Annual Climate Report
Our Environmental Priorities
Investment in Energy Efficient Worksites
In recent years, we have enhanced the energy efficiency of a number of our workplaces and we plan to incorporate these enhancements at other sites. We also target environmentally efficient buildings for our office space to further increase efficiency.
Facility upgrades continue to increase energy efficiency.
In 2022, Equifax’s Costa Rica location was certified as carbon neutral by INTECO, the Technical Standards Institute of Costa Rica, based on the INTE/ISO 14064‐1:2006 and INTE B5:2016 standards. This important certification exemplifies our Costa Rica team's commitment to environmental sustainability. Further, in the United Kingdom, Equifax is managing our commitment to reduce pollution related to our activities via the implementation of an effective environmental management system, certified against the ISO 14001:2015 standard.
As of early 2024, the Equifax real estate portfolio included fifteen Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings in North and South America and India, three Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Excellent rated buildings in the United Kingdom and Spain, four National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS), one Energy Performance Contract certified building in the United Kingdom and one Neutral Carbon Certification in Costa Rica. While these Equifax buildings do not represent the majority of our worksites, our global real estate team includes energy efficiency as a factor in determining new office locations.
As we progress through our cloud transformation journey, we are also taking steps to more efficiently manage our remaining onsite data centers, such as optimizing our HVAC systems and implementing cold aisle containment processes.
2023
In 2023, we reduced our combined scope 1 and 2 net GHG emissions by 28% compared to 2022, primarily by increasing investments in renewable energy and decommissioning 7 data centers as part of our ongoing Equifax Cloud technology transformation. Our efforts to move into more energy-efficient office spaces also had a positive impact on our scope 1 and 2 emissions, although most of these gains were offset by the increased footprint from our acquisitions during 2023.In 2023, we decreased our scope 3 emissions by 3% compared to 2022, most notably in the areas of purchased goods and services, capital goods and business travel. As a result of our ongoing Equifax Cloud technology transformation, we shifted spend from on-premise data center providers to more energy efficient cloud-based providers. During 2023, we also converted a number of contractors into full-time employees, thereby reducing consulting spend and the associated purchased goods and services emissions compared to 2022. As for business travel, our corporate policy of discouraging non-essential travel was widely followed across the company, resulting in a decrease in our accompanying emissions in 2023 compared to 2022.
2023 Progress vs. Near-Term GHG Targets
Progress vs. Scope 1 & 2 Targets
As a data, analytics and technology company, our scope 1 and 2 emissions result primarily from the operation of our office facilities and data centers. We are working to reduce our scope 1 and 2 emissions by: (i) converting our scope 1 and 2 inventory to scope 3 by decommissioning our data centers and migrating to cloud-based service providers as part of our Equifax Cloud transformation; (ii) enhancing the energy efficiency of our workplaces; and (iii) investing in renewable energy.Progress vs. Scope 1 and 2 Targets
We have set an SBTi-approved target to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions 54.6% by 2032, from a 2019 base year. As a result of our decarbonization efforts, we have decreased our scope 1 and 2 emissions by 51%, representing significant progress toward our near-term reduction target of 54.6% by 2032.
Progress vs. Scope 3 Target
We have set an SBTi-approved supplier engagement target that 73% of our suppliers by spend, covering purchased goods & services and capital goods (scope 3), will have science-based targets by 2027. As of year end 2023, 56% of our suppliers have set science-based emission reduction targets, reflecting meaningful progress from our 2021 baseline of 20%.
Disclaimer
Last updated: March 22, 2024
You should assume that the information appearing in this webpage is accurate only as of the date it was last updated.
Workplace Enhancements
Facility upgrades continue to increase energy efficiency.
In 2022, Equifax’s Costa Rica location was certified as carbon neutral by INTECO, the Technical Standards Institute of Costa Rica, based on the INTE/ISO 14064‐1:2006 and INTE B5:2016 standards. This important certification exemplifies our Costa Rica team's commitment to environmental sustainability. Further, in the United Kingdom, Equifax is managing our commitment to reduce pollution related to our activities via the implementation of an effective environmental management system, certified against the ISO 14001:2015 standard.
As of early 2023, the Equifax real estate portfolio included seven Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings in North and South America, three Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Excellent rated buildings in the United Kingdom, one National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) and three Green Star rated buildings in Australia. While these Equifax buildings do not represent the majority of our worksites, our global real estate team includes energy efficiency as a factor in determining new office locations.
As we progress through our cloud transformation journey, we are also taking steps to more efficiently manage our remaining onsite data centers, such as optimizing our HVAC systems and implementing cold aisle containment processes.
2022
In 2022, we further enhanced our internal rigor by establishing a Finance and Accounting team who manage a global monthly process, and investing in SalesForce Net Zero Cloud to track our GHG emissions. We significantly reduced our GHG emissions, primarily through our investment in renewable energy and our continued decommissioning of data centers as part of our Equifax Cloud strategy. Our reduction in emissions was partially offset by an increased footprint from our late 2021 and early 2022 acquisitions, as well as an increase in office usage and business travel, as employees began to revert to their pre-COVID travel and work arrangements.
2021
In 2021, we published our GHG emissions data for the first time and made a commitment to reach net-zero GHG emissions by 2040. In 2021, our GHG emissions were positively impacted by a combination of data center decommissions, office consolidation, and an improvement in overall energy efficiency of the Atlanta power market resulting in a reduced emissions factor. Our 2021 GHG emissions were negatively impacted by the availability of more complete information regarding our data centers, an increased footprint from eight acquisitions completed during the year, and an irregular increase in the use of refrigerant required for the year (scope 1).2020
A number of factors contributed to the reduction in our GHG emissions between 2019 and 2020. As with most companies, we saw a reduction in office usage and business travel related to the COVID pandemic that resulted in lower GHG emissions. In 2020, we strategically consolidated a number of locations to promote productivity and increase efficiency of space utilization. These space utilization measures decreased our overall energy usage and the corresponding GHG emissions. Our cloud transformation also positively impacted our GHG emissions as we decommissioned data centers and legacy servers and applications.
Disclaimer
Last updated: March 23, 2023
You should assume that the information appearing in this webpage is accurate only as of the date it was last updated.