Climate

This section has been prepared in accordance with our regulatory obligation to report GHG emissions pursuant to the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2019 which implement the government’s policy on Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting.

During the year to 31 March 2024, our measured Scope 1 and 2 emissions (marketbased) totalled 232.8 tCO₂e. This comprised:

^{1 Natural gas and transportation fuels (petrol and diesel)}

This is equivalent to 1.0 tCO₂e per full-time equivalent employee, based on an average of 244 employees (2023: 0.8 tCO₂e; 241 employees). Overall, our Scope 1 and 2 (market-based) emissions increased by 28.2% year-on-year. Most of the increase can be attributed to the move of our offices in New York and Amsterdam, as we were unable to procure green electricity immediately after the move, and to the fact that our new premises in New York are heated with steam.

Our measured Scope 3 emissions totalled 9,612.8 tCO₂e. The 41.3% increase in our Scope 3 emissions in FY2024 compared to the previous year is attributable to a few factors, including: (i) improvements to the methodology we adopt to calculate the emissions related to our purchased goods and services; (ii) the emissions associated with the move to new offices in New York and Amsterdam; and (iii) increased business travel following the lifting of travel restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our total energy consumption was 1,451.4 MWh (1,451,400 kWh) in FY2024, 57% of which was consumed in the UK. The split between energy consumption is shown in the table below.

^{1 Natural gas and transportation fuels (petrol and diesel).}

Methodology

We quantify and report our organisational GHG emissions in alignment with the World Resources Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard and in alignment with the Scope 2 Guidance. Scope 3 emissions are calculated in line with the World Resources Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol: Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard as well as the World Resources Institute’s GHG Protocol Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 emissions. We consolidate our organisational boundary according to the operational control approach, which includes all our offices. We have adopted a materiality threshold of 5% for GHG reporting purposes. The GHG sources that constituted our operational boundary for the year to 31 March 2024 are:

• Scope 1: natural gas combustion within boilers, fuel combustion within leased vehicles and use of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment;
• Scope 2: purchased electricity and heat, cooling and steam consumption for our own use, including leased vehicles;
• Scope 3: purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel- and energy-related activities, waste generated in operations, business travel and employee commuting and emissions associated with working from home.

In some cases, where data is missing, for example, due to the timing of invoices from our utilities providers, values have been estimated using either extrapolation of available data or by using data from the previous year as a proxy.

The Scope 2 Guidance requires that we quantify and report Scope 2 emissions according to two different methodologies (“dual reporting”): (i) the location-based method, using the average emissions intensity of grids for the country in which the reported operations take place; and (ii) the market-based method, which reflects the emissions from purposefully chosen energy (eg bundled electricity, supplier specific rates, direct electricity contracts).

Although we have a relatively low environmental footprint, we are committed to reducing it further. In our London, Paris, and Luxembourg offices, which account for over 86% of our overall electricity consumption, we purchased our electricity from 100% renewable sources during FY2024. Our New York and Amsterdam teams moved to new premises during the year. Our New York landlord is working on delivering green energy, however, it relies on initiatives to be implemented by the New York state government to achieve that objective. Our new Amsterdam office switched to green energy at the end of FY2024. Although the options for energy efficiency improvements for our offices are limited, we are assessing whether it is possible to switch to renewable tariffs in our remaining offices where we do not currently purchase all of our electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Third-party verification

The 3i emissions from its own operations disclosed on this page have been verified to a limited level of assurance by Accenture to the ISO 14064-3 standard. The portfolio emissions disclosed on page 65 are not included in this third-party verification.

The metrics below provide information on the GHG emissions from our portfolio companies. These metrics cover 99.5% of the portfolio value¹ of 3i Group plc as at 31 March 2024 and are calculated in line with the TCFD recommendations implementation guidance.

_{1 Note that 3i Investments plc manages a number of co-investment vehicles whose investors are employees or former employees of 3i. For the purpose of this calculation, we have included these co-investment vehicles within the 3i Group scope.
2 Sourced from 3i’s finance systems.
3 Sourced from portfolio companies.}

Methodology and GHG emissions data source

As a private equity and infrastructure asset manager and owner, 3i is able to collect data from its portfolio companies.

3i requests Scope 1 and Scope 2 (location and market-based) GHG emissions data from all core portfolio companies on an annual basis. This data is provided directly to 3i from portfolio companies through an ESG data collection tool. If a company provides Scope 2 marketbased data, this is used for the climate metrics calculation. If Scope 2 market-based data is unavailable, location-based data is used. Scope 3 GHG emissions data is provided by portfolio companies where available and we are working to improve our Scope 3 data coverage further.

Estimations and data gaps

Where current year data is not available, but previous year data is available, we estimate the current year data using data from the previous year, adjusted based on year-on-year changes in revenue.

Where the data is not available, it is noted as a data gap. The significance of the data gap is disclosed through the data coverage indicator (99.5% of the portfolio value).

Data quality

As we invest in private companies that are at different levels of climate-related risk maturity, we have decided to add a data quality score to the data that we are disclosing to ensure that readers understand the reliability and quality of the data provided. Some of our portfolio companies have only just started to estimate their GHG emissions while others have robust processes in place to calculate and assure the data.

We have used a custom scale to reflect overall data quality using the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (“PCAF”) methodology as a guide and adjusting it to reflect the specificities of our business model:

Characteristics of the data	Data quality	Certain
Emissions of the company are available and reported by the portfolio company as being verified by a third party	1
Prior year emissions of the company are available and reported by the portfolio company as being verified by a third party. The emissions for the current year are estimated based on prior year emissions and year-on-year changes in revenue	2
Emissions of the company are available and reported by the portfolio company as being verified internally	3
Unverified emissions of the company are available, including those calculated using our ESG data collection tool	4
Emissions of the company, including those calculated by the portfolio company using our ESG data collection tool, are estimated using a GHG emissions calculator using spend data	5

The data quality score for 3i Group plc is 2.6. It is derived by assigning each portfolio company a data quality score, weighted by that company’s emissions as a percentage of total portfolio emissions.