Each year, we track several indicators that show progress toward achieving our sustainable-operations goals. The trends revealed by this data show us where we need to stay the course and where we need to make changes.
Total Carbon Footprint: We reduced absolute operational emissions by 35% from 2018 and by 3.5% from 2022. Factors in the reduction of our carbon footprint include the overall greening of the electrical grid, corporate renewable-energy purchases and air-travel emissions reductions. While we purchase offsets to cover 100% of our air-travel emissions, we report our emissions without offsets, in line with global reporting standards. We have stayed on track with our emissions-reduction targets each year, with emissions falling below the levels estimated for a 5% reduction per year.
Before 2022, we conducted biennial emissions inventories; we shifted to annual analysis starting in 2023. The scope of our inventory includes all offices except for a small number of offices with fewer than 10 employees. The data are primarily in CO2e, except for those from our offices in India, China and Vietnam, where electricity emissions factors are given in CO2.
Reduction of CO2e Emissions From Purchasing Offsets and RECs: We reduce our emissions even more by offsetting our annual flight emissions and purchasing renewable energy to cover some of our electricity use. In 2023, we achieved our greatest carbon-emissions reductions through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for every U.S. office’s electricity use. Because air travel has increased since 2020, purchased offsets have covered a larger amount of carbon emissions compared to the last two years.
Total Electricity Consumption: Since 2018, we’ve reduced electricity consumption in our leased offices by 25%. We’ve dramatically reduced our electricity use since the pandemic in 2020 and have only gradually increased our kWh usage since. This is largely due to high-performance offices with energy-efficient appliances and LED lighting, and to sustainable office fit-outs that have achieved LEED certification or were designed using our sustainable best-practices policy. Only data from offices included in our annual emissions inventory is included in this analysis.
Total Fuel Consumption: Since 2018, we have reduced fuel consumption in our leased offices by 38%. Our offices in warm climates don’t use heating fuels, and some others are becoming fully electric. As more of our offices run on electricity alone, and our electric grids become greener, we can reduce overall building emissions. Only data from offices included in our annual emissions inventory is gathered for this analysis.
Average Annual Carbon Footprint per Employee: A greater reduction in per capita emissions compared to our absolute emissions can be attributed to the firm’s continuous workforce growth, at roughly 10% more employees per year. Our per capita emissions for 2023 are 2.05 metric tons of CO2e, which is a 12% reduction from the prior year.
Per Capita Emissions From Electricity Use, With RECs: Our per capita emissions from electricity continue to reduce over time. Since 2015, we have been a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership, which requires 25% of our electricity use to come from green power. This year, 100% of our offices in the U.S. procured green power through REC purchases. Our green energy purchasing strategy keeps us well under our Scope 2 specific-office energy reduction goals and SBTi targets.
