Sustainable behaviour

Using communication technology in innovative ways, we are enabling many of the most impoverished people in Bangladesh to learn ‘vocational’ English, helping them find work and engage in entrepreneurial activitiesIt is through the performance of our projects that we make the greatest contribution to environmental sustainability. But we also seek to minimise the impact of our own operations, bringing benefits for our business and our many customers who count their suppliers’ performance on their own triple bottom line. As a measure of our environmental sustainability, for the last four years we have been tracking Group carbon emissions with the aim of reducing CO2 per employee by 5% year on year.

Reductions in 2008 and 2009 mean that we remain ahead of target. However, improved data pushed our recorded per capita emissions for 2010 up 4%. We are committed to ongoing leadership, backed by information, advice and training, to promote the individual and collective behaviours necessary to achieve long-term reductions.

Using resources economically

As a private company Mott MacDonald is not required to disclose its resource use and emissions. However, volunteering information drives rigorous data collection, helping us to better direct ongoing effort in improving efficiency and changing our individual and collective behaviour.

Since our very first carbon audit in 2007 we have recognised the potential for improvements in data collection to cause upward as well as downward swings in our recorded emissions. Correction of an error in measuring energy consumption in one of our principal offices has played a part in the 4% emissions increase per employee measured in 2010. In 2011 we reported our UK emissions under the terms of the Carbon Reduction Commitment. Since 2008 we have participated in the international Carbon Disclosure Project, which is used by public and private sector organisations for supply chain management. Reporting of our global emissions is consistent with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol corporate accounting and reporting standard.

Driving continual improvement

In 2010 we introduced mandatory sustainability training for all staff and we continue to encourage staff to save energy, use fewer consumables and avoid travelling to meetings when practicable by using tele- and video-conferencing instead. Sustainability is led at Group Board level by our chairman, supported by the Group’s sustainability practice manager, regional carbon managers and office managers, who collectively drive policy, raise awareness and share best practice. A sustainability task force advances our strategy. Senior managers are required to pursue carbon reduction internally as well as on our projects. Sustainability is a standing item on the agendas of all Board meetings.

Every one of our offices has a bespoke local environmental practice plan setting out its strategy for managing and reducing energy and resource use. Plans cover building services management and procurement of cleaning services, IT equipment and stationery, and are updated annually. Through location-specific office transport plans staff are encouraged to use the lowest carbon mode of travel practicable for business journeys and travel to work. There are significant gaps in our knowledge as water in some parts of the world is not metered. Our Group total is extrapolated from consumption figures in similar local Mott MacDonald offices when metered measurements are unavailable.