AECOM launches Sustainable Legacies
“As leaders of our industry, we have a responsibility to embed ESG principles into everything we do and partner with our clients and communities to advise on their efforts to advance complex, multi-decade sustainability initiatives,” comments AECOM CEO Troy Rudd.
“With nearly 50 000 talented engineers, scientists, architects, consultants, programme and construction managers, along with our board of directors and executive leadership team, we are energised by the impact of our work and how we can contribute positively to society and the planet. We believe infrastructure creates opportunities for everyone, and directly integrating ESG principles with our technical excellence and capabilities puts us in the best position to deliver sustainable legacies for a better world,” highlights Rudd.
“Our clients have new, evolving priorities focused on sustainability and delivering social impact through their projects and services, and AECOM stands out as the company that can best advise and execute for them,” adds AECOM President Lara Poloni. “By developing our strategy with a focus on advancing our ESG objectives and supported by the strength of our technical excellence, global collaboration and local engagement, we will continue to drive innovation in our industry while leaving long-lasting impacts on the communities we serve and the planet as a whole.”
Key Pillars of AECOM’s Sustainable Legacies Strategy
Achieve net-zero carbon emissions: While developing and implementing best practices and achievable goals for its clients, AECOM has furthered its own carbon emissions goals by ensuring that the company will be operationally net-zero by the end of 2021. It has also committed to reach science-based net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 through the following actions:
Setting new 1.5°C-aligned emissions reduction targets.
Decarbonising fleet vehicles and switching to renewable energy tariffs.
Partnering with its suppliers to decarbonise and including carbon considerations into its procurement processes.
Implementing a 50% reduction in business travel.
Creating projects centred around using nature-based solutions to offset residual carbon.
Embed sustainable development and resilience across its work: AECOM has introduced ScopeX™, a first-of-its-kind initiative to reduce carbon through design that considers embodied and operational carbon across the entire project life cycle. The company will further incorporate ESG action plans on all major projects to reduce carbon impact by at least 50%. It will also embed net zero, resilience and social value targets into its client account management programme.
Improve social outcomes: AECOM believes equity, diversity and inclusion enable better outcomes for clients, a deeper understanding of community challenges and more innovative solutions that propel the industry forward. As part of this pledge, AECOM has set an industry-leading, near-term target of women comprising at least 20% of senior leadership roles and at least 35% of the overall workforce. Its efforts extend to include developing project teams that reflect the clients and communities it serves and partnering with small and medium enterprises to generate social value through positive community investments. Additionally, the company is focused on delivering inclusive, accessible projects that proactively improve social value outcomes for individuals, communities and society.
Enhance governance: To better assess ESG risk factors in potential projects, AECOM is developing and deploying an enterprise framework supported by leadership accountability and advocacy through the audit of specific ESG targets and metrics on an annual basis. In addition to regular reporting to the board of directors on ESG matters, as part of the recently expanded charter of the board’s safety, risk and sustainability committee that includes direct oversight of ESG activities, the company will track and report on its ESG performance targets externally in line with leading industry benchmarks.
Reflecting AECOM’s commitment to advancing its ESG initiatives, in the fiscal second quarter the company executed an amendment to its existing senior secured credit facilities that includes incentives linked to achieving certain sustainability, and diversity and inclusion goals.
For more information on how AECOM is delivering Sustainable Legacies, please visit www.aecom.com/sustainable-legacies.
Ends
Notes to the editor
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About AECOM
AECOM is the world’s premier infrastructure consulting firm, delivering professional services throughout the project lifecycle – from planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. On projects spanning transportation, buildings, water, energy and the environment, our public- and private-sector clients trust us to solve their most complex challenges. Our teams are driven by a common purpose to deliver a better world through our unrivalled technical expertise and innovation, a culture of equity, diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to environmental, social and governance priorities. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm and its Professional Services business had revenue of $13.2 billion in fiscal year 2020. See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com and @AECOM. See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com and @AECOM.
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