Sustainability: Central to everything we do

• Our CO₂ footprint
• Walking the talk
• Carbon footprint
• Global action plan
• Video solutions
• Waste, paper and water
• The trouble with road travel

Our CO₂ footprint

This is the second year we have measured our greenhouse gas output, with our protocols and methodology improving significantly during 2007-08.

Our target of reducing SKM's per capita emissions by 30 per cent over three years is based on these revised figures.

There is still scope to sharpen these figures. For example, in some of our 47 rented buildings, the lease includes cost of lifts, heating and cooling. Some landlords have declined to provide us with data on this energy use, so in future rental agreements we are ensuring we can obtain this information.

On the other hand, we are confident of the data quality for air travel, which is a significant GHG contributor.

While the quality of the data is inadequate, we expect it to improve over the coming year. We will, for instance, include data from our South American offices, which to date has been insufficient.

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Walking the talk

At the annual meeting in November 2007, Chief Executive Officer Paul Dougas committed SKM to cutting its carbon footprint by 30 per cent per capita over three years.

'Some would consider this an example of unnecessary, self-inflicted business pain. We see it as not only good business, but a step towards making a positive and enduring impact on the world,' he said.

'We believe the benefits of taking strong early action on climate change far outweighs the cost of that action.'

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Carbon footprint

In the past two years SKM has put significant effort into measuring its carbon footprint, using in-house expertise to benchmark and assess aspects from air travel to building efficiencies.

In 2007-08 SKM introduced a comprehensive reduction program, by cutting business travel, improving building infrastructure, and upgrading video conferencing and IT facilities.

'This is an enormous challenge, but one we are determined to work hard to try and meet,' Paul said. 'This is a “stretch target”, but one will we monitor and review each year.'

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Global action plan

In November 2007 SKM also joined the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change and became a signatory to a communiqué from international business leaders in advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

The communiqué was signed by 150 global companies that share the belief there is an urgent need to develop new and longer-term policies to tackle climate change – including urging the UN to work towards an internationally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gases.

The Bali communiqué represents not just a persuasive argument that a global action plan is needed, but signifies it will receive strong support from the international business community.

'We have a professional and moral obligation to make a difference through our work with clients, as well as "walking the talk" ourselves,' Paul said.

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Video solutions

Air travel is a significant cost for SKM, and a significant polluter.

To cut the need for air travel, SKM installed modern video conferencing facilities during the year – in fact some of the technology was so new we were using it before its official release by Microsoft.

The technology required a substantial IT upgrade, and a significant expansion of bandwidth, costing more than A$1 million per annum. We believe this investment will be recouped in travel savings in the medium term.

More importantly, cutting air travel reduces our carbon footprint, and minimises the disruption to an employee's home life, family and health.

While air travel remains important to meet client needs, our policy is to closely monitor the amount of travel and ensure we maximise the value from any trip.

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Waste, paper and water

We have extensive recycling programmes in place. Audits on our waste have again shown that more than half is paper.

We are tackling our water use by installing water-saving devices whenever possible, and innovations such as waterless urinals. In the coming year we expect to set targets to reduce our per capita paper use, which we believe is too high.

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The trouble with road travel

We are serious about cutting our carbon footprint, and so we need accurate data to inform continuous improvement. We have faced challenges in doing this, but now believe our systems are increasingly accurate, even in hard-to-measure areas such as road travel.

Road travel is a key contributor to our carbon footprint.

In Australia for example, SKM has dozens of offices and worksites. Our staff use company cars (including fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles), taxis, hire cars and sometimes private vehicles.

But how do you measure fuel consumption in a taxi? How do you track the carbon footprint of hire cars when their use is usually reflected only in expense claims?

Our challenge has been to create systems that track our greenhouse gas emissions. For example, our suppliers of hire cars now provide us not only with a bill, but details of the car engine and kilometres travelled. We will continue to seek ways of capturing more accurate data across the business. We need accurate data to inform continuous improvement.

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