According to Edelman’s second annual Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and Climate Change, a global survey of 14,000 people in 14 countries, there are fears that as the climate crisis worsens business is not trusted to do what is necessary to respond.

Climate change is a genuine existential crisis for the planet and all of us – as individuals and as part of bigger organisations – have a role to play in protecting, preserving and renewing our resources so that the way we live our lives today is sustainable for future generations.

What have we achieved so far?

In January 2020, BDO UK committed to going carbon neutral. Working with independent sustainability consultants, we immediately offset our 2018 and 2019 carbon impacts and continue to do this each year, with all our UK offices now officially carbon-neutral environments.

We have been reporting on our carbon footprint for over 10 years with the aim to reduce our environmental impact each year.

How are we taking this further?

At the 2021 UN Climate Change conference, COP26, BDO’s Global CEO announced that BDO’s international network of member firms would become Net Zero by 2050. This supports BDO Global’s involvement in the GFANZ commitment (Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero), a global coalition of leading financial institutions committed to accelerating the decarbonisation of the economy.

In the UK, as part of our longer-term ambition to Net Zero, we are committing to halving our overall emissions by 2030. To ensure we are robust in the way we monitor progress, we have now submitted our targets to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)to independently verify that we are achieving our goals to their Net-Zero Standard.

The SBTi’s science-based targets are set specifically in line to achieve the goal of limiting global warming to below 1.5°C.

What does the transition to Net-Zero involve?

Both a Net-Zero and carbon neutral status means there is no net increase in Greenhouse Gases being released to the environment, but the move from carbon neutral to Net-Zero requires a shift to include what's called Scope 3 emissions. Scope 3 also includes emissions from investments or those that occur in an organisation's supply chain.

To reach our targets, we will take a number of actions. These include working with our supply chain to reduce their emissions, running our offices on renewable energy, reducing unnecessary business travel, and choosing lower carbon travel options where travel is required. Our Decarbonisation Steering Committee is responsible for leading our journey to Net-Zero.

We know the road to Net-Zero will be complex and change of this scale will not happen overnight. However, with both our near-term 2030 and long-term 2050 targets in place we believe that by making achievable, realistic commitments now, we will make real impact on the environment whilst continuing to support the needs of our people and the businesses we work with.