Net zero progress in the environment sector

‘Pledge to Net Zero’ is a partner to the UN’s Race to Zero campaign and is the environmental sector’s global commitment. As one of the founding partners, IEMA is an active member of the Pledge and recently hosted a webinar to promote and highlight progress made so far. Chloë Fiddy, IEMA Policy and Engagement Lead, gives us this summary.

Set up in 2019 by a coalition including IEMA, SocEnv, WSP and AECOM, the pledge recognises the need for those in the environmental sector to demonstrate leadership and take strong actions to mitigate the most significant impacts of climate change.

It requires science-based targets from its signatories to tackle greenhouse gas emissions within their organisations and members must submit an annual progress report. Members now numbering around 150 – from global consultancies to the smallest firms – have so far cut nearly 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from their baseline years to the end of 2022.

As with many sectors, they have found Scopes 1 and 2 easiest to tackle, with Scope 3 remaining the hardest to measure and control. Challenges include getting good data and a bounce-back from travel post-pandemic. Opportunities lie in working with landlords and – here’s a selling point for joining the Pledge – sharing good ideas amongst members.

The webinar hosted on the IEMA platform showcased actions being taken by LUC, Aldersgate Group and Brandon Medical. The representatives spoke frankly about the challenges they’ve faced, but also provided inspiring case studies that can be applied by many other companies in other sectors. It’s well worth a watch if you missed it.

Link for watching the recorded webinar is here.

If you’d like to find out more about Pledge to Net Zero, including how to sign up, here is the link.