Carbon reduction plan
Our Net-Zero Vision – OneCare recognises the climate emergency declared by Westminister and RKBCCouncil and shares the ambition to make the borough carbon-neutral by 2030. We have therefore adopted a twin-track commitment:
• Business-wide: achieve Net-Zero for Scope 1 & 2 by December 2030 and bring Scope 3 (supply-chain and staff travel) to Net-Zero by 2040.
• Contract-specific: deliver the Short Breaks transport element of Lot 1 & Lot 3 at near-zero emissions by September 2028, two years ahead of the Council’s target, with reliable measurement and quarterly reporting.
This pledge aligns with the ITT’s Climate Emergency section, which positions procurement as a key accelerator of borough-wide decarbonisation.
Baseline & Targets – We completed a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) audit in March 2024 using DEFRA conversion factors:
• Fleet (16 vehicles + ad-hoc taxi partners) emitted 62 tCO₂e (Scope 1).
• Staff business travel emitted 11 tCO₂e (Scope 3).
From that baseline we have set the following SMART targets:
|
Year |
% fleet electric / ULEV |
tCO₂e fleet |
Reduction vs 2024 |
|
2026 |
60 % |
44 |
-29 % |
|
2027 |
75 % |
32 |
-48 % |
|
2028 |
100 % |
≤5 |
-92 % |
|
2030 |
100 % + green power |
0 |
-100 % |
Any tiny remainder will be balanced by certified UK tree-planting until everything is genuinely zero.
Achievements to Date
• Nine electric vehicles already on the road – including wheelchair-accessible minibuses. They save about 17 tonnes of carbon each year compared with the diesels they replaced.
• Charging points in place – four dual chargers at head office, all powered by 100% renewable electricity.
• Smarter driving – in-cab coaching and tracking have cut wasted “engine idling” by 38% in 18 months.
• Greener commutes – 31% of our care staff now cycle, walk or use e-bikes/scooters to work. Car mileage for commuting is down 22% since 2019.
Technology Levers for Further CO₂ Reduction
Cleaner vehicles.
• We are ordering next-generation electric minibuses with built-in wheelchair lifts and 180-mile ranges—enough for a full day of school-holiday runs.
• Until the last three diesels can be replaced, they will run on sustainable HVO fuel, which cuts carbon by about 85 % compared with normal diesel.
Smarter routes and driving.
• GPS tracking shows speed, idling and harsh braking. Drivers receive friendly coaching, and the data feeds a league table with small rewards for the greenest performers.
• Route-planning software bunches pick-ups together and avoids traffic jams, trimming “empty” mileage. Early trials have already saved 14% on distance travelled.
Clean electricity.
• A 50 kW solar-panel array is being fitted in 2026. It will make enough power each year to drive our electric fleet around 160 000 km.
• A battery will store cheap, low-carbon night-time electricity so we can charge vans off-peak and even feed power back to the centre during the day.
Measuring and reporting.
• Fleet data feeds straight into an online carbon-accounting platform. Every quarter we share simple “tonnes of carbon” charts with the Council, and the Carbon Trust checks our numbers once a year.
Measures Embedded in Service Delivery for this Contract
• Shorter journeys for children. Before each holiday programme we plot the post-codes of all registered families and choose the main activity site inside a three-mile “walk-cycle-scoot” catchment. Where a fully accessible venue falls outside that ring, we create two pop-up mini-hubsin church halls or school gyms so parents who can drive drop their child locally. OneCare staff then shuttle small groups the final leg in an electric minibus, cutting door-to-door mileage by up to 40 %. Families receive a personalised travel plan showing the greenest option for their address.
• Active travel as a planned intervention. Every programme includes at least one “Move Green”day: children who are able join a supervised walking-bus (staff ratio 1:5, hi-vis vests, road-safety games en route). Scooters and adapted trikes are provided for those with mobility challenges. Steps or wheel rotations are logged on the Life-Star app, directly evidencing progress against the child’s health and independence goals while avoiding tail-pipe emissions altogether.
• Clean taxis, tightly specified. Our accessible-taxi framework only admits operators whose fleets are already a minimum 25 % zero-emission. The contract requires a rise to 50 % by 2026 and 80 % by 2030, with quarterly mileage and fuel data submitted alongside safeguarding checks. If an operator misses the trajectory by more than ten percentage points, a 1 % fee reduction is triggered; exceeding the target earns a 0.5 % bonus.
• Paper-free working. Digital consent forms, risk-assessment sign-offs and real-time attendance registers run through our encrypted Care App. On average this replaces 12,000 A4 sheets a year—saving over 60 kg of paper, 2,000 litres of water and 150 kWh of energy, plus eliminating van deliveries of stationery.
• Greener purchasing standards. Holiday-club menus follow a “40-60” rule: at least 40 % of main dishes are plant-based, with fresh ingredients sourced from suppliers inside a 50-mile radius to minimise food-miles. Sports and staff kits are ordered once existing stock naturally expires and must contain a minimum 80 % recycled polyester; suppliers sign the WRAP “Textiles 2030” commitment. These purchasing choices tackle hidden (Scope 3) emissions, reinforce healthy-eating messages for children, and keep money circulating in the local green economy.
Supply-Chain & Third-Party Fleet Measures
Westminister and RKBC’s ITT rightly highlights Scope-3 procurement as a lever; we therefore require all transport subcontractors (e.g., accessible taxi companies) to:
• Sign the Westminister and RKBC Climate Commitment Charter and OneCare’s Supplier Code.
• Report quarterly on fuel litres, mileage and CO₂e using DEFRA factors.
• Commit to 25% zero-emission vehicles by September 2026 and 80 % by 2030.
• Train drivers in disability etiquette and eco-driving (Energy Saving Trust module).
• Accept pay-linked incentives: a 0.5 % bonus for meeting annual CO₂ intensity targets; a 1 % deduction for missing them by >10 %.
Governance, Monitoring & Continuous Improvement
• A Carbon & Climate Board, chaired by our Chief Operating Officer, meets every two months to track progress, approve investments and solve problems.
• Key contract measures include grams of carbon per passenger-kilometre, the share of clean vehicles and staff active-travel rates. These appear on a public dashboard in our annual Social Impact Report.
• Drivers compete in a quarterly eco-league; top performers win small gift cards and recognition.
• If our chargers fail for more than a day, we switch journeys to the HVO-powered minibuses, never back to old diesel.
Risks & Mitigations
• Not enough grid power for new chargers. We have worked with the electricity network and have a slot booked for 2025. Portable fast-chargers are on standby just in case.
• Electric vans cost more up-front. We lease them, spreading the cost; total running costs even out after about three years thanks to fuel savings.
• Fuel prices may jump around. We have a two-year forward contract for sustainable HVO fuel until we are fully electric.
• Driver privacy concerns about tracking. We completed a data-protection assessment, and all reports use anonymised data.
Looking Beyond 2030 – Innovation Pipeline
• Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) pilots planned for 2027 to export stored energy back to community centres during peak demand.
• Exploring green hydrogen micro-hub for heavy wheelchair coaches post-2030.
• Participation in the ZeEUS European demonstration for zero-emission urban shuttles, bringing cutting-edge tech into Westminister and RKBC early.