Developing Churchill Group’s End-to-end Climate Strategy: From Data to Decarbonisation

Since 2022, Acclaro Advisory has partnered with Churchill Group, a UK-based facilities management company, to deliver measurable climate action. From building a robust GHG inventory to achieving validated science-based targets and launching a supplier engagement programme, this partnership has been central to the development and implementation of Churchill’s end-to-end climate strategy.

The challenge

When Acclaro first began working with Churchill Group, the business recognised the urgent need to respond to growing stakeholder expectations, regulatory pressures, and customer demand for credible climate action. However, Churchill faced several strategic challenges common to many organisations at the start of their decarbonisation journey:

• Data quality undermining the business case: Inconsistent, incomplete emissions data across operations and the value chain meant Churchill could not build a reliable baseline or make robust, evidence-based investment decisions.
• Limited leadership expertise of climate risk and technical issues: Senior management lacked the technical expertise to translate climate science, risk frameworks, and carbon roadmaps into clear business decisions.
• Lack of visibility on long-term pathways: Leadership and managers struggled to see what the organisation’s decarbonisation journey would look like in practice — raising uncertainty around costs, delivery mechanisms, and the credibility of targets.
• Siloed departmental engagement: With climate priorities sitting primarily within the sustainability function, there was limited buy-in from finance, supply chain, and operational teams. This risked undermining the cross-functional ownership required to deliver real progress.

Overcoming these challenges required more than just technical expertise in GHG accounting and target setting. It demanded translation of complexity into actionable insights for senior leaders, creation of a credible evidence base for investment, a strategic approach that embedded climate priorities into governance, procurement, and everyday decision-making around a cohesive climate strategy.

The Solution

Addressing Churchill’s climate challenges required a strategic, multi-year approach that combined technical expertise with governance, operational planning, and supplier engagement. Acclaro also worked to upskill leaders and managers across the business, ensuring that climate risk and carbon roadmaps were understood not as abstract technical exercises, but as strategic issues demanding Board and executive-level oversight.

Building a reliable foundation for decision-making: Acclaro developed Churchill’s first comprehensive GHG inventory, capturing Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions with consistent methodologies and improved data coverage. This baseline is reviewed and refined annually to reflect business changes and ensure accuracy and credibility with stakeholders.

Securing leadership buy-in with credible targets: Using this evidence base, Acclaro modelled a net zero pathway and supported Churchill to set and secure SBTi validation in April 2024. This gave executives confidence that their commitments were ambitious yet achievable and aligned with both business realities and stakeholder expectations.  

Upskilling leaders and breaking down silos: To embed climate into governance and decision-making, Acclaro engaged finance, supply chain, and operations teams alongside sustainability. Senior leadership workshops translated complex issues — such as climate risk, future regulation, and transition pathways — into clear business implications, enabling climate to be discussed and managed at Board level.

Embedding climate into long-term strategy: With the fleet a major source of Churchill’s Scope 1 emissions, Acclaro developed a phased EV transition plan that linked climate ambition with financial and operational planning, ensuring decarbonisation is integrated into Churchill’s long-term strategy.

Managing supply chain transition risk: Recognising the exposure of Scope 3 emissions,  Acclaro delivered a supplier engagement programme to educate, align and support suppliers in reducing their emissions. This not only advances Churchill’s Scope 3 target, but also mitigates transition risk across its value chain.

Impact

Through this ongoing partnership, Churchill transformed its approach to climate action, moving from a limited visibility of emissions to a fully integrated evidence-based strategy. Key impacts include:

• Stronger leadership ownership of climate strategy: With SBTi-validated targets and clear pathways, climate ambition has moved from a sustainability “tick-box” to a Board-level priority, embedded into governance and performance management.
• Cross-functional alignment: Engagement of finance, supply chain, and operations alongside sustainability has created a unified approach, ensuring climate targets are supported across the business rather than resting with a single function.
• Translation of complexity into business language: Senior leaders now have growing clarity on how climate risk, regulation, and net zero pathways affect long-term planning, financial exposure, and customer expectations. This shifts climate from a technical issue to a strategic priority. The delivery teams have the confidence to communicate the targets and describe how they can be achieved.
• Enhanced market positioning: As an employee-owned business, Churchill can demonstrate credible, measurable progress to its people, customers, and investors — reinforcing its reputation as a responsible, forward-looking partner.
• Reduced transition risk across the supply chain: Increased supplier engagement is actively advancing Churchill’s Scope 3 engagement target and improving supplier climate performance and climate resilience.
• Enhanced resilience and market positioning: Churchill is better equipped to manage climate-related risks and meet stakeholder expectations whilst maintaining a competitive edge.

“Acclaro’s expertise in building our GHG footprint and modelling net zero pathways gave leadership the evidence and foresight needed to make informed decisions — linking climate ambition directly to strategy and financial planning.”

Churchill Group

Looking forward

Acclaro continues to work with Churchill on their broader sustainability journey, including ongoing collaboration on emissions reporting, roadmap development, and other emerging priorities as their sustainability programme continues to evolve. Acclaro remains committed to supporting Churchill in driving measurable progress and continuing to embed and integrate sustainability principles across their leadership and whole value chain.