Dive Brief:
- Global construction and engineering giant AECOM announced a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction initiative that aims to cut the company's GHG emissions by 20% for the period 2015-2020.
- The company said it will concentrate its reduction efforts on vehicle fuel, purchased electricity and heating and cooling efficiency for its offices.
- AECOM said it is following through on its 2015 pledge, which it made at a White House summit, to help the industry reduce GHG emissions by 5 million metric tons for the period 2008-2020.
Dive Insight:
Josh Sawislak, global director of resilience at AECOM, said doing business with an eye toward sustainability is a smart financial move that will benefit the company in the long run. In February, Fortune named AECOM one of the world's most admired companies, with the company scoring high in the category of social responsibility.
In a similar pledge, more than 50 construction companies signed on to the Building and Real Estate Climate Declaration at the COP21 International Climate talks, which took place in Paris late last year. Signatories included industry leaders like Skanska, Autodesk and Thornton Tomasetti. The declaration, in addition to outlining the relationship between climate change and the built environment — which produces 39% of carbon emissions each year — focused on the potential economic benefit for those companies that signed on.
A report from Dodge Data & Analytics late last year found that the green building industry is doubling every three years. In addition, during the Paris COP21 talks last year, the United States Green Building Council announced its commitment to scaling green buildings to more than 5 billion square feet during the next five years through its LEED and EDGE certification programs. The USGBC said it would concentrate its efforts on green certified buildings, workforce capacity, finance, government policy and strategy, and measurement and accountability.