Making sustainable choices

The largest office is in London, with two smaller offices in Edinburgh. All office space is leased, and we work closely with the building management teams in both cities to participate in recycling and related programmes. Earlier this year the building within which our London office sits won 'Gold' in the ‘City of London Clean City Awards’, which we were pleased to have contributed to.

In addition to environmental concerns around waste and recycling, we have been monitoring the big-impact areas of utilities consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In line with the EU energy efficiency directive, we filed an Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) report in 2019 (for reporting period 1/1/2018-31/12/2018), which gave rise to several ideas for improvement. We are preparing to report under the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) framework in 2021, which we expect will identify further areas for improvement.

As part of the sustainability review underway at time of writing, we have been looking for further positive changes we can make. For example, in 2019, about three quarters of our travel-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions came from air travel. We have identified opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing air travel, utility consumption and streamlining our supply chain. Where we cannot eliminate all carbon emitting activity, we will look to offset carbon emissions created by 7IM, e.g. by tree-planting.

Finally, we consider sustainability in our procurement processes and project delivery channels. Over time we will review our downstream impacts (Scope 3 emissions) and try to lower emissions further. Where possible we will seize ‘quick wins’ – e.g. switching to biodegradable pens and notepads, and using paper from well-managed forests or recycled sources.

Our vision is to deliver an unrivalled experience. Our clients are increasingly concerned about sustainability and ESG, and we understand that their interest includes and extends beyond investments. We are reviewing the experience we offer our clients through this lens, creating carbon-light options with continued digital meetings and interaction and paperless communications where possible.

*Scope 1 covers direct emissions, scope 2 covers indirect emissions and scope 3 are emissions associated with the company but not produced by the company itself.