The data-informed goals we have set are rooted in science and align with mitigation pathways recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We are also emboldened by the ambition of our parent, ENGIE, to become the leader in the energy and climate transition by setting wide-reaching goals in a way that reconciles economic, social and environmental performance. However, setting goals is just the first step. Transformation requires immediate action, so we have set short timelines to achieve these goals. In our transformation, we will shape new markets, leverage our own sustainability experts and capabilities, and engage an ecosystem of stakeholders to drive the greatest impact across our employees, communities, suppliers and clients.
Latest progress updated April 2022.
We're officially carbon negative as of the end of 2021!
We will reduce our upstream waste and waste to landfills to achieve zero waste by 2023.
At ENGIE Impact we believe in transparent reporting and accountability. As members of the United Nations Global Compact CoP Early Adopters Program, we are committed to integrating the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations.
ENGIE Impact has set a goal to be carbon negative by 2021. While ENGIE Impact offset all of its emissions already in 2019, our carbon goal calls for increased methodological rigor, science-based reduction of our carbon footprint, and an innovative strategy to compensate for our residual emissions. In 2020, we aim to reach carbon neutrality, and by 2021, we aim to be carbon negative by avoiding or removing more carbon from the atmosphere than we emit. Leading this strategy are some of the world's foremost sustainability consultants on carbon markets and greenhouse gas accounting across voluntary and regulated markets.
ENGIE Impact is pleased to announce that in 2021 we achieved our goal of becoming carbon-negative. By first reducing our emissions by 21% compared to 2020, as well as purchasing both electricity certificates and carbon offset credits for the emissions we couldn’t reduce, we brought our carbon footprint down to zero—becoming carbon neutral. Going one step further, we purchased more offsets to ultimately achieve our carbon-negative goal.
Reaching our carbon-negative goal was only possible due to the hard work of employees, subject matter experts, and internal volunteers who helped measure, monitor, and reduce emissions across the business.
ENGIE Impact is committed to sourcing high-quality carbon offsets, reflecting GHG reductions, avoidance, or removals with a focus on additionality, permanence, and a principle of no significant social and environmental harm. As a result, ENGIE Impact has invested in two projects to offset its 2021 carbon footprint: a reforestation project in Panama and a methane capture-and-use program in the United States.
Project 1: CO2OL Tropical Mix. The reforestation project in Panama is a nature-based carbon removal solution, independently certified by a third party to an internationally recognized standard, creating employment and positive livelihood impacts for low-income communities through sustainable timber production and cocoa cultivation. The main reasons behind our decision to invest in the project:
Project 2: AR-Joy Farm Dairy Digester. The methane project in Pennsylvania is a carbon reduction solution, certified by the Climate Action Reserve, based on the capture and use of an alternative and renewable fuel source. The main reasons behind our decision to invest in the project:
As we moved into 2022, we have continued to focus on collecting waste data. This has included weighing waste streams on a monthly basis at our largest office in Spokane. Lessons are being learned as we refine the process and collect the data. We plan to implement these data collection processes in other offices by Q3.
We continue to compile more complete data on the company’s e-waste, which allows us to create purchasing and end-of-life processes—aimed to launch first in the U.S. and then deploy company-wide at all international locations.
Many companies are dealing with what the new normal will look like as we start to come out of the pandemic, and ENGIE Impact is among them. We will continue to focus on engaging our workforce, whether at home or in the office, with learning opportunities and activities. This will include our Earth Week celebrations, during which we will host both a virtual lunch and learn, and an Earth Day booth where employees will learn about zero-waste products, composting, and what they can do to reduce waste in the office.
Learn more about the process we went through to prioritize the goals that would be most meaningful to our planet and our business
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