Climate and Energy

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We believe it is important for the health of both our business and our communities that we invest in measures that reduce the environmental impact of our physical operations – focusing on operational eco-efficiency and making strategic investments that enhance the resiliency of our company, reduce costs, and decrease our carbon footprint. Given the nature of our business, our environmental impacts stem primarily from our Scope 3 emissions (as defined below).

Our Goals Toward a More Sustainable, Low-Carbon Future

In fiscal year 2024, the Science Based Target initiative (“SBTi”) validated our near-term science-based targets (“SBTs”) in line with the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.1

Our Climate Targets2

We aim to create and maintain a sustainable, responsible business. To this end, the following near-term science-based emissions reduction target commitments were validated by SBTi:

  • Reduce absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions by 50% by fiscal year 2030 compared to our fiscal year 2020 baseline year.
  • Reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel and energy related activities (“FERA”), business travel, and employee commuting by 42% within the same timeframe.
  • Increase to 50% the portion of our suppliers by emissions covering purchased goods and services that have SBTs by fiscal year 2028.

In support of increased operational sustainability, we are also working toward sourcing renewable energy for 100% of the global power needs of our offices annually by fiscal year 2030.3

Our strategy to achieve — and maintain — our climate goals are informed by our SBTs and focused on the following pillars:

  • Evolving our Supplier Sustainability program: We aim to engage our suppliers in setting SBTs and taking other steps to reduce their environmental impacts. Based on our most recent data, 39.2% of our suppliers by emissions have either committed to or set SBTs.  
  • Improving efficiency: We have undertaken a range of energy efficiency measures across our operations and plan to implement additional measures in the coming years. Six of our office buildings hold a green building or green business certification through the landlord, which represents 60.5% of total active square footage. We expect both numbers to continue to increase.
  • Sourcing renewables: We are focused on increasing renewable energy procurement in select Guidewire offices through local utility renewable energy programs and the purchase of renewable energy certificates (“RECs”) to satisfy our 100% renewable energy target where renewable energy options may be limited due to our leasing arrangements. In our most recent reporting period, 45.9% of our energy came from renewable sources - a decrease of 5.1% over the prior period. This is due to higher energy usage in offices where we do not have a renewable energy option.  
  • Advancing the work of our internal Sustainability Working Group: As a complement to the Sustainability Task Force, this working group is advising on our Climate Risk Assessment and may advise on the creation of sustainable business travel guidance in the future.

Our Operational GHG Footprint(a)

Guidewire’s operational GHG footprint stems from powering our buildings (e.g., electricity, heating, and cooling)4, business travel, and purchased goods and services. Our total absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions have decreased by 42.8% since our fiscal year 2020 baseline due to greening of the electrical grid and strategic rightsizing of our real estate portfolio, leading to a decrease in office square footage occupied. The largest drivers of our overall GHG footprint are Scope 3 purchased goods and services and business travel. Our absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel and energy related activities (“FERA”)5, business travel, and employee commuting decreased 9.3% in fiscal year 2024 compared to our fiscal year 2020 baseline, with FERA falling by 8%; employee commuting rising by 138.4%, and business travel falling by 28.7%6.

  Scope 1 Scope 2(b) Scope 3(c)
Fiscal Year 2024 Emissions 26

Location-Based – 1,246.5

Market-Based – 810.9

 Market-Based — 29,397
Type Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy and estimated refrigerants Other indirect emissions sources
Emissions Sources Fuel to heat buildings, diesel to run generators Purchased energy for leased facilities for which Guidewire controls the energy usage and pays the utility bills, estimated refrigerants Business travel, including air, rail, reimbursed personal vehicle, and rental car; purchased goods and services and capital goods; waste and FERA from our leased offices; employee commuting; and work from home
% of Fiscal Year 2024 Emissions(d)

0.1%

MtCO2e

2.7%

MtCO2e

97.2%

MtCO2e
Emissions Reduction Strategies(e)

Reduce energy consumption

Rightsize real estate portfolio 

Reduce energy consumption

Work with landlords to purchase and execute renewable energy procurement agreements

Purchase RECs Rightsize real estate portfolio 

Train buyers on sustainable procurement practices

Utilize technology, such as our travel booking platform’s sustainability features, to guide environmentally sustainable business travel choices

Reduce business travel

Offset business travel emissions through sustainable aviation fuel

(a) In fiscal year 2025, we received third-party limited assurance from Apex for our fiscal year 2024 Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions (excluded emissions categories are noted in the Environmental Sustainability Data Table footnotes and the External Assurance disclosure in the GRI Index). We expect to report our fiscal year 2025 emissions with limited assurance on or around February 2026.
(b) Scope 2 GHG emissions are location-based and market-based
(c) Scope 3 emissions tracked include: 1) business travel, excluding hotel stays; 2) purchased goods and services and capital goods calculated using spend-based and supplier specific data; 3) waste estimated based on office square footage; 4) FERA based on purchased energy for leased facilities; 5) employee commuting calculated using employees’ annualized hours of work and commuting days (geocoding tools were used to calculate the commute distance to determine total annual commuting distance); 6) work from home emissions calculated using Anthesis' methodology; 7) business travel calculated using air and rail travel, rental cars, and personal employee car mileage for business; air, rail, and rental car information obtained through travel management platform and travel agencies, and personal employee car mileage obtained through expense management system; 8) emissions from investments estimated using the spend based Environmental Economic Input-Output (EEIO) methodology.
(d) Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
(e) The strategies listed are intended to be illustrative of potential reduction options and are not intended to be exhaustive.
Fiscal Year 2024

 

1 SBTi validated that our near-term SBTs conform with the SBTi Criteria and Recommendations (Criteria version 5.1) in July 2024.
2 Please refer to the “Our Fiscal Year 2024 Operational GHG Footprint” Table on the following page for a breakdown of each scope.
3 This target is subject to our ability to source renewable energy options at our office locations, which is not completely within Guidewire’s control. We may explore purchasing renewable energy certificates (“RECs”) where renewable energy options may be limited due to our leasing arrangements.
4 We exited our colocated data center in fiscal year 2022 and transitioned to running our operations on AWS, a third-party cloud provider. This transition improved product security, operational efficiency with faster access to newer technology features, and significantly increased energy efficiency.
5 Fuel and energy related activities are upstream emissions associated with the product of fuels and energy purchased and consumed by Guidewire, such as the extraction, transmission, and distribution of natural gas used in some of our offices.
6 Our fiscal year 2020 baseline year included a lower level of employee commuting and business travel due to COVID from March 2020 to July 2020.

 

Looking Forward

After a normalization of emissions post-COVID, we expect a continued increase in Scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions going forward as we continue to grow our customer base and revenue, and expand business operations and business travel. In the near-term, we aim to reduce our emissions relative to business growth, where possible, by more fully implementing our strategy to achieve our climate goals: increasing renewable energy procurement, increasing energy efficiency, evaluating potential company-wide sustainable travel guidance in conjunction with our Sustainability Working Group, and engaging with our suppliers on their environmental impacts. Absolute reductions are likely to require innovations in sustainable travel, such as sustainable aviation fuel, access to emerging renewable energy options and electrification, and greater efficiencies in computing and data management.