About Hitachi Solutions Europe

As a member of Hitachi Group, Hitachi Solutions Europe is a leading provider of IT services, specialising in delivering comprehensive business solutions tailored to a variety of industries across Europe. With services such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), data analytics, and digital transformation, their mission is to enhance operational efficiency, improve decision-making, and support strategic business objectives. By collaborating with partners like Microsoft, Hitachi Solutions offer robust and integrated solutions across multiple locations in Europe.

A Comprehensive Review

Hitachi Solutions have high aspirations for their environmental plans. Eight Versa were brought onboard to help with their ambitions and provide a robust and credible carbon footprint assessment for two reporting periods – a Baseline Carbon Footprint for 2022-23 for all European entities and operations, followed by a carbon footprint for the following 2023-24 reporting period. Our key objectives from the assessment included:

  1. Calculate a comprehensive Scope 1-3 carbon footprint in line with the GHG Protocol Standards for all European business entities
  2. Develop a clear and actionable sustainability strategy and roadmap for carbon reduction
  3. Achieve external assurance and verification through Natural Carbon Solutions to ensure credibility of the carbon footprint.

Bespoke Reduction Plans

Our carbon footprint efforts focused not only on calculating the results but also in supporting their understanding of the detailed data requirements to conduct a comprehensive carbon assessment. As Hitachi Solutions is a service-based organisation – the largest contributors to the total carbon footprint of the organisation are (1) Business Travel (2) Purchased Goods and Services (3) Employee Commuting (4) Capital Goods and (5) Purchased Electricity.

Through collaboration with Hitachi Solutions, Eight Versa developed a bespoke carbon reduction plan which identified opportunities to reduce emissions hotspots across the organisation.

Recommendations initially focused on how Hitachi Solutions can improve internal processes to enhance the quality of data used for future footprint assessments.  In addition, asset-level recommendations were also provided to support the reduction of direct emissions sources across all leased offices. Building on the carbon footprint analysis, suggestions on how Hitachi Solutions could  engage with selected suppliers through a dedicated supplier engagement strategy were also provided.

Emissions
by Scope

Location-based Scope 1 & 2 CRP Roadmap vs SBTi (tCO₂e)

Short-Term Achievements, Long-Term Targets

To support strategic target setting across the organisation, Eight Versa guided Hitachi Solutions through the target setting requirements of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). This involved setting out the short and long-term goals that they should be working towards to ensure alignment with SBTi requirements to support Hitachi Solutions commitment  to achieving a Net Zero target:

“Hitachi Solutions Europe Ltd is committed to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050”

In the meantime, as Hitachi Solutions are focused on demonstrating a credible pathway to Net Zero, they also aimed to achieve Natural Carbon Solutions certification. As a result of the work with Eight Versa, they were able to achieve a ‘Carbon Measured’ label through Natural Carbon Solutions for both reporting periods, which provided the organisation with third-party verification of the footprint and assurance that best practice standards from across the industry have been adhered to for this assessment.

“It has been great to work so closely with Eight Versa on this exciting decarbonisation strategy for Hitachi Solutions Europe. Gaining a clear understanding of our current position and identifying areas for the biggest impact has laid a solid foundation for our long-term environmental plans. The Eight Versa team brought thoroughness and credibility to their approach, ensuring we met the highest industry standards. Now that we have a bespoke reduction plan in place, I am looking forward to progressing this strategy and achieving our aspirations.” – Jonathan Scott, Vice President of Hitachi Solutions Europe