Number of Apprenticeships
Tonnes of Waste Recycled, Recovered, and Re-used (incl. Composting & Anaerobic Digestion) in FYT 2021
Percent of Waste Sent to Landfil
tCO2(e) saved across our ABM Aviation, Technical Solutions & Facilities Services businesses *
As one of the largest providers of integrated facility services, we’re committed to taking care of the people, spaces, and places that are important to you, your customers, our team members, and the communities in which we operate. We collaborate to reach shared sustainability outcomes, building value by driving innovation across businesses, portfolios, and supply chains.
Our commitment to sustainability and the UK Net Zero challenge is growing every day. As we continue to raise the standard in everything we do, we aim to make it easier for you to meet your Net Zero goals. We offer sustainable services, tools, and innovations and can supply selected data and case studies that support the delivery of your sustainability outcomes for Environmental, Social, and Governance Reporting needs.
We have designed an innovative sustainable solutions portfolio covering the installation of energy efficiency retrofits and EV charging points, elimination of waste to landfills, and our ABM Greencare® cleaning programme.
Our approach is based upon collaborating with our customers to manage waste, water, energy, and cleaning services in their estates. We add social value through community-based volunteering and charity, training, and development activities promoting diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces and spaces. This has resulted in several Green Apple awards.
The ABMCares programme ensures we can make an impact together to enrich the communities in which we work by matching team member charity donations and providing paid volunteering days. The programme helps support the social value we deliver through our services by encouraging our teams to make a positive difference.
Sustainability and corporate responsibility are at the heart of ABM, and our sustainability report and Carbon Reduction Plans for ABM Facility Services UK and ABM Technical Solutions UK reaffirm our commitment to leaving a healthier planet for the next generation. Part of our UK sustainability programme is to transition our fleet from fossil fuel to electric vehicles (EVs). This is helping us to improve our tailpipe emissions, both reducing our impact on local air quality wherever we work and reducing our operational greenhouse gas emissions. We are also transitioning our direct electricity supplies to renewable sources following the completion of a successful trial at our International Distribution Centre at Heathrow. In 2019/2020, our ABM Aviation business procured 12% of its direct electricity consumption as REGO Certified renewable electricity. Changing our approach to waste management has improved recycling, reuse, and energy recovery from our customers’ waste streams. We are collaboratively testing new technologies with our customers to reduce lorry and transportation miles in our waste and materials chain. We work with our operations teams and suppliers to explore how we can limit our environmental impacts. In 2021, we have worked to accommodate improved sustainability outcomes, and have defined solutions with our supply chain to develop closed loops for plastic packaging. We recognise that sustainability improvements are wider than the direct impacts within your estate, therefore, we must understand the implications of the lifecycle impacts of our services, products, and processes. With this in mind, we are planning to collaborate with our supply chain and our customers more to analyse these impacts. We have already taken the opportunity to implement closed-loop recycling with some of our preferred suppliers as well as exploring the use of more recycled and recyclable products and equipment.
Sustainability is not just our journey it’s likely yours too, and our approach ensures that we work collaboratively to support you to achieve your goals. That’s why we’ve piloted a collaborative monthly review during which we identify sustainability “hotspots” to assess emerging technologies and joint social value activities that can be implemented to reduce energy and emissions, whilst improving social value outcomes in your estate. We have added dedicated sustainability services to our portfolio of offerings and help all kinds of businesses meet their Net Zero strategies, conform with sustainable procurement approaches, and plan local community engagement initiatives. Our journey to improving sustainability in our business is founded on the People, Planet, and Prosperity model, so we can provide relevant supporting evidence and data to align with your ESG needs. Currently, our range of services includes everything from environmentally sustainable cleaning via our ABM GreenCare protocol to reducing your energy and water use, performing environmental audits and assessments, and installing EV charging units, as well as offering support services to meet BREEAM or LEED certification requirements.
