Environmental consultancies team up to launch sector-wide ‘Pledge to Net-Zero’

Environmental consultancies WSP and AECOM have teamed up to launch a new pledge campaign, urging companies from across the environmental services sector to set science-based targets and report annually on decarbonisation progress.


Environmental consultancies team up to launch sector-wide ‘Pledge to Net-Zero’

The Pledge aims to unite the entirety of the sector in line with the UK's national net-zero target. Image: WSP

Called ‘Pledge to Net-Zero’, the commitment requires signatories to set approved science-based targets in line with the Paris Agreement’s more ambitious 1.5C trajectory. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) research has found that meeting this aim will require global emissions to reach net-zero by mid-century.

Signatories to the ‘Pledge to Net-Zero’ are also required to publicly report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all Scopes and to detail progress to reduce them on an annual basis.

The third and final pillar of the Pledge requires signatories to publish research or thought-leadership on practical steps to deliver a net-zero economy every year.

AECOM and WSP have both signed the Pledge themselves and claim it could help “showcase the UK’s environmental services sector as a world leader” in decarbonisation. 

“The environmental services sector is at the heart of delivering a sustainable and prosperous economy through its advice,” WSP’s UK director of sustainability David Symons said. “It’s tremendously exciting that the sector has now come together to take action on its own greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Pledge is not being led by WSP and AECOM, and, instead, will be led by the Society for the Environment (SocEnv), the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) and the Environmental Industries Commission (EIC). Each of these bodies will encourage their members to sign up. 

“The transition to net-zero carbon emissions is the defining challenge of our time,” IEMA’s chief policy advisor Martin Baxter added.  “We are fully supportive of the environmental services sector pledging science-based emissions reductions which align with the urgency of addressing the climate and environmental emergency.”


edie’s Net-Zero November

edie is currently running Net-Zero November, a month of content and events to inform and inspire sustainability professionals to push towards net-zero. You can read all Net-Zero November content here.

Additionally, if you have a net-zero carbon target, or a commitment to set one, that has recently been announced you can add it to our Mission Possible Pledge Wall here.


Sarah George

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