Sustainability

Committed to firmwide sustainability—A.T. Kearney's journey towards being carbon neutral

A.T. Kearney is carbon neutral. Our journey began in 2007, when the firm’s Board of Directors committed to becoming carbon neutral in all aspects of our global operations by 2010. In making this pledge, Paul Laudicina, managing officer and chairman of the board, acknowledged that the biggest challenge would be in addressing carbon emissions from travel. It typically comprises 80 percent of our carbon footprint.

As we began examining our internal operations, we refocused our Sustainability practice and service offering, under the leadership of Daniel Mahler. The expertise and experience of the practice guided the development of our internal program, and at the same time the rigor of our analysis and resulting innovations provide insights for clients’ sustainability programs.

To achieve our pledge, we developed and implemented a five-step program in which we:

Established baseline metrics for carbon indicators
Because the sustainability industry is still emerging and standards are evolving, the sustainability team, working with our finance organization, needed to develop rigorous methodologies for calculating the firm’s carbon footprint, establishing baseline metrics, and tracking key data. For example, the team gathers firmwide travel information that is used to report quarterly emissions. It also created a data repository that supports sophisticated modeling and scenario planning, using detailed information down to the individual employee level. Other data comes from IT (hardware) and office services, which tracks electricity usage, heating and paper consumption, among other things.

We also adopted industry-leading metrics. The team relied on state-of-the-art scientific research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and emission calculation methodologies from Atmosfair, a not-for-profit sustainability partner. Our metric for air travel is built on calculations of climate-impact potential that is much more precise than using only CO2 emissions.

In addition, our travel team has earned numerous awards for developing ground-breaking business travel standards, including the Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ inaugural Corporate Social Responsibility Award in 2008. This award recognizes “business travel executives who incorporate an eco-sensitive approach to conservation or environmental rejuvenation into their travel programs.” In June 2010, A.T. Kearney received the “Vision Award” from GetThere for the firm’s leadership role within travel for Corporate Responsibility.
Built a global network of sustainability champions
When we began this journey in 2007, many of our local offices were already up and running with environmentally focused projects. Armed with new metrics, we are now able to coordinate firmwide efforts while highlighting the remaining challenges. Today, a Chief Sustainability Officer coordinates a global network of Sustainability “Czars”—designated champions who work within their local regions to recruit teams of eco-committed consultants and management services staff.

The czars use the firm’s quarterly sustainability metrics—with data by country, business unit, employees and rank—to measure local performance and assess projects underway in other offices. They are aided by our Global Sustainability Program Manager, who promotes the exchange of ideas and innovative activities across offices and coordinates with various functions, including finance, knowledge services, travel and office services.
Spearheaded local activities and honed best practices
Throughout our global network, office sustainability teams focus on educating and doing—improving recycling, implementing greener energy options and encouraging alternative travel.

In addition, an office services team continues to make sustainability an integral part of the construction and remodeling of our offices. To date, two North America offices, New York and Cambridge, have achieved certification by Leadership in Energy & Environment Design (LEED). Our London office has all three certifications from the International Standards Organization (ISO): Environment, Quality and Security.
Developed innovative models for serving clients
As mentioned, more than 80 percent of the firm’s carbon emissions are travel related. In partnering with our clients, extensive travel is often unavoidable. We have, however, identified and implemented the following ways to reduce emissions without sacrificing the quality of our services:
- Created and adopted new tools, such as the Sustainability Travel Planner, to manage and monitor a consulting team’s carbon footprint
- Switched from air to rail transport where possible within Europe
- Used project-staffing models to balance travel with required consultant expertise
- Continued to work with the travel community, both buyers and suppliers, to further develop metrics in all travel categories, including hotel, car, rail, public transportation and taxi use
- Adopted collaborative technologies to bridge the miles and reduce the need for some in-person meetings
Invested in climate-protecting carbon-offset projects
While we continue to reduce emissions, we also balance our carbon footprint by investing in external climate-protection projects. We have established a rigorous request for proposal (RFP) process, based on a comprehensive understanding of the carbon-offset market, a carbon forecast (determined by our baseline and run rate), and criteria specific to our firm. The criteria include:
- Certification mechanisms: assess the thoroughness and rigor of internationally established methodologies for awarding certificates
- Sustainability impact: defines and classifies projects by overall economic, social and environmental impact, such as improvements to communities, creation of jobs, reduction in waste and environmental pollution, and support for local education or health
- Technological quality: measures transparency and accuracy of reporting greenhouse gas reductions and their impact potential
- Geographic location and market coverage: consider diversified projects with global coverage, while focusing on emerging economies
- Partner quality: verifies strength of implementation and investment partners using a variety of methods, including secondary research, references, third-party endorsements, audits and site visits
- Pricing: manages the industry range and market dynamics of carbon-offset pricing
Certification Standards

click to enlarge

With today’s range of certification standards, it is important to distinguish between rigorous certification and project quality. A company’s sustainability methods might be certified at the highest levels, but that does not necessarily mean its projects are being run most efficiently or its approaches and investments align to our firm’s needs. With this in mind, we perform a detailed project analysis on each carbon-offset investment.

Using this approach, we have built a climate-protection portfolio of projects across emerging markets— Brazil, China, India, South Africa, and Turkey—with technologies that range from hydro and wind power to composting to regenerative braking systems.

Celebrating progress, but looking ahead
A.T. Kearney reduced its carbon emissions by 5 percent in 2008 and 14 percent in 2009. This year, we anticipate reducing them by 20 percent. And while we have achieved our goal of being carbon neutral, we recognize that this is but one step on a much longer journey.

Looking ahead, we plan to pursue our sustainability commitment on two fronts. Externally, we will continue to deliver results-driven consulting for which we are known, with a focus on more responsible, sustainable practices. Internally, we will continue to establish aggressive targets for reducing our own carbon footprint, and offset any remaining emissions by investing in top-quality internationally recognized projects.

For more information about our sustainability strategy, implementation approach, carbon-offset RFP process, or our portfolio of projects, please contact Daniel Mahler, Jochen Hauff or Wayne Boley.

Media Highlights

A Focused Journey to Achieve Carbon Neutrality
25 August 2010 — SupplyChainBrain
The expertise and experience of the sustainability practice guided the development of the internal carbon-reduction program, and at the same time the rigor of the internal analysis and resulting innovations provided insights for clients’ sustainability programs.
By Mike Wise
[Read Article]