As the consultancy continues to push for ambitious carbon reduction goals, Capgemini has committed to planting 20 million trees by 2030. The pledge comes as part of the World Economic Forum Trillion Trees Movement.
With environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks having swiftly risen to the top of the investment community’s priorities, consulting firms have placed increasing importance on ambitions to reduce their carbon footprint. Capgemini became the latest in a growing cohort of firms to announce net-zero targets earlier in 2021, including significant cuts to the corporate travel that the firm formerly relied upon when doing business.
As the firm looks to hit carbon neutrality by 2025, and net-zero by 2030, Capgemini is continuing to announce new initiatives to meet these goals. While Capgemini’s first priority remains focused on reducing its carbon emissions, in order to reach carbon neutrality, it is also working to offset residual emissions through initiatives such as re-forestation. In this context, Capgemini has joined the World Economic Forum’s Trillion Trees Movement.
Capgemini pledges to plant 20 million trees by 2030
Forests are an essential part of the solution to tackle climate change and biodiversity collapse; trees store carbon, filter air pollution and reduce heat islands in cities; and they can propel new drug discoveries to treat current and future diseases. As part of the World Economic Forum’s efforts to accelerate nature-based solutions and was set up to support the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, Trillion Trees Movement aims to mobilise a global movement to conserve, restore and grow 1 trillion trees by 2030. To that end, Capgemini is making a commitment to plant a further 20 million trees by 2030.
“We are more focused than ever on meeting our net-zero objective, and today we are making an ambitious commitment in terms of carbon offsetting through reforestation”, said Shobha Meera, Chief CSR Officer at Capgemini and member of the Group Executive Committee. “We are inspired by the engagement of our partners of 1t.org and are looking forward to building together a more sustainable future.”
Capgemini’s aim of hitting net-zero by 2030 would put it almost seven years ahead of the average competitor in the professional services sector. According to recent research by Accenture, the average for companies in the sector is a target of around 2037.
Sourced from Consultancy.uk