Environmental Policy

Introduction

Climate change is among the greatest challenges facing our world today. Because it affects everyone, it demands our creativity, passion and collaboration to build a better, more resilient future. The enormity of the problem, along with the complexity of potential solutions, has given Thornton Tomasetti a profound opportunity to make a lasting impact. Our environmental statement outlines three core actions: 

• Promote and apply innovative strategies for reducing carbon in our projects
• Achieve carbon-neutral business operations throughout our firm
• Influence sustainability and resilience policies and practices in our industry and communities 

We aspire to be one of the industry’s most sustainable firms – both in the way we design our projects and in how we operate as a responsible business.

• Purpose: Thornton Tomasetti aspires to build and design our world without destroying it in the process. Because they understand the role our industry plays in driving environmental impact, our clients are adjusting their processes and assets to adapt to or mitigate the effects of a changing climate. Embracing this responsibility helps enable us to make lasting contributions to society.
• Scope: This policy applies to all Thornton Tomasetti employees.

Requirements

Our Practices

Our engineers, scientists, architects and sustainability experts are at the forefront of decarbonization and resilient design, helping our clients better prepare for the consequences of climate change. Climate action is one of our core initiatives; it’s integrated into our planning processes, employee training and onboarding. 

We strongly uphold our responsibility, as defined by the engineering code of ethics for the safety, health and welfare of the public, to do our part to reduce embodied carbon in the built environment. Our structural engineers calculate and help reduce embodied carbon – the carbon footprint of building materials – in the buildings we design. We are co-initiators of the Structural Engineers 2050 Challenge, which states, “All structural engineers shall understand, reduce and ultimately eliminate embodied carbon in their projects by 2050.” We are also an inaugural signatory of the Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment (SE 2050). Our SE 2050 Climate Action Plan outlines our targets and progress toward this commitment. 

We provide sustainability consulting services, including building analytics and sustainable design certification, to help clients implement building designs that reduce environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of a building. Our expertise in net-zero and net-positive design enables our sustainability consultants to align early with building owners and design teams to establish a path forward for projects targeting net-zero energy and net-zero water. 

We’re also working to decarbonize the world’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. This includes advancing technologies for more efficient energy storage, providing engineering support for clean-energy sources, and developing unique solutions to enable a transition to clean energy. 

By combining deep expertise in energy supply and demand, power, resilience, renewal, embodied and operational carbon, coastal engineering, environmental resilience, and sustainability, we help clients make better choices while minimizing their carbon footprints.

Our Operations

Thornton Tomasetti’s investment in corporate responsibility is unique among engineering firms. Since 2012, we’ve maintained a Corporate Responsibility department led by a corporate responsibility officer and supported by a team. Together, they work to advance our triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. 

We reduce our operational emissions and engage all employees in climate action through continuing education, company policies and a culture of sustainability, driving both environmental and business success. 

For new-office fit-outs or major office renovations of 4,000 square feet or larger, we adopt certification of LEED Silver or higher, or an equivalent green standard. To date, we’ve achieved LEED Gold or Platinum certification for more than 13 offices, and about half our staff works in these offices. 

Each year, we conduct a greenhouse gas inventory across our operations and compare it to our baseline to measure progress toward our emission-reduction goals. We offset all emissions from business travel and purchase renewable energy to power our offices – in support of our long-term goal of carbon-neutral business operations. 

At the local level, employees serve as green champions – advocates who lead corporate responsibility efforts in their offices. Green champions promote initiatives that increase energy efficiency, reduce waste and achieve other environmental objectives. Our Corporate Responsibility department supports their work through coordination, resources and a dedicated grants program.

Contact

For more information, please contact Amy Hattan, Corporate Responsibility Officer.