Camps, Chairman