Service provider Emcor UK has received the Gold Award for its first assessment by the Sustainable FM Index (SFMI). The accreditation follows an extensive assessment that began in July 2023. The organisations’ performance was evaluated across 23 ESG criteria that align with major ESG frameworks and also relevant to the FM industry.
The SFMI gave the company an overall score of 82%, qualifying for gold. This is the average of the scores it received for the three areas of the report: governance, society, and the environment.
The SFMI commended its well-structured internal approach towards its change activities. In terms of its governance scores, the effectiveness of its collaboration, social value, ED&I, and employee engagement programmes were highlighted as particular strengths. It performed above average in governance compared to other firms assessed by the SFMI, according to the press release.
The company’s internal initiatives were identified as robust, and opportunities to close skills gaps with schemes like apprenticeships were praised, both of which contributed to its high social score. For its environment assessment, the major strength was in its progress on its decarbonisation programme and circular economy development.
Another recommendation was to develop climate risk reporting in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and UK Sustainability Disclosure Standards (UKSDS) to meet customer and internal compliance requirements. These initiatives are currently being worked on, as is improved scope 3 emissions reporting.
Executive director Jonathan Gawthrop said: “We are delighted to receive such a strong score from the SFMI as it gives us external verification that our ESG programme is on the right track. It’s particularly pleasing to see that we have performed above average in the governance and social areas. Of course, the recommendations for improvement are just as important and we’ll be taking all the SFMI’s feedback on board. We’ll be back next time hoping to show further progress and aiming for the Platinum Award.”
