Sustainability
We believe that landscape has the ability to influence and bring about positive change. We are committed to shaping environments, providing unforgettable experiences, and improving the natural world, as well as the lives of people and communities. We are leading by example and taking accountability for the future of our planet.
Our priority is to ensure that our business practices and activities do not harm the planet but instead actively contribute to its preservation and betterment through regenerative design.
Sustainability is integrated into everything we do, with our projects focused on meeting society’s needs without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries. Our approach is rooted in the principles of regenerative, circular design, which seeks to build with the earth’s natural networks to create living places with interconnected ecosystems that are resilient and sustainable.
We believe that by adopting this approach, we can assist our clients in achieving their sustainability objectives while also designing functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces that minimise their environmental impact and actively contribute to their long-term prosperity. However, we recognise that there is more work to be done. We are continually exploring new, innovative approaches that will help us achieve our goal of creating a better, healthier world for all living things. This is our living legacy, our commitment to our team, and our families.
Carbon Neutral by 2025
We operate an externally managed and monitored carbon reduction plan. Our goal is to achieve carbon neutrality for our direct operational carbon by 2025 and become a net-zero business soon after.
We recognise that our business activities have an impact on the natural environment, both directly through our daily operations and indirectly through our projects. In 2021, we took our first step towards achieving carbon neutrality by partnering with Positive Planet to calculate our baseline carbon emissions as a business. We have developed a roadmap to reach carbon neutrality and net zero, which is currently being implemented across our business.
We have taken steps to reduce our direct operational carbon emissions and are working towards becoming carbon neutral by 2025. We have already made significant progress. Our ultimate goal is to reach Net Zero and we are committed to achieving it.
To achieve these goals, we are reducing emissions in line with the latest science-based targets (SBTs). As part of our carbon reduction plan, we are seeking to achieve a 100% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030. We also plan to decrease purchased goods and services emissions by 15% annually from 2024 and reduce commuting, homeworking and business travel emissions by 10% annually from 2024.
Not only do we aspire to eliminate our own emissions to Net Zero as swiftly as possible, but we also hope to inspire our team, partners, supporters and communities to implement their own actions.
Working Sustainably
We have inspired our workforce to take action towards achieving our Net Zero goals by creating a culture of awareness through practice-wide engagement sessions and carbon literacy education.
Around 85% of our employees have completed Positive Planet’s Carbon Literacy Training, using the Giki Zero app to measure their carbon footprint. We are committed to having all staff trained in carbon literacy by 2025.
Designing Sustainably
We believe landscape is a catalyst for change. We are collaborating with clients to help them achieve their own net-zero carbon emission goals and deliver greener environments that enhance the planet.
Our team has developed a Climate Positive Design toolkit, based on the One Planet Living model developed by Bio Regional, that allows us to systematically integrate sustainable and climate-positive design elements into our deliverables, all decision-making processes, our interactions with wider design teams and clients- for every project we work on.
The toolkit is designed to facilitate a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to sustainability and climate-positive design. It includes a comprehensive set of guidelines and tools to help our team assess the environmental impact of design decisions and identify opportunities to reduce carbon emissions and enhance biodiversity, protecting and restoring habitats, water management, health and wellbeing, inclusivity and accessibility, local and sustainable food production, low carbon transportation and active travel, low energy materials, reducing waste and recycling.
