Environmental Policy

L.E.K. takes its environmental responsibilities seriously and realizes the importance of understanding and minimizing the impact of its business operations and services on the environment. The L.E.K. Consulting Environmental Policy is a long-term commitment to protect the environment, minimize waste and reduce energy consumption as part of a continuous improvement program. In this way the firm works to create a safe environment for the community as a whole and a healthy workplace for L.E.K. employees, while also achieving cost savings, increased operational efficiency and improved quality of client service.

In January 2008, L.E.K. became carbon neutral across its global operations. We firmly believe that this approach is the most efficient and direct way of reducing carbon emissions as well as minimizing other adverse environmental impacts. L.E.K has used the Carbon Trust’s framework of ‘reduce, replace, then offset’ to develop a robust carbon management strategy and achieve its carbon objectives.
 
Management and reduction of direct carbon emissions

L.E.K.’s carbon management strategy includes a program of reduction opportunities, with a target of reducing emissions by 20% in the next three years. In order to meet this target, L.E.K. has engaged a broad group of staff to identify and drive local initiatives in support of the global carbon reduction framework set by the UK, North America and Australia offices. The framework and its initiatives fall into five overarching areas:

• Building management – reducing emissions from each office building through reviewing energy suppliers, switching to low power light bulbs, optimizing heating and cooling cycles
• IT management – encouraging responsible use of IT equipment, for example through switching off computers overnight and programming all printers to default to double-sided printing and switch to sleep-mode when idle
• Business travel – encouraging the use of greener travel modes, including carrier selection for air travel
• Administration – reducing the footprint of office consumables through increasing recycling, using recycled and sustainable sourced paper and working with suppliers with similar environmental operating practices
• Staff initiatives – ensuring reduction initiatives are implemented, with groups of staff encouraged to lead initiatives within each office

Reduction of indirect carbon emissions

As a business advisory firm, L.E.K. does not have a large or complicated supply chain. Our suppliers are typically service providers such as research companies, insurers, lawyers and accountants, rather than product providers. However, in our commitment to become carbon neutral, we are encouraging all offices to work with suppliers who support the same environmental objectives.

Offsetting

To achieve carbon neutral status, L.E.K. is purchasing voluntary offsets. After a thorough assessment of the voluntary offset market, L.E.K. has partnered with Climate Care and is investing in a portfolio of climate-protecting projects.

All Climate Care’s projects meet the highest international quality standards for:

• Verification – all projects are monitored and verified by an accredited independent third party to ensure the emission reductions claimed have actually been achieved
• Additionality – all projects are climate protecting and, as such, reduce the level of greenhouse gases in the environment to below that which would have occurred without intervention
• Double counting – all projects are outside countries that have legally binding commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, to ensure that reductions go beyond those which governments are required to make. Credits are also registered and accounted to individual offset buyers so that they can not be sold more than once
• Permanence – all projects are assessed and guaranteed for permanence to ensure they maintain the reductions achieved over time
  

The projects are in developing countries, where additionality is easier to prove and where funding often goes the furthest. They will also bring a wide range of other benefits to local communities, such as poverty alleviation, health benefits and increased biodiversity. Example projects run by Climate Care include:

• Biofuel cookers to replace LPG cookers in India
• Energy efficient lighting in South Africa
• Wind energy in India and China
• Rainforest restoration in Uganda

Measurement and reporting

To monitor its global carbon footprint, L.E.K. conducts a quarterly evaluation of carbon emissions for each of its offices, which is measured and reported according to a central methodology. The process includes an analysis of the company’s overall energy consumption, paper usage and carbon emissions as a result of business travel.