ESG Report 2022 single pages web - Flipbook - Page 74
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (continued)
Acquisitions or divestments
RWS acquired Liones Holding B.V. ('Liones') for €17.5
million (on a cash-and-debt free basis) with additional
payments of €2.5 million due on each of the first and
second anniversaries of completion. The flagship product
of Liones is Fonto, the leading cloud native, data driven
authoring solution for mission critical documents. The
Fonto suite of products allows non-technical subject
matter experts to create, edit and collaborate on
structured documents by hiding the complexity of the
underlying mark-up languages. The acquisition was
funded from existing RWS cash resources.
Access to capital
To continue to ensure access to capital we have
strengthened our corporate climate governance and
associated disclosures.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we accelerated our IT
infrastructure improvements to ensure that our clients
were supported and could receive the same level of care
despite not being able to operate from central locations.
This developed our remote working practices which also
improved our resilience to the impact of climate change.
We look for ways to enhance our remote working system
continually to further reduce our carbon emissions and
improve our clients’ experience.
As a further focus on driving change, each member of
the Executive Team has objectives related to mitigating the
effects of climate-change on/by the business. Additional
remuneration is linked to achieving pre-established targets
and goals. Personal objectives for FY22 and FY23 are
aligned with establishing policies, systems and processes.
Moving forward the proposal is they will be aligned with
achieving carbon emission targets.
Steps we have taken include:
•
•
•
Appointing a Head of Sustainability and ESG in 2020
•
•
Setting ESG targets and delivering against them
Reporting using TCFD ahead of it becoming mandatory
Committing to SBTs and having our targets validated by
SBTi
Setting ESG personal objectives related to mitigating the
effects of climate-change on/by the business for each
member of the Executive Team
As mentioned, our senior executives monitor climaterelated risks and invest where necessary to mitigate these
scenarios.
The decision by the company to switch to 100% renewable
energy wherever possible is an example of this. Although
initially it will cost the company more, we have taken this
decision as we believe it is more ethical and responsible,
it is aligned with the company’s values, and we hope
that it will become common practice as more and more
companies adopt this approach.
We also recognise that improving our climate change
impacts generate financial gains, for example, a reduction
in energy and transport consumption will reduce related
costs.
Climate-related risks are assessed as part of the Group’s
risk process to determine the principal risks facing the
Group. These are then prioritised, and appropriate
management strategies are developed ensuring that the
identified risk is mitigated as much as reasonably possible.
Investment is considered on the basis of the priority of
the issue as well as the return on investment. An example
of this is the installation of LED lights at our offices in
Chalfont St Peter, Brno, Indore, Lausanne, London,
Nanjing, Rosario and San Francisco, reflecting a long-term
return on investment whilst reducing carbon emissions in
the short term.
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RWS — ESG Report 2022
FRAMEWORKS
c. Resilience of the organisation’s strategy,
taking into consideration different climaterelated scenarios, including a 2°C or lower
scenario
In FY22 we strengthened our approach and actions to
climate-related risks and opportunities to align RWS with
the TCFD recommendations.
As mentioned above, when considering our climate-related
risks and opportunities in the short, medium, and long
term, we reviewed our climate scenario analysis to assess
potential impacts and opportunities for RWS against
possible climate futures. We assessed three different
climate scenarios, set by the latest science and known as
Representative Concentration Pathways (‘RCPs’). RCPs are
used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to
illustrate future concentrations of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. The climate scenarios we used were:
Low
emission
scenario
(RCP 1.9)
A predicted global temperature increase which
limits global warming to below 1.5, the global
aspiration goal of the Paris Agreement
Medium
emission
scenario
(RCP 2.6)
A predicted global temperature increase
between 1.5°C and 1.7°C by 2100, compared to
preindustrial levels. This would bring the world
in line with the Paris Agreement of 1.5°C. This is
commonly referred to as the best-case and most
ambitious scenario
High
emission
scenario
(RCP 8.5)
A global temperature increase between 3.2°C and
5.4°C, where carbon emissions continue growing
unmitigated. With no mitigation, this is deemed
the worst-case scenario
