L.E.K. is committed to a healthy and sustainable environment.
In January 2008, L.E.K. became the first management consulting firm to achieve carbon-neutral status across its global operations. Today, we maintain our dedication to carbon neutrality on a global basis and we have an environmental policy built to measure, reduce and offset our carbon emissions.
Here’s how it works:
- Step 1 — Measure baseline carbon emissions and set reduction targets
- Step 2 — Reduce what we can
- Step 3 — Offset carbon emissions that remain through high quality carbon reduction projects with our partner, ClimateCare
Step 1
We measure our carbon emissions across all our activities, including from our offices and travel. By understanding our current output, we can better set reduction and offset targets.
Step 2
Knowing where our carbon emissions originate helps us work comprehensively to reduce them as much as possible. For example, in many of our offices, we have adapted building management, IT management, and administration to be more environmentally friendly.
- Building management: Reduce emissions from each L.E.K. office by reviewing energy suppliers, switching to low-power light bulbs, and optimizing heating and cooling cycles.
- IT management: Encourage responsible use of personal computers and IT equipment. This includes simple steps such as turning off computers overnight and defaulting to double-sided printing.
- Administration: Reduce office supply consumption through increased recycling and the use of recycled and sustainably sourced paper.
Step 3
For our remaining unavoidable carbon emissions, we purchase voluntary offsets through a partnership with UK-based climate and development experts, ClimateCare.
Carbon offsetting is an internationally recognized way to take responsibility for unavoidable carbon emissions. In simple terms, offsetting one ton of carbon emissions means there will be one less ton of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
By purchasing offsets through ClimateCare, we help advance projects around the world that meet the highest international quality standards in protecting the environment and improving lives.
Our environmental policy is overseen by our Green Committee, composed of consulting staff and members of our core services teams in all our U.S. offices. The Green Committee’s goals are to maintain environmentally friendly practices in the office and the community without compromising the quality of our work and to create a forum for U.S. office employees interested in the environment, renewables and cleantech to connect with one another. The local chapters organize a variety of initiatives and events to make L.E.K. a greener work environment as well as volunteer events that allow us to give back to local environmental organizations.
We take environmental responsibility seriously. Beyond these initiatives, we have discussed the importance of this subject in several recent Executive Insights reports:
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The global climate crisis, driven by unprecedented human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, necessitates urgent action to limit global warming and associated risks. As the first major consulting firm to achieve carbon neutrality in 2008, L.E.K. is committed to achieving Net-Zero by 2050. In 2023, our near- and long-term emission SBTi targets were approved, which aligns with the trajectory to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Our business model of working primarily in our offices instead of at client sites already means that we produce fewer carbon emissions than our competitors, on both an absolute and a per-person basis. To reach our goal, we will discourage our employees from taking flights if travel can be done within the same time frame and cost by train, encourage increased use of videoconferencing and hybrid work arrangements whenever appropriate, and make carbon emissions a criterion in the selection of L.E.K. events and venues. In 2022, we reached a key milestone: powering our offices globally with 100% renewable electricity. This was achieved through moving to renewable electricity contracts for our offices where possible and purchasing Energy Attribute Certificates (such as RECs) where we were unable to procure directly. We plan to continue to source 100% renewable electricity across our operations in the future.
Achieving net zero requires more than just renewable energy — it demands innovative, advanced energy solutions. In this video, we explore a groundbreaking collaboration between L.E.K. Consulting and the World Economic Forum, aimed at accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels. The partnership reveals that the main barrier to scaling these technologies isn’t the technology itself, but a lack of confidence and investment. Gain insights into how clean fuels, carbon removal, energy storage and advanced nuclear can transform our energy landscape, reduce emissions and create a brighter future. Watch now to learn more about the path to net zero by 2050.
As we transition to a lower-carbon business model, L.E.K. will continue to purchase high-quality carbon credits to complement our decarbonization initiatives, increasing the proportion of removal credits over time. We carefully assess the projects we support, both for their emissions reductions and their alignment with UN SDGs, and we officially received certification as a CarbonNeutral® company through our partnership with Climate Impact Partners. L.E.K. purchases of high-quality carbon offsets were instrumental in achieving Carbon Neutral certification. L.E.K. also partners with Tree-Nation, which will see a tree planted for every existing L.E.K. employee around the globe and for each new person who joins the firm in the future.
We have an active network of GoingGreener Committees in each office, which offer employees a way to participate in the firm’s sustainability efforts. These local committees play a critical role in our efforts and organize a variety of initiatives and events to both make L.E.K. a better environmental steward and ensure we give back to local environmental organizations. Our Sustainability Steering Committee and our internal Sustainability team will continue to drive, monitor and refine the firm’s sustainability efforts going forward. For questions about L.E.K.’s internal sustainability initiatives, contact sustainabilityinternal@lek.com.
At L.E.K., we are committed to reducing our own footprint; we are also committed to helping our clients improve their sustainability strategies. To that end, in the spring of 2021, we launched the L.E.K. Sustainability Centre of Excellence. By drawing together our collective experience and perspective, the Centre acts as both an internal and external resource for the firm and our clients, respectively, providing leadership, best practices and support. Its members conduct research on key issues related to sustainable practices to further L.E.K.’s capabilities so that we can best assist clients with addressing their sustainability challenges.
To read more about L.E.K.’s environmental commitments and initiatives, please see our CDP submission.