Global travel of BearingPoint consultants CO2-neutral
Global management consultancy BearingPoint has announced that the global travel of its consultants and staff is now CO2-neutral, following the launch of a massive carbon-offsetting initiative.
Sustainability has moved rapidly up the corporate agenda in the last 10 years. According to research by Bain & Company, 81% of companies say that sustainability is more important today than it was five years ago. 85% say that it will be more important still in another five years.
One of the most common ways in which businesses have sought to improve their sustainability efforts has been carbon-offsetting. A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. While paying to plant trees is thought to be the most effective method of this, it can also include sponsoring solar and wind-power projects, or even capturing methane released from land-fill sites.
A decade ago, the carbon-offsetting market was tiny – but as awareness of the climate crisis has grown, corporates in particular have turned to voluntary offsetting and sent the market mainstream. Since then, highly regulated global carbon and renewable energy markets have been set up, and thousands of participating companies and charities are now theoretically held to international standards by independent verifiers.
BearingPoint has become the latest in a long line of companies – and particularly consultancies – to deploy carbon-offsetting measures in order to help declare its travel as ‘CO2-neutral.’ Consultants are among the most regular travellers in the world of business, often jetting to clients in far-flung corners of the world to help with project management and business transformations. With over 4,500 consultants worldwide, BearingPoint’s collective commute to its international clients would have a huge impact on the environment without being offset.
Having initially commenced its CO2 compensation efforts in Germany, BearingPoint has now rolled out its offsetting scheme globally. The move sees the firm work to realise its climate commitments, having signed the UN Global Compact in 2019. The signing dedicated BearingPoint to uphold the accord’s 10 underlying principles, including environmental and climate protection. UN Global Compact signatories are encouraged to improve their contribution to the principles continuously.
Markus Laqua, BearingPoint's Corporate Social Responsibility sponsor, said, “Companies must take responsibility. Focus and continuity help, and the UN Global Compact provides both with its 10 Principles and progress reporting. So for us it was an obvious decision that we must implement CO2 offsetting for all our business units globally. At the same time, of course, we are also committed to avoiding and reducing CO2 emissions both internally and in our consulting projects, where sustainability issues are increasingly asked about.”
Reforestation
With its emission tracking and compensation payments, BearingPoint is supporting the Jacunda REDD+ project in Brazil, which promotes reforestation and re-naturation in the Amazon rainforest. The project area covers a total of 94,000 hectares and is located in the northeast of the state of Rondônia, which is still predominantly covered by primary forest. Via this method, BearingPoint has offset 9,100 tonnes of CO2 and purchased emission certificates across all its businesses globally. On top of CO2 emissions, the greenhouse effects of gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, so-called equivalents, were also taken into account.
The move also comes as part of a broader CSR campaign, as BearingPoint looks to promote a host of worthy causes during its 10th anniversary celebrations. Earlier in 2019, its #10DaysOfCaring campaign saw the firm volunteer and give back to people, the planet, and society across its offices.
