Our member Cundall, a global multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, was certified carbon neutral in September. It is the first consultancy in the world to achieve this Carbon Trust certification.
All direct emissions resulting from the business, indirect emissions from the purchase of electricity, and all business travel are included in the calculation of the practice’s carbon footprint across all its offices in the United Kingdom, Europe, MENA, Asia and Australia.
Cundall undertook a detailed carbon footprint analysis of its entire business operations and set science-based targets to achieve absolute reduction against all three scopes approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative.
The business started by improving the operational efficiency of its offices by reducing demand for energy and business travel within the business. It then improved the efficiency of lighting, controls, and metering across all its offices, as well as for opting for low-carbon transport alternatives. The business then purchased renewable electricity for its tenancies and negotiated with its landlords to do the same. As a final step – and last resort – Cundall purchased accredited and credible carbon offsets with environmental and social benefits to offset any remaining emissions.
Derry Kearney, Managing Director of Cundall Ireland said:
We are proud to be a world leader in sustainability, and this is an important achievement for our business, but it is not our destination. We set ourselves clear goals to reduce our environmental impact and are dedicated to becoming a carbon positive business by 2025. As a global business, we became a founding member of the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment in 2018. We also recently became signatories of EPD Ireland’s Environmental Product Declaration Commitment. We will work with our clients and industry peers to set the standard for achieving net-zero carbon in every aspect of our work and lead the way to a decarbonised construction industry.
More information about Cundall’s commitment to carbon neutrality can be found in their qualifying explanatory statement.
