A new tool in our ESG toolbox comes alive
Nature Footprint Assessment helps us take stock of our real estate’s sustainability impact
With more and more of nature’s ecosystems coming under pressure from human activities and record species extinction rates being recorded, Deloitte recognises that our real estate, our operations and our supply chain have a direct and indirect impact on nature.
"We aim to become a nature positive business by identifying and minimising the impacts and dependencies that we have on the natural world."
Caítlín Flanagan, Deloitte Ireland’s Sustainability Lead
“To help us achieve this, we assessed the nature footprint of our real estate activities to build a relevant and robust Nature Footprint Assessment. The assessment was a starting point for us to understand our impact on nature as a business.
“One of the surprises we got was that we’re within 5km of a protected site from a biodiversity perspective in our Galway office. This represents an excellent opportunity to create ways to engage our people in protective and potentially restorative work, alongside local grassroots organisations, that makes an impact that matters at local level.”
In terms of the main results, Caítlín says the benefits of the exercise were largely in the process. “This activity has given us a clear roadmap for how we understand, influence and ultimately impact nature. We are using the actions recommended ranging from deepening our level of awareness and reporting on nature impacts and dependencies, to creating the right scale to address shared exposures, either locally, or at a wider national level.
“There is little understanding about how, particularly service-based industries, might be impacting nature and how one would even start to measure it. Using the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and CSRD methodologies, it enabled us to clearly map and understand where in the value chain these impacts and dependencies lie and therefore how we can act to minimise our impact on nature.
“Looking to the future, the assessment results will continue to inform our wider climate action plan and reporting strategies over the coming years. And even beyond the scope of this assignment, we will seek a genuinely transformative impact by continuing to incorporate nature and biodiversity into our client offering, helping to advise our clients and other stakeholders as they look to initiate collective action.”
