Corporate Sustainability Report - Flipbook - Page 70
Sustainability Report
Risks and opportunities | TRANSITION RISKS
Risk/opportunity
type and time
horizon
Description of risk/
opportunity
Description
of response
Policy risks –
Increased energy
costs
The energy transition may bring a
period of high energy prices in the
short- to medium-term. Higher carbon
prices may be introduced to support
the shift to investments in, and
adoption of, renewable energy, driving
increased fossil fuel prices. Wholesale
fossil fuel prices may also increase as
a result of lower supply and higher
relative demand, due to the potential
for reduced investment in new oil and
gas supplies.
This risk will be mitigated through
actively monitoring our energy
consumption using a carbon emissions
tracking platform. Identifying,
assessing and investing in energy
saving opportunities in the shortterm will help keep costs down in
the long-term. An example is Access’
transformation plan which is dedicated
to upgrading complex and outdated
systems, harmonising ways of working
and using a single, cloud-based system
to improve accessibility around the
globe.
Technology, including data centres
and network infrastructure, is central
to Access’ o昀昀erings. It constitutes
an important aspect of its energy
consumption and associated carbon
emissions. Innovation focused on low/
no carbon technology forms a central
part of Access’ sustainability agenda
and climate change goals. Failure
to respond su昀케ciently to trends in
technological advancement could
lead to increased energy costs, as well
as decreased asset value or useful
economic life, leading to write-o昀昀s,
asset impairment or early retirement
of existing assets.
Access has migrated servers to
the cloud through large, reputable
suppliers. Additionally, Access is
actively pursuing optimisations to
systems that serve large language
models and arti昀椀cial intelligence
to reduce processing power
requirements, and therefore energy
use and costs.
Timeframe
Short-to long-term
Technology risks –
Substitution of
existing products
and services with
lower emissions
options
Timeframe
Short- to long-term
Access will continue to assess the
energy transition plans of our
technology third-party suppliers
to evaluate their resilience to
technological changes as a result of
transition climate-related risks.
Additionally, Access will continue to
monitor alternative technological
solutions to ensure it is keeping up
with market trends. Access has a
transformation plan in place that is
dedicated to upgrading outdated
systems, harmonising ways of working,
and implementing a single, cloudbased system to improve accessibility
across the globe.
Energy e昀케ciency
opportunity
Timeframe
Short- to long-term
Access continues to identify energy
and carbon savings opportunities
through compliance with regulations.
Energy savings have been made to
date, and e昀케ciency improvement
opportunities are continually
monitored and explored. Access has a
focused e昀昀ort on increasing the source
of renewable energy procured further
leading to additional carbon savings
and emission reductions in line with
our transition plans.
Access continues to work to realise
the opportunity for energy savings,
through allocating personnel resources
to manage its climate change
strategies, and to support in the
identi昀椀cation of opportunities.
70
