ESG at Version 1

The Version 1 Difference

More than 10 years in the making...

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) is an organisation’s responsibility for the impacts ​​​​​​​that it has on society.​ ​Not just a buzzword; for every company, their Environmental, Social and Governance agenda has steadily increased in importance. With customers, employees, investors and shareholders now insisting upon companies using their knowledge and expertise in areas where they can make a meaningful impact.

Version 1 have proudly maintained a reputation as “leaders” in this space for years. We are an organisation that recognised, since our inception in 1996, that we had a responsibility not just to deliver services and solutions that help customers, but a responsibility to make a difference for our employees and the communities in which they live and work.

Which is why we are continuing to implement sustainable strategies and tech-enabled ESG that power solutions for our wider communities. Always ensuring that we foster inclusivity, acknowledge the importance of wellbeing, prioritise learning and demonstrate an understanding of our commitments to society.

What is our ESG Difference?

Words Put Into Action...

With so many important themes to focus on, Version 1 has created an Environmental Social Governance Strategy that identifies 7 key pillars. These pillars aren’t unfamiliar to Version 1. Our progress can be seen in our efforts so far, as well as what we will continue to achieve in our ongoing journey

We believe, as a responsible organisation, that by focusing our efforts in these areas our work will enable us to become innovators and positive influencers in the industry. Not limited to the IT sector but across all sectors that our customers and partners operate in. Helping to make our planet and the communities within it a better place for everyone.

We are a verified carbon neutral company

To minimize our environmental footprint Version 1 has been ISO14001 accredited since 2019

We aim to achieve Net Zero by 2025

25 years ahead of the global target of 2050, in order to help limit global warming to 1.5°

We aim to reduce emissions by 90%

Calculated from emissions across all of our regional offices and remote workers

We have funded the plantation of 12,000 trees so far

Investing in nature based solutions that have a positive effect on the environment

What are our ESG Pillars?

Environmental & Sustainability

How have we built our environmental sustainability strategy? Our Climate Ambition plan focuses on these six commitments:

  1. Maintain Carbon Neutrality
  2. Achieve Net Zero emissions by 2025
  3. 100% renewable energy across all our operations
  4. 30% reduction on employee travel emissions
  5. 80% of our key suppliers have emission reduction strategies in place
  6. 50% reduction in Employee carbon footprint
Version 1 & Sustainability
team using laptop

Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

Our commitment to inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity and experience means we empower our diverse voices across regions through Inclusive Practices. Our three commitments are:

  1. Have each DIBs regional team host two events per year
  2. Four Company wide DIBs Events per year
  3. All staff to be encouraged to embrace #SWAN initiative in email signatures during induction
Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Version 1
Women at meeting

Women in Tech

Version 1 are developing and nurturing our company wide Women in Tech movement. Fostering an inclusive environment for all though these three commitments:

  1. 80% of our women to participate in one WIT activity each year
  2. Empowering out WIT group across the organisation through initiatives and awards
  3. Increase the number of women across our organisation in line with market insights
Version 1 & Women in Tech
woman in forest health and wellbeing

Health & Wellbeing

Supporting our employees throughout their time with us by providing an extensive Health & Wellbeing platform for all our employees. We have made three commitments:

  1. Maintain Healthy Place to Work and Best Workplace in wellbeing status
  2. Enhance our wellbeing offering with a particular focus on supporting our employees mental and emotional wellbeing
  3. Provide employees with the tools and equipment to enhance their working from home experience
Health & Wellbeing at Version 1
people shaking hands

Community First

An initiative lead by champions from each of the offices across Version 1, building on our Community First network across our regions. We commit to achieving:

  1. 25% employees personally contribute to their Community First initiatives
  2. 1000 hours delivered in volunteering
Version 1 & Community First
A group of students working on laptops in class room

Social Value

We invest in a strong culture of wellness through programs, activities and resources. Measuring and driving Social Value for our customers. Our three commitments are:

  1. An externally monitored programme of improvement for Social Value at Version 1 (Social Value Quality Mark Accreditation)
  2. 20 new partnerships launched through Social Value by 2023
  3. 1000 hours delivered through customer social value by 2023
Version 1 & Social Value

Education Collaboration

We aim to continue our work with Education institutions and partners to drive our Education Collaboration strategy. Staying with you on your journey through learning and experience. Our four commitments are:

  1. 5% of staff taken part in an education outreach event by 2023
  2. 60 work experience programmes / placements offered to students by 2023
  3. 1000 students reached from outreach activities by 2023
  4. Engaged and worked with 100 education institutes and organisations by 2023
Version 1 & Education
ESG at Version 1 is simply taking everything that we have been doing for years but to a whole new level. We want to be innovators rather than leaders; we want to make a real difference to our communities and we want to enable adaption across our supply, partner and customer ecosystems
- Lorna McAdoo, Head of ESG at Version 1
Lorna McAdoo