WSP has set a target for its entire UK business to become carbon neutral by 2025.

The announcement forms part of the company’s 2016 Annual Sustainability Report, published today. In the report WSP sets out a series of goals for the future of the business, including:

• Become carbon neutral by 2025
• Reduce business travel and commuting carbon emissions by 17% per capita by 2020
• Reduce energy use per square metre by 16% by 2020
• Ensure zero waste to landfill by 2020

 WSP has also restructured how it delivers corporate social responsibility and sustainability with Claire Gott, the UK head of corporate responsibility and David Symons, the UK director of sustainability. WSP’s sustainability offering is centred around its “Future Ready” programme, which helps clients to design for future trends as well as today’s standards.

As part of the restructure, WSP has also launched its WSP Foundation, which consolidates several charitable funding platforms (that currently support 80 UK charities) into one.

WSP has also set itself the target of 1,000 days of volunteering a year to be undertaken by 800 people. All WSP employees are eligible to take up to two volunteering days a year, with 645 staff using nearly 800 days in 2016 to help their local communities. Elsewhere in 2016, WSP saw its total carbon emissions down by 9%, office energy use and paper use down by 10% and the company achieved a recycling rate of 93%.

Mike Rogerson, WSP UK COO, said: “We are practising what we preach. Clients and colleagues alike say that they want to be ready for the future. That they want to be part of creating a prosperous, sustainable, resilient economy. There’s no better way to demonstrate how this is possible than by going carbon neutral ourselves by 2025. This is something we regularly help clients to achieve through designing renewable energy systems, ambitious energy reduction programmes, and sector initiatives such as the Airport Carbon Accreditation Scheme. 

“Within our business we are already making great strides here with emissions down 9% in 2016 and our WSP Foundation provides a robust platform to help the charities we support and the communities we work in to thrive.”