Environmental sustainability

We want the UK to have the engineers needed to design and build an environmentally sustainable society. Through our environmental sustainability strategy, we will inspire more, and more diverse, young people into engineering roles that address environmental sustainability whilst also playing our part measuring and reducing our environmental impact.

This work has 3 objectives:

• grow our understanding of how to inspire young people into engineering to meet the workforce needs for environmental sustainability
• inform and inspire young people so that more choose to make a positive impact on the environment through engineering careers
• operate in an environmentally sustainable way, in our programme delivery