We recognise our responsibility to minimise the impact of our operations and services on the environment, and we are making real progress as we work to develop a fully integrated approach to environmental management. This year we focused our efforts on improving our recycling, waste management, energy procurement and consumption, and greening our supply chain.

To support this focus we have undertaken an Environmental Risk Assessment, which includes audits of our London buildings (Waste, ISO 14001) and introduced new waste management processes.

Procurement
Over the year our environment manager has worked with our primary procurement teams for staff services, vehicles, IT and electrical equipment, and paper to engage them with environmental issues as they apply to the products and services we purchase.

We have ethical and environmental guidelines for procurement activities and it is our priority to work in partnership with
our suppliers to enhance and sustain environmental standards, providing greatest benefit to the firm, our suppliers and the environment.

Energy procurement and conservation
After a competitive tender process we selected a new energy broker and conservation consultant, Inenco. 100% of our purchased energy is now classified as green and we have set a further target of a minimum 10% from ‘dark’ green sources (from wind, solar or other renewable sources).

To address energy consumption and conservation, we have reached agreement with the government’s Carbon Trust to implement its Carbon Management programme. The programme, partly funded by the Carbon Trust, aims to reduce the firm’s carbon related impacts, focusing on office energy, business travel, inherent energy consumption and on conservation in our new London building at New Street Square.

The programme will involve energy surveys of our three main London buildings and two regional buildings. We will review and implement the recommendations in the context of the business needs of the firm. We plan to engage our people in energy conservation programmes. All buildings will be energy rated and compared with government standards.

We will also consider carbon off-setting of any residual carbon impacts with the aim to make the firm carbon neutral.

Waste and recycling
We have appointed new contractors to remove our office waste, ensuring as much as possible is re-used or recycled. A new office waste recycling programme and a staff awareness campaign have been trialled and are planned to be launched in all London offices and regional locations. The new processes will help us monitor waste data for each building more accurately, set quantitative targets, target high impact areas and give clearer ownership to our people.

Our campus
The environment manager has worked with a team to agree new environmental initiatives and guidelines for our New Street Square buildings and London campus. The guidelines are still under review but our aim is to create a low environmental impact building in both construction and operation, setting high standards and enhancing the firm’s reputation.

The campus refurbishment plan is a staggered process as each building will be refurbished individually, starting with our Hill House building in September 2006. Agreed environmental initiatives will be introduced as each building is either refurbished or constructed.

Other initiatives
We now provide Fairtrade coffee in client hospitality and meeting rooms. An agreement has been set up with the charity, Fairshare to donate excess restaurant food to the homeless and needy. Deloitte drinking water bottles are now provided in client hospitality and meeting rooms, with the water purified on site and served in re-usable bottles.

More information is available in our annual report and financial statements.

View our Environmental policy statement.