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Turley leads the way with science-based targets validation

Turley demonstrates its climate leadership by becoming one of the few professional services consultancies in the property sector to achieve validation for its science-based targets.

Our new targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which promotes ambitious climate action in the private sector by enabling organisations to establish robust and credible emissions reduction targets.

Our near-term targets commit to a reduction of absolute Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 42% compared to FY 2021 – 22, and to measure and reduce scope 3 emissions. The SBTi has classified our Scope 1 and 2 targets as being consistent with the reductions required to limit global warming to 1.5°C. These targets form part of our commitment as signatories of the BPF Net Zero Pledge.

Stephen Bell, Chief Executive said:

"Validation of our targets from the SBTi is an exciting milestone in our Net Zero journey. This is a natural evolution of our decarbonisation efforts since 2018 and we will continue to both lead by example and support our clients in this decade of climate action."

Snigdha Jain, Head of ESG added:

"We have helped over 60 other organisations with their carbon footprinting and emission reduction pathways, facilitating achievement of their Net Zero goals. As we turn our focus as an industry to reducing our Scope 3 emissions, empowerment and accessibility of information related to climate action is going to be key. My personal pledge has been to achieve this through a roll out of Carbon Literacy training, which has the potential for transformative change."

As an SME in the service sector with no vehicle fleet, our emissions remain relatively modest (117 tCO2e in 2021-22 across our Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions). Nevertheless, we have continued to drive down internal emissions to reduce the need for offsetting to align with the UK’s 2050 net zero commitment.

As a tenant in all our offices, moving away from fossil fuels is a key consideration in our location strategy. We continually strive to make environmentally responsible choices and this approach is evidenced by our commitment to energy efficiency across our office locations and a move away from mains gas and other fossil fuels, which significantly reduces our emissions. We continually review the performance of our office locations to ensure they meet these standards.

For our scope 3 emissions (estimated at circa 380 tCO2e), we firmly believe in making information around cutting carbon emissions accessible and empowering our co-owners to take action to reduce emissions, such as from homeworking and commuting. We achieved Bronze Carbon Literate Accreditation earlier this year and our goal is to attain ‘Silver’ accreditation in 2024 by expanding our accredited training to more co-owners across the business, promoting Carbon Literacy through our website and social media channels and integrating it within our performance management and assessment systems.

To reduce emissions associated with our business travel, our main offices are centrally located and close to public transport services. Our corporate travel policy prioritises public transport wherever possible, with flights considered only where strictly necessary. All co-owners, not just fee earners, are equipped with a laptop and mobile phone, enabling them to work from any location, including their homes. This approach supports our flexible working policy and minimises our need to travel.

Within our offices, we have adopted a PIN printing system that automatically deletes unreleased prints after 4 hours, resulting in savings of circa 210kg CO2e. Through recycling office items such as old chairs and Christmas decorations with CollectEco, we have diverted 800kg waste from landfills and prevented an additional 700kg CO2e in emissions.

We are also closely collaborating with our procurement team and suppliers to reduce supply chain emissions. These suppliers have their own climate commitments in place and we closely follow their progress as they disclose annual performance against climate targets and any lessons learnt:

• DELL, our laptop supplier, was among the first companies to have their climate-related goals validated as science-based by the SBTi. They recently re-affirmed their commitment to Net Zero with more ambitious targets. 
• Microsoft, the supplier of the majority of our software, has had their near-term targets validated by the SBTi and recently provided an update on their progress towards more ambitious Net Zero goals and lessons learnt. 
• EE, the supplier of our mobile phones, powers their network and stores with 100% renewable electricity and has committed that, by 2025, 100% of their plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, compostable or removed. EE’s parent company, BT Group, had their targets validated by the SBTi in 2017.

Alongside our journey to Net Zero, where absolute cuts in carbon emissions are a top priority, we are also conscious of the urgent need for climate finance to support mitigation activities beyond an organisations’ value chain. As the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) recognises in their need for Beyond Value Chain Mitigation, "Annual climate finance needs to increase by at least seven times to meet internationally-agreed climate objectives by 2030. At least $4.3 trillion USD in annual finance flows are needed by 2030."

We are therefore proud to continue our partnership with leading climate finance organisation https://www.climateimpact.com/ to fund high-quality carbon offset projects for our unabated greenhouse emissions.

If you would like to learn more or begin your own decarbonisation journey, please contact Snigdha Jain. You can find out more about the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) about taking ambitious corporate climate action here.

28 September 2023