Sustainability

The PHE Purpose

The PHE Purpose is to be a force for good for our people, our clients, our communities, the planet, and for society as a whole. We deliver this through the opportunities the Company creates, the impacts it has on the environment, and the long-term value we deliver.

It is incumbent on everyone to take responsibility and create the change necessary to bring about a sustainable society and to leave the world for future generations in a better state than we found it.

As a business, PHE has the opportunity to be creative and bold with the solutions it proposes and develops for clients to drive long term improvement, eliminate adverse impacts, and deliver climate resilient solutions. As a responsible business it is also important that we minimise our own impacts and support the communities in which we live and work.

Sustainability is an integral part of our corporate strategy and underpins how we do business and our corporate Purpose. We will work towards our corporate commitments and deliver our five ESG priorities shown below.

Materiality

To be effective in its ESG and Sustainability Strategy, PHE will continually assess the materiality of its activities to identify what matters most to our stakeholders and to the Company.

Initially this is being assessed by the ESG Committee, but as time progresses, views will be sought from the employees, partners, clients, suppliers and the public.

ESG Priorities

We consider our current ESG priorities to be as follows:

1. To integrate environmental sustainability into our designs the engineering and operational services we provide, minimising waste and optimising the use of resources
2. To reduce emissions and set science-based targets to achieve net zero across the activities of the Company by 2035.
3. To ensure the safety and wellbeing of all our people and the people that work with us.
4. To make a positive difference to the communities we are part of and those we serve and to provide high-quality jobs that support local economies.
5. To be collaborative, trusted and a good neighbour helping to tackle common challenges.

Global alignment

To manage and monitor the Company’s progress in this ESG and Sustainability Strategy, PHE will align the development of its ESG Priorities against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Oversight and Governance

Governance of the PHE ESG and Sustainability Strategy is overseen at board level and led by an ESG Committee, chaired by a director and member of the PHE Board. As the Company develops, a ESG Sponsors will be appointed, whose role will be to encourage and promote ESG across all Company activities.

The ESG Committee:

• reviews and maintains the ESG and Sustainability Policy;
• establishes the material activities to be carried out by the Company;
• makes recommendations to Board and executive management for implementation;
• establishes the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the Company’s ESG performance;
• monitors and audits achievement of the KPIs;
• conducts risk assessments and compiles and maintains the ESG Risk Register;
• reports and communicates performance achievement; and
• have a watching brief to ensure other policies such as Business Ethics and Speak-up are implemented fully and properly

The ESG Committee will manage the Company’s ESG performance and communicate its progress through an annual ESG Statement, which will be made available in the public domain.

Our ambition is to become operationally net-zero by 2035. We will achieve this by technological development, by pursuing a science-based target for our value chain emissions and by compensating residual hard-to-decarbonise emissions with certified greenhouse gas removal.