ABM EV Services Our dedicated team can install EV chargers at all of your locations, as we are doing across the UK for many different customers. Our Aviation business has trialled EV buses for passenger transit both landside and airside at key airports in the UK in anticipation of providing EV Bus services in the not too distant future.
ABM GreenCare® Our ABM GreenCare® programme includes our cleaning and waste management services to support cleaning compliance, as well as waste diversion, recycling, re-use, and energy from waste performance. Our waste management measures are designed to ensure that appropriate engagement is undertaken with tenants and occupiers, to improve how they segregate their waste. Energy Savings Our teams can help you reduce your energy consumption through rationalisation and optimisation of electrical and mechanical equipment, building management systems, whilst influencing occupants and tenants to adjust their behaviours and energy consumption, all without impacting user wellness. BREEAM In Use Support Where BREEAM, LEED, or similar green building certification schemes are in use, we can offer support through relevant sustainable management protocols to provide demonstrable evidence for compliance and assurance of energy management, resource management, indoor air quality (IAQ), natural habitat, open spaces, and community impact.
We elevate the team member experience and create growth opportunities for our people to meet our business purpose, and to provide a healthier and more sustainable world through our business activities. First and foremost, it’s a fundamental responsibility to ensure that all of our team members finish each work shift safely, and that their health, safety, and wellbeing are well-protected. Protecting our team members’ mental health is paramount, which is why we offer every team member access to an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). There’s also the opportunity to become a mental health first aider (MHFA) so our people can support each other on the frontline in times of personal or work crisis. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core to ABM’s culture. Ensuring diversity in our team at all levels is good for our business and simply the right thing to do. Inviting different perspectives and driving inclusion enables us to connect meaningfully, adapt, and innovate. Giving our team members equal opportunities to learn and grow deepens our purpose to make a difference. Our Culture & Inclusion Council is dedicated to fostering diverse talent, driving meaningful social change, and strengthening our communities. This includes dedicated training and professional development opportunities while enhancing our external partnerships and relationships. People Development and Succession Planning As part of our responsibility to develop our people and improve team member retention, in addition to on-the-job training, we offer courses on leadership, behavioural skills, and mentoring so our people can grow. We have other robust training and career growth programmes for our team members, including apprenticeships and graduate programmes, together with a career development training program. This accounts for aspects discussed during our GPS (Grow, Perform, Succeed) team member career review and growth process. Creating Better Futures We invest in young people by working in education at all levels. This ranges from school talks about the apprenticeship programs available to dedicated sustainability and Facilities Management workshops in schools, like the Junior Engineering Engagement Programme (J.E.E.P.). Through Rock Assembly, we contribute to an inspiring range of workshops hosted through the Talent Foundation, where we provide virtual mentorship to students. We also present the benefits of accessing education via apprenticeships, work placement, and other pathways such as graduate development programmes.
Our approach to social responsibility is based upon collaboration throughout the value chain (including our supply chains), while never forgetting that our communities, families, and people are the cornerstone of our lives. To recognise the contribution of our team members to service excellence, improved sustainability outcomes, and social value, we hold an annual conference at which team and individual excellence achievements are recognised with awards. We continuously develop and deliver training to account for cultural inclusion and diversity, to ensure that we are meeting our responsibilities for sex, race or nationality, pregnancy or maternity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or belief, and marriage or civil partnership. Volunteering in The Community Our ABMCares programme encourages teams and individual team members to actively contribute to their local communities. We provide one day of additional leave a year to volunteer for a cause of their choosing. Additionally, our ABMCares system enables our people to gain matching funds for any charity donations they make. This system also creates the opportunity for team members who volunteer more of their own time to access additional donations from ABM. We challenge our project teams to work with the local community to offer benefits through a circular economy approach to waste and to engage with organisations supporting local community issues. Amongst the many partners we work with are the Talent Foundry, PurpleSpace, Armed Forced Covenant, and the London Progression Collaboration to make apprenticeships available to SMEs, as well as being supporters of PRIDE and working with Social Enterprises and organisations such as Remploy to create disability-inclusive workplaces.