WMG and Deeley Group
Tuesday 3 November 2026
Accelerating net-zero: how WMG helped Deeley Group identify potential emissions reduction of 55%
Building a pathway to operational net-zero
Established 90 years ago, Deeley Group is a family-led construction and property development company based in Coventry. The business prides itself on its sustainability goals, working towards 99% of all electricity used across its sites coming from green electricity providers.
Needing support to achieve its ambitious goal of being operationally net-zero carbon by 2036, Deeley Group partnered with Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, to explore the best routes to reduce its emissions, comply with regulations and embed sustainability knowledge and practices within the business.
Challenge: Turning ambition into a measurable plan
Without dedicated staff working in the sustainability space, Deeley Group wanted to understand how it could put long-term practices in place, establish a baseline and benchmark its progress against its net-zero goals.
Understanding WMG’s unique position, with extensive industry knowledge and access to world-leading facilities at the University of Warwick, Deeley Group wanted to explore how WMG’s Knowledge Exchange programme could support its sustainability aims.
Utilising WMG’s Internship Programme, a 12-week programme placing high-quality interns into a business, Florence Bullwright and Sanjana Neogi joined Deeley Group to support the firm’s drive to be more sustainable.
Solution: Transforming data into a roadmap for change
Joining the business in 2025, the interns worked alongside Deeksha Sampath, Technology Transfer Engineer at WMG, who facilitated knowledge transfer into the business, guiding the interns to ensure the most impactful outcomes for Deeley Group.
Together, Florence, Sanjana and Deeksha measured Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions from a company’s whole supply chain), across different categories and used a mix of spend-based and activity-based measurements to help establish Deeley Group’s first comprehensive Scope 3 emissions assessment.
The team developed three, five and ten-year roadmaps for the business, setting out practical measures that could help make Deeley Group’s 2036 target attainable. These included:
- Switching to renewable electricity for temporary building supplies through power purchase agreements, with the potential to save the equivalent of 80.1 tonnes CO2e annually.
- Exploring the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) for generators and plant equipment, potentially reducing CO2 emissions by up to 90%.
“This is a major step forward in our ambitious plans to be operational net zero by 2036 and the work Florence and Sanjana have done sets the foundations for our future plans.”
- Eleanor Deeley, Joint Managing Director, Deeley Group.
“The WMG internship programme provided real-world corporate experience, allowing me to work on an impactful Scope 3 carbon project, with support of a WMG subject expert while developing both technical and professional skills.” – Florence Bullwright, ESG Coordinator, Deeley Group.
Impact: Delivering measurable carbon and cost savings
“It’s been a privilege to supervise Florence and Sanjana on this project supporting Deeley in establishing their first round of Scope 3 emissions reporting.” - Deeksha Sampath, Technology Transfer Engineer, WMG.
From the interns’ work at Deeley, the business benefitted from:
- Potential cost savings of £130k from the interns identifying opportunities to reduce up to 55.74% of Deeley Group’s overall carbon emissions by 2035.
- Sanjana developing two Power BI dashboards, including a live ESG dashboard, providing detailed year-on-year ESG performance tracking and enabling more informed sustainability decision-making.
- Establishing a 2025 Scope 3 emissions baseline of 17,410 tCO₂e, providing greater visibility of supply chain emissions and informing a Carbon Reduction Roadmap across Scopes 1–3, with a projected potential emissions reduction of 9,705 tCO₂e by 2035.
Creating lasting change beyond the project
Understanding the value created through the interns’ work, Deeley Group appointed Florence as its first ESG Coordinator, allowing her to build on the work she and Sanjana had undertaken as interns.
“The internship gave me the opportunity to build on the core skills that are now fundamental to my role as ESG Coordinator at Deeley.”
- Florence Bullwright, ESG Coordinator, Deeley Group.
Following the success of the project, Sanjana was offered a role within WMG’s SME Group supporting the Knowledge Exchange programme, creating an opportunity for her to use her experience to help create lasting change for future businesses and interns.
Since partnering with WMG in 2025, Deeley Group has continued to build on the foundations established during the project, turning recommendations into practical action and strengthening its approach to sustainability.
- Delivering real emissions reductions: Building on the project's recommendations, Deeley completed a successful HVO fuel pilot, avoiding 46.7 tCO2e in emissions.
- Improving reporting efficiency: Developing a semi-automated Scope 1–3 carbon reporting calculator, reducing manual processing and improving the efficiency and consistency of annual emissions reporting.
These developments demonstrate how the partnership has helped Deeley move beyond setting a net-zero ambition to building the knowledge, tools and practical processes needed to support its long-term decarbonisation goals. Alongside these technical outcomes, the project has also strengthened in-house sustainability expertise and organisational capability, enabling Deeley to build on the recommendations and embed sustainable practices across the business.
“It’s encouraging to see companies like Deeley taking a proactive role in driving sustainability across the industry, not just responding to legislation but leading by example.”
- Deeksha Sampath, Technology Transfer Engineer, WMG.
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