A.T. Kearney has met its goal, set in 2007, to be 100 percent carbon neutral across its worldwide operations in 2010 by changing the way the company operates and buying carbon offsets.
The consulting firm also established a global network of "sustainability czars" throughout its operations to lead local initiatives and drive cultural change. Offices have implemented sustainable policies and practices including renovations certified for energy efficiency and environmental design.
The company met is its goal by focusing on four key areas: defining and measuring a set of carbon indicators, empowering employees globally to develop greener office protocols, developing new models for client-service delivery and investing in climate-protecting projects that meet high quality international standards.
In 2007, A.T. Kearney established a set of baseline metrics against which to monitor and measure its carbon footprint. Since then, the company has reduced its carbon emissions by 5 percent in 2008 and by 14 percent in 2009. The company expects to achieve a 20 percent reduction in 2010.
Because more than 80 percent of A.T. Kearney's carbon footprint is related to travel, the company developed tools to calculate carbon emissions for all travel criteria including airline, hotel, car, rail, public transportation and taxi use, and to measure the carbon impact of travel by employee, office location and client project.
A.T. Kearney says its metrics for measuring and tracking business-travel emissions have been recognized as a best practice by several travel industry groups.
A.T. Kearney says being carbon neutral is part of the company's larger initiative to deliver sustainable and environmentally-sound results to its client base. The global management consulting firm has 1,700 consultants in 54 offices in 37 countries.
Other organizations that have recently attained carbon neutral status include the NYSE and TD Bank. GoLite also expects to achieve carbon neutral status thanks to reduction efforts in addition to carbon offsets.
