Mott MacDonald is the first engineering, management and development consultancy to be certified carbon neutral, globally

October 14, 2020

Mott MacDonald is the first company in its class to be independently certified carbon neutral. The Carbon Trust certified the global engineering, management and development consultancy to the international standard for carbon neutrality, PAS 2060, at the end of September. It is a major milestone on Mott MacDonald’s journey towards both net-zero carbon emissions and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Mott MacDonald filed carbon data from its entire global business* for validation by the Carbon Trust, and received certification to ISO 14064, the international standard for carbon reporting. This is another first among the company’s peers.

Mott MacDonald has reduced its global carbon footprint by 45% per employee in the last five years. It is on track to reduce the figure by 25% in total by 2024, measuring from a 2018 baseline. It has offset residual carbon emissions using a carefully selected peatland restoration programme in Sumatra, Indonesia, that the company itself has designed.

Mike Haigh, Mott MacDonald’s executive chair, said:

“I am incredibly proud we are the first among our peers to have achieved carbon neutral certification. Our colleagues worked hard to make this happen. In playing our part, we believe it is important to show leadership and that there will be benefits to our business in making the transition.”

Mott MacDonald’s reductions are guided by climate science, which shows that emissions of all greenhouse gases must be cut to net-zero by 2050 across developed economies, and by 2070 by the rest of the world. Its 25% reduction target has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, which is a collaboration between carbon disclosure charity CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The consultancy’s global sustainability leader, Davide Stronati, said:

“At Mott MacDonald, we have always been focused on reducing the carbon emissions of projects we get involved with and in our own organisation. Climate change is now a real emergency, and making our company carbon neutral is a fundamental milestone on our net-zero journey.”

In September this year Mott MacDonald also achieved global reaccreditation to PAS 2080, the international standard for managing infrastructure carbon, showing the consultancy’s ability to cut carbon on projects. Mott MacDonald was the first company to receive external PAS 2080 accreditation in 2017 for projects in the UK and is still the only one to have it globally.

* Data covered Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions: direct and indirect emissions relating to energy used in Mott MacDonald’s offices, and emissions relating to business travel.