Bain & Company has again been awarded a 100% CarbonNeutral company certification by Natural Capital Partners. The certification follows an independent audit of the firm’s carbon footprint; which Bain has worked to minimise and mitigate through leveraging renewables and offsetting unnecessary travel.
In recent years, large companies have gotten on board with global targets to negate the effects of climate change, such as the Paris Agreements’ goal to limit global warming to below 1.5C. Global carbon intensity has meanwhile fallen according to a recent PwC report, by an average of 2.8%.
Amid this period of change, Bain & Company, one of the world’s largest pure play strategy consulting firms, recently announced that it has been declared a 100% CarbonNeutral company for the sixth year running. The certification was awarded by Natural Capital Partners*, reflecting Bain’s continued commitment to limiting and offsetting its carbon use across its global operations.
The firm’s long-term sustainability was achieved through various techniques, from mobilising its employees to company wide policies. Employees were actively engaged in work-space energy efficiency, recycling and limiting paper use, reducing travel through teleconferencing and server consolidation, while the company itself used green electricity for 96% of its total power use.
Aside from reducing carbon use on the firm’s growing business – Bain is also offsetting various unavoidable needs to travel for the firms personnel and that of its clients, through investment in around 30 sustainability-focused projects across the globe. The company’s donations make such projects viable where they otherwise would not be cost-effective, while the resulting changes continue to cut the emission of greenhouse gasses.
Commenting on the firm’s corporate responsibility programme, Steven Tallman, Bain’s head of global operations, said, “Protecting our natural resources makes good business sense. We’re proud to be a sustainability leader in the global consulting industry with our carbon neutral initiative, a grassroots program led by our internal network of Green Teams.”
Bain’s latest achievement comes at a time when the consulting industry has seen a boom in initiatives hoping to stunt climate change. Notably PA Consulting Group recently joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s CE100 programme, promoting sustainable business practice, while Mott MacDonald have been involved in numerous clean energy projects. Various professional service groups are meanwhile involved in projects to help developing nations design engineering methods to meet their Paris Agreement NDC targets, including engineering consultancies Royal Haskoning DHV, Ramboll, Arup and the global sustainability consultancy Ricardo Energy & Environment.
* Natural Capital Partners was founded more than 19 years ago to support organisations globally improve their carbon footprint. The certification awarded by the company involves “a rigorous and independent assessment of seven different greenhouse gas emissions, coupled with an offset-inclusive emissions reduction program.”