Our footprint
We have extensively researched our carbon footprint and worked to identify exactly where and how it can be reduced. Our strategy is to reduce our carbon footprint wherever possible and offset it when it can’t be reduced any further.
In line with the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (NZCBC), we operate all of our studios as carbon neutral, recording and offsetting all emissions under scopes 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. These include direct emissions from heating and cooling, indirect emissions from electricity consumption, and those associated with business travel and the embodied carbon of our studio spaces.
We’re also signatories to the NZCBC, the UN’s Race to Zero, and the UK’s Architects Declare.
We review our sustainability policy annually, and disclose our yearly scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions – as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol – for our studios, along with the actions we’ve taken to mitigate these. See our total 2023 footprint below, which accounts for our London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Sydney studios.
In 2023, we produced 213 tonnes of carbon. This footprint comprises emissions associated with the operation of our four studios, not the carbon emitted by the buildings we design. It can be broken down into three scopes, as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. For 2023, these amounted to:
- Scope 1: 00.00 tonnes
- Scope 2: 23.99 tonnes
- Scope 3: 188.79 tonnes
Scope 1 includes direct emissions from machinery we own, like our air conditioning units and gas boilers, while scope 2 covers emissions associated with the power we buy. Both our London and Sydney studios operate on REGO-backed, 100% renewable energy supplies, making this latter figure lower than you might expect.
Scope 3 refers to all other practice emissions, including those produced by employee commutes and business travel; transmission of the power we buy; home and remote working; water we use and dispose of; our zero-to-landfill waste and recycling policies; and day-to-day studio resources, like the paper in our printers. We’ve calculated our practice’s footprint under scope 3 using technical guidance from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Because some of these activities are difficult to calculate, we’ve added an extra 10% on top to ensure we’ve accounted for everything.
Along with taking steps to minimise our emissions, we’ve teamed up with carbonfootprint.com to offset our entire footprint, plus 10%, through its Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Tree Buddying scheme. The scheme – which supports international tree planting projects that capture carbon, enhance biodiversity and increase climate resilience – guarantees that 1 tonne of carbon is offset for every tree planted.
Our 2023 carbon footprint for scopes 1 and 2 represents a 13% reduction on our 2022 figures, achieved through adjustments to our lighting and air conditioning systems, a stricter approach to turning off computer monitors when not in use, switching computers off fully at weekends and during leave where possible, and swapping to a more sustainable energy provider in Sydney. We’re really proud that we’ve continued to reduce these emissions year on year.
Our Scope 3 emissions, however, have risen since 2022; this is entirely due to increased air travel. Being an international studio with projects located across the globe, our need for long distance air travel differs from year to year. The carbon cost of these flights has a large overall effect on our carbon totals. While we offset all of our international travel, we’re continually assessing ways to minimise physical travel by using technology, or by sending fewer Makers to travel at a time. A recent switch to a B Corp-certified travel agent is also allowing us to prioritise lower carbon forms of travel and more efficient routes, which should help to bring our scope 3 totals down next year.
We’re continuing to challenge ourselves to reduce our footprint even further as part of our commitment to working as responsibly and carbon-efficiently as possible.
