5 minute read
Introduction
Our Vision
We aspire to create places where humanity thrives in harmony with nature.
Who We Are
Since 1935, we’ve been on a mission to create beautiful places that inspire, respect and restore our environment and instill a sense of belonging. As the world grapples with cascading ecological and societal challenges, it’s imperative that we operate our business from these foundational principles, too.
Making a Positive Impact
Over the years, our independent and collaborative research with industry organizations—from our groundbreaking work on material health to embodied carbon benchmarking and reduction—has helped advance sustainability as a key area of focus for the design profession. And our commitment to diversifying the industry shines bright through CoCreate, our firmwide ethos of inclusion that forges enduring partnerships with minority-owned consultants, as well as our growing catalog of scholarships and fellowships.
Honoring Global Commitments
We're proud signatories to, sponsors of, and participants in various pledges, programs, and organizations that promote health, sustainability, and diversity. Here are just a few:
✓ Architecture 2030 Challenge
✓ Black in Design Mentorship Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD)
✓ C40 Clean Construction Declaration
✓ Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index
✓ National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)
✓ World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment
ESG: Our Point of View
We know the use of planetary resources like energy, water, and materials is essential to run our firm effectively. We also know our daily business operations influence the health, well-being, and livelihoods of our teams and the communities we design for. To be a trusted and transparent business partner in every corner of the world, we believe in modeling best practices in leadership and accountability.
Above and Beyond Our Business
ESG doesn’t start and end with our studio operations; it permeates the projects we design and deliver to our clients around the world. We apply what we learn on our own ESG journey to our projects, and what we learn on our projects to our business. In this way, we scale up our environmental, social, and governance impacts well beyond our organization.
ENVIRONMENT: Planet
With you—our clients, communities, partners, and peers—we aim to create a more beautiful, sustainable, equitable world. Together, we design for life.
SOCIAL: People
Empathy and compassion nourish our culture of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We live by these values every day, both in our studios and in the communities we serve.
GOVERNANCE: Accountability
We strive to make a positive difference every day. To do the right thing. To seek out ways to be even better.
Process & Framework
Methodology
In collaboration with our partners at Sidara—a global network of designers, engineers, planners, and consultants—we underwent a materiality assessment, engaged relevant stakeholders, and participated in ESG target-setting workshops in early 2021. Our materiality assessment identified several reputational, operational, and commercial impacts.
Following a period of stakeholder engagement and workshops, we identified the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as a framework for our ESG disclosure, and established 10 key performance indicators we could report on.
GRI is internationally recognized and enables us to capture our performance across multiple geographic areas, nations, and cultures. It is also compatible with other frameworks, such as the World Green Building Council’s (WGBC) Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.
Looking ahead, over time we expect to increase the number of GRI indicators we report on. We'll also adjust our reporting as necessary to meet changing regulations and market demands.
External Assurance
PwC reviewed our 2022 data for the 10 GRI Indicators and validated our methodology, data collection quality, and governance process. In addition, BMO Climate Smart verified our process of compiling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory to ensure compliance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, Revised Edition; this resulted in our being named a Climate Smart Certified organization.
Even though we've been at the forefront of sustainability for decades, we're still at the very beginning of our ESG journey. This foundational report serves to communicate our commitments, outcomes to date, and future improvements.
Report Highlights
As you navigate your way through this report, you’ll find there’s lots of information to read and an abundance of data to digest. The following highlights represent what we believe are the most critical topics:
Decarbonization Policy
In late 2022, we introduced a firmwide policy to transition our operations off fossil fuels, conserve more energy, conduct embodied carbon assessments, integrate renewable energy technologies in the design of our new studios, and procure high-quality carbon offsets.
Renewed Green Operations Plan
We revamped our original 2005 Green Operations Plan to include the most current best practices for water, energy, carbon, and waste minimization.
Additionally, we’ve called upon each of our studios to formally acknowledge the history and ecology of their locations.
Diversifying the Design Profession
Long embedded in our ethos, our commitment to partnering with racially and ethnically diverse subconsultants at the earliest stages of design became an official part of our work process in 2022. We call it “CoCreate.”
Community Investment
As part of our Social Purpose program, in 2022, our teams around the world collectively donated more than 7,800 hours of professional design services and/or hands-on labor to nonprofit organizations that make a positive difference in their communities.
Diversity in Leadership
In 2022, the combined makeup of our Board of Directors, Executive Committee, studio leadership, and advisory boards was 31% women and 18% racially/ethnically diverse.
