Carbon neutral Bain & Co wins set of green awards
Big Three strategy consulting firm Bain & Co has won a pair of green awards for environmental responsibility. Now officially carbon neutral, the consultancy has been awarded for its success offsetting its carbon footprint by investing in sustainability initiatives across the planet.
For the seventh year running, top-tier management consulting firm Bain & Co has been named a 100% CarbonNeutral company by Natural Capital Partners. The Boston-headquartered firm was also awarded a gold rating by EcoVadis, which ranks the ethical and environmental impact of global corporations’ supply chains.
Natural Capital Partners is a carbon-offsetting company which helps clients reduce their carbon emissions and lessen the impact of their supply chain operations on the environment – particularly in areas of high biodiversity. Other partners include Sky and Microsoft. Bain is one of the few which have achieved carbon neutrality with such consistency over a significant time span.
Bain has 56 offices worldwide and unavoidably generates carbon emissions despite efforts on the ground to recycle and run its workspaces almost entirely on green energy. The firm calculates the emissions of every train trip, taxi ride, flight, hotel stay and rental car required of its consultants to visit client sites, and works to offset the sum of such unavoidable emissions by investing in dozens of sustainability initiatives around the globe.
The firm – which has thousands of consultants working in 36 countries – is able to demonstrate that the emissions it emits are more than offset by the good it brings through targeted carbon finance investments. Nor are the projects only in distant rainforests: Bain is, for example, heavily involved in ensuring that a methane capture site in the US continues to be economically viable.
This announcement comes on the heels of Bain & Company being named among the top five percent of companies globally for corporate responsibility by EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains – which awarded Bain a gold rating this year.
“Once again Bain & Company is recognized as a sustainability leader among global corporations,” said Steven Tallman, head of the firm’s global operations. “We are constantly exploring new ways to minimize our environmental footprint, tap into our people’s passions, and help our clients be better stewards of the environment.”
“The sustainability conversation is about more than box ticking for today’s C-suite,” said Jenny Davis-Peccoud, Bain’s head of Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility. “Corporate leaders see the direct impact issues like climate change, deforestation, and social injustice have on their supply chains, labor force, and customer base, and they view sustainability as a top business priority.”
Bain is also a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development – where it is joined by fellow MBB consultancy the Boston Consulting Group, energy consultancy innogy, and IT consulting giant Infosys.
Having an environmental clean sheet is financially smart for consulting firms eager to capitalize on clients’ growing demands for advice on sustainability and corporate responsibility. Energy consultancies with a focus on renewables are doing well, as evidenced by Partrac’s opening of its first US office in renewables hotspot Houston. German energy consultancy innogy is also expanding having recently launched in the US after successfully helping European utilities clients enter the 21st century.
