Waterman’s carbon reduction target will cover Scopes 1,2 and 3 and will be validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative, (SBTi), a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
In signing this commitment, Waterman also joins the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Race to Zero, a coalition of 733 cities, 31 regions, 3,067 businesses, and 173 of the biggest investors committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.
Waterman is delighted to announce the ambitious target on the day of COP26’s dedicated ‘Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day’ in recognition of the critical contribution that buildings and infrastructure must play in halving emissions by 2030 and reaching Net Zero by 2050 as buildings contribute 37% of global energy related emissions.
Julie Hirigoyen, UKGBC Chief Executive, said:
“We are delighted that our member Waterman Group has signed up to the Race to Zero on the COP26 Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day. UKGBC was the first ever Accelerator to the RTZ, so we welcome Waterman’s important leadership in providing building services, structural and civil engineering as well as environmental consultancy that will enable the UK’s buildings and infrastructure to achieve Net Zero. We look forward to collaborating with Waterman on their Net Zero journey.”
Waterman’s team of experts across the UK, Europe and Australia, are embedding whole-life carbon and circular economy strategies to reduce carbon emissions in their advisory services and project delivery process to make a positive contribution to climate change mitigation. The teams are collaborating with clients and partners in the early stage of the design process to drive down the embodied and operational carbon of the built environment. They take a holistic approach prioritising the application of low-carbon materials, low and zero carbon energy solutions, the reuse of existing buildings or recycled materials and reducing the volume of building materials through efficient design where significant success achieved in schemes such as Warwick Court, 100 Fetter Lane and Canada Water. These strategies are beneficial both for environmental reasons as well as to promote positive social impact, as communities’ benefit from resilient, low-carbon infrastructure.
As part of Waterman’s Corporate Support services, Waterman is developing climate resilience management system tools to help its clients navigate their way in the increasingly complex area of climate compliance. Climatespace builds on Waterman’s existing Greenspace platform to provide a repository for client’s climate obligations as well as a simple system to stay on top of new relevant legislation, regulations and reporting requirements. Climatespace also provides tools to enable a TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) gap analysis and climate risk assessments.
“Our net zero announcement and promise align with our ethos as an organisation. Helping our clients reduce their emissions is a priority for us as we tackle our own greenhouse gas emissions”,
said Climate Resilience Director Dave Allen who leads Waterman’s Corporate Climate Resilience team.
Furthermore, Waterman has the opportunity to become change makers through Waterman Aspen, the leading specialist secondment service provider, which embeds hundreds of experts within local authorities and other entities across the UK. As these secondees are part of Waterman’s commitment to Net Zero, they can support their clients in advancing their own Net Zero plans enabling large-scale change across the UK.
In addition to staff’s commitment through personal initiatives, Waterman’s climate resilience experts are also influencing the agenda as thought leaders through think-tanks and several industry bodies’ including ACE (Association for Consultancy and Engineering), New London Architecture, The Institution of Structural Engineers, and more. As a member of driving force UKGBC, Waterman shares the same overarching goal with over hundreds of members globally from across the built environment: halving emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the very latest. Waterman is a signatory of the Pledge to Net Zero, uniting the environmental sector towards a goal of achieving Net Zero by 2050. Waterman is also a signatory of the Structural Engineers Declare, Building Services Engineers Declare and Civil Engineers Declare.
Waterman’s COO of Infrastructure & Environment, Neil Humphrey, said:
“We are pleased to announce these commitments and are excited to team up with organisations around the world as we join the Race to Zero to tackle climate change. Reducing our own carbon footprint is at the heart of Waterman’s business strategy. As experts in engineering and sustainability, we are well positioned to lead the way and we are excited to collaborate and innovate with our clients and partners on solutions that will have a positive impact on our future”
As part of its action plan to achieve its Science Based Target, Waterman is undertaking a range of initiatives, including actively pushing forward upgrades to heating and cooling energy efficiency upgrades, switching to renewable energy, developing initiatives to control the carbon impacts of business travel, centralising business travel, as well as working with Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) on initiatives including Green Logistics Centres, and working with contractors and suppliers on reaching Net Zero.
For more information about the Race to Zero, click here.
