Sustainability and carbon reduction
Sustainability isn’t an add-on for us. It’s how we work, every day.
Our experts support clients across the globe to cut carbon, and deliver greener buildings. Without losing control of cost or quality.
We give clear commercial and technical advice on everything from energy transition and biodiversity net gain to whole-life carbon. By combining our in-depth project experience with data-driven insight, we help shape smarter strategies: for governments, investors, and clients alike.
Our global sustainability programme is built around four objectives.
Cut emissions in our own business
Help clients to do the same
Build in-house capability in every region
Report our impact with honesty and clarity
These aren’t aspirations. They’re action points. And they’re already happening.
2024 highlights
Cutting workplace carbon emissions
We’ve reduced the estimated carbon emissions from our offices by 69%.¹ All our new offices are energy and carbon efficient. Thanks to our HSE Leadership team’s work to get more accurate information on our energy use, we now have measured data for over 80% of our global office estate.
Our office estate carbon emissions in 2024:
- 2024 scope one and two carbon emissions for our global office estate were 862 tonnes CO₂e in comparison to reported emissions for 2023 of 2,777 tonnes CO₂e.
Earth Day
To celebrate Earth Day 2024, we again partnered with One Tree Planted to plant one tree for every employee — 2,606 in total. Since 2022, we have planted over 10,000 trees. These will remove 2.2 million kg of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next ten years. That’s the equivalent to powering 815 homes for a year — or over 1,300 flights from London to New York.
Creating cleaner communities
From Japan to the US, our people have been getting out and cleaning up. They’ve volunteered throughout the year on various litter picking initiatives to protect local wildlife and ecosystems, and keep our local communities safe and clean.
Celebrating sustainability in our teams
Hassan Saif, senior consultant in our UK Infrastructure team, was awarded Network Rail’s Green Is Great ACE Award. Hassan helped plant 2,800 trees and shrubs in Cambridgeshire, England.
Driving sustainability
Our support for staff leasing electric vehicles in the UK saved nearly 100 tonnes CO₂e in 2024. Although our UK transport emissions have increased in absolute terms by 5%, our transport emissions per £ turnover have fallen by 6%.
What we achieved in 2024
Delivered carbon estimating training
2024 goal: Deliver carbon estimating training to each region in 2024 with service leaders appointed for each region by year end.
How we did: We delivered targeted training, with many colleagues completing formal RICS accreditation. We’re now developing a new suite of training materials on carbon estimating, resource efficiency, biodiversity and renewable energy, to be rolled out from early 2026. The training will be available in each of our regions. The appointment of service leaders will be completed in 2026.
Strengthened our carbon estimating service
2024 goal: Deliver carbon estimating service from each global region in 2024 establishing a virtual team to share resource and expertise.
How we did: We now offer carbon estimating services in every region, with our UK and North American teams working together virtually on carbon estimating and decarbonisation advisory services. While not yet global, we’re on track to achieve full coverage by 2026.
Produced carbon estimating CPD materials
2024 goal: Produce carbon estimating CPD materials for wider dissemination including on the new RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment professional statement.
How we did: Materials available for wider dissemination, including on the new RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment professional statement. We’ve created a training programme aligned with the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment version 2.0 Professional Standards. This will be rolled out globally as part of our new suite of sustainability training materials.
Reported measured energy data
2024 goal: Report measured energy data for over 64% of our European offices (by area). Globally we aim to increase the proportion of our offices reporting actual energy data to 40%.
How we did: We are now reporting measured data for over 80% of our global offices, over double our target. We’ve also exceeded our European target, capturing measured energy data for over 77% of our offices by area. This step change is the result of dedicated work by our global HSE Leadership, finance and business support teams.
Affirmed our WGBC commitment
2024 goal: Formal commitment to World Green Building Council (WGBC) target in Americas by end April 2024.
How we did: We confirmed our commitment in the Americas at the end of April 2024. Our US business is now a member of the US Green Building Council with the aim of formalising its zero-carbon commitment in early 2026.
Agreed Middle East and Asia Pacific carbon reduction targets
2024 goal: Agree commitment to carbon reduction target in ME and APAC by end 2024.
How we did: We’re currently reviewing our global carbon reduction commitments to align ambition across our business. We’re establishing an accurate baseline to measure and track our future carbon reductions.
Maintained UK and Europe emission reduction target
2024 goal: Maintain UK and Europe target of 40% reduction in emissions by 2026.
How we did: We’ve maintained our reduction target, and are continuing to target this emission reduction in our most recent independently verified reporting to the World Green Building Council.
Extended travel emissions analysis
2024 goal: Extend our 2023 analysis of scope one, two and three (travel) emissions for the UK to cover our global business in 2024.
How we did: We’ve significantly exceeded our target for our European offices where measured data has been obtained for over 77% of our offices by area. This step change in performance is the result of dedicated work by our global HSE Leadership, finance and business support teams.
Expanded corporate office leasing standard to cover all regions
2024 goal: Extend corporate office leasing standard to cover all regions. Include a requirement to only move to offices with fossil fuel free heating after 2025.
How we did: We will only move to offices with fossil fuel-free heating after 2025. Our move to occupying all-electric buildings means that 65% of our global offices are now fossil fuel-free, and that number is set to grow.
2025 goals
These goals reflect the four objectives of our programme.
Cut emissions in our own business
We will continue to cut the emissions from our global offices with a target of reducing emissions by a further 10% while increasing the percentage of offices for which we have measured data to over 90%.
Help clients cut their emissions
We will use our data and analysis to give clients the certainty to invest in decarbonisation. This includes publishing our work on cost effective delivery of Passivhaus (with the Passivhaus Trust) and launching our global decarbonisation database, giving our teams a powerful tool to help in their clients’ carbon reduction journeys.
Build in-house capability in every region
We will roll out our new training programme and ensure our teams have access to reliable data and tools for assessing the capital costs and return on investment of sustainable building solutions wherever in the world they may be.
Report our impact with honesty and clarity
We’ll continue to invest in third party assurance of our reporting on our WGBC commitment. This means achieving net zero for our scope one and two emissions by 2030, and net zero across scope three by 2050. We’ll also expand our reporting coverage to include business travel. Read more about our plan here.
Case study
150 Holborn. One of top 5 most sustainable buildings in the UK.
Currie & Brown’s London home at 150 Holborn has been awarded the prestigious accolade of BREEAM Outstanding.
We worked with Sidara collective colleagues throughout the design and construction process to support 150 Holborn’s outstanding BREEAM assessment. We provided project and cost management services, including life cycle cost comparisons which led to real savings both in terms of carbon and cost. For example, our insights resulted in the installation of a high efficiency chiller with improved energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions and reduced running costs.