In a bid to evolve our green credentials and help us on the road to carbon neutrality, we have undertaken our first assessment of RBA’s carbon footprint, with the help of Greenly — the leading carbon accounting and management platform.
The stark reality of climate change is in greater focus than ever before, and while there is still a long way for us to go before we meet our nation’s clean energy targets, we each have a vital role to play in protecting our planet and its resources.
Despite many leaders claiming their commitment to their organisation’s sustainability efforts, there’s a gap between how well they think they’re performing on the decarbonisation front, and their ability to accurately measure this.
Launched in 2019, the Greenly reporting app automates carbon accounting in full compliance with international reporting standards (CDP, GHG, and TCFD). The smart software enables companies to measure and reduce their ecological impact via an accurate gauge of overall carbon dioxide emissions — while creating tailor-made action plans that enable them to reach their climate goals quickly and easily.
With more than 400 corporate customers, the platform is geared towards SMEs — as they currently represent 80% of global emissions — and is already deployed by more than 100 businesses in France, including Payfit, Swile, Konbini, Foodles, and Alma.
We recently put RBA under the microscope, to understand more about the company-wide improvements we can make to minimise our carbon impact. The report emphasised many of our company’s strengths in the environmental arena.
Notably, our ISO 14001 certification and Greenhouse Gas assessments — which is only a mandatory undertaking for businesses of over 500 employees — further evidence of RBA’s commitment to improving processes and ‘putting our money where our mouth is’.
The software also exposed an extremely low environmental impact — from direct and indirect carbon emissions. Our score came in well below the industry and national averages, which is a fantastic achievement, considering this is only the beginning of our carbon mission. Our energy reduction plan was also commended as a significant measure we have already put in place to minimise the company’s negative environmental impact.
Our next focus to further bolster our ‘green’ agenda is mobilising our service providers — armed with Greenly’s guidance — to raise awareness and encourage suppliers to adapt their own policies and join us in our environmental goals. Plus, the RBA team is increasingly refining our sustainability indicators in order to monitor our carbon footprint and implement fresh solutions for ongoing improvement.
Commenting on RBA’s positive steps, co-founder Adrian Brewin said: “While the ultimate responsibility for achieving the EU’s energy and environmental goals is a hotly-debated topic, everyone has a part to play – from leaders of multinational conglomerates to national governments and local councils, as well as individual households.
As architects, we make sustainability a priority – and this narrative is becoming even more prominent from our recent undertaking with Greenly. This is only the start of RBA’s carbon agenda, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together.”
We’ll be sharing more of our internal and external environmental measures over the next few weeks, so watch this space to learn more.
