As part of its ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainable design, HGA has announced its own commitment to achieving net carbon neutrality. The goals establish clear, time-stamped benchmarks for achieving carbon neutrality in all internal business operations.
“Accountability is essential to achieving our climate goals,” said Tim Carl, FAIA, Chief Executive Officer of HGA. “We have already committed to industry benchmarks established by AIA 2030, SE 2050, and the AIA Materials Pledge. Our next step is to establish our own internal benchmarks and put a process in place to hold ourselves accountable. This is essential for our planet, our clients, and our own business operations.”
The carbon neutrality goals are in alignment with our 2022 HGA Impact Report: Sustainability, which states:
“In tandem with helping our clients reduce their carbon footprints, we are evaluating our own operations and setting quantitative goals and strategies to actively reduce our carbon footprint with the goal of decarbonizing our own offices. We conducted pre-pandemic carbon footprint analysis of all offices to determine the baseline; we are currently tracking carbon footprint of all offices for 2022 and will identify opportunities for reduction. Current initiatives include encouraging public transportation; reducing operational energy use; reducing water use; evaluating and reducing equipment energy use; and purchasing products with reusable, recyclable, or compostable materials.”
As such, HGA has established the following three goals to achieve carbon neutrality:
1. By the end of 2023, we will measure/verify our own carbon footprint:
- Scope 1 – Direct emissions controlled or owned by HGA.
- Scope 2 – Indirect emissions with the purchase of electricity, steam, heating & cooling, and energy generation.
- Scope 3 – Supply chain emissions through employee travel and commuting.
2. By the end of 2024, we will achieve carbon neutrality using third-party, verified carbon offsets.
3. By 2030, we will have reduced our carbon emissions by 50 percent below 2019 levels, regardless of growth.
“We have been working with clients for years to establish decarbonization plans and apply those plans to their real estate and operations; we are looking forward to applying that experience to our own business,” said Ariane Laxo, Director of Sustainability. “These are ambitious—yet still realistic—targets for the firm, which we have the expertise to achieve.”
As part of the carbon neutrality goals, HGA will regularly report on progress in our annual Impact Report. Additionally, HGA will continue to work towards and report on project operational carbon reductions for the AIA 2030 commitment, and budget annual staff time towards decarbonization tools, training, and resources to build sustainable and resilient communities.
Learn more about our sustainability commitments and progress in the 2021/2022 Impact Report.