WSP to lead sector by halving carbon emissions by 2030

The engineering consultancy firm will be the first in the sector to halve the carbon footprint of all designs and advice provided to clients within the next 10 years.

Although many firms within the consulting and built environment sector have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint from buildings and travel, this is the first commitment in the engineering consultancy sector to address the carbon footprint of all designs and advice provided to clients – addressing the largest impact and opportunity of all professional services firms.

This commitment will “require us to make really substantial investments in skills, R&D, innovation and processes to equip every UK colleague to be carbon leaders as part of WSP’s Further Ready programme,” said David Symons, WSP UK Director of Sustainability.

The commitment will include all of WSP UK’s specialisms and build on the firm’s existing pledge to bring its UK operational carbon emissions to net zero by 2025.

In order to achieve this, the firm will need to halve the carbon footprint of its designs, including both the materials that are specified in any design as well as the in-use emissions where WSP is the lead designer for key emission sources, such as building heating and cooling systems.

 “WSP’s commitment to halve design emissions by 2030 is genuinely cutting edge and sets the bar for what a genuinely ambitious net zero strategy should look like for the advisory sector, from engineering consultancies through to financial and legal advice providers,” said Nick Molho, Executive Director of the Aldersgate Group.

The firm is already involved in a number of significant UK projects where reducing the carbon emissions of infrastructure and industry is paramount, including HS2’s Curzon Street Station in Birmingham and advising the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills on the development of carbon capture, usage and storage technology in the UK.

In collaboration with industry organisations, WSP has co-founded ‘Pledge to Net Zero’ which commits environmental services firms to science-based carbon targets and public reporting. The company is also on track to become a net zero business by 2025 – and achievement for which they were named Global Good Company of the Year in 2019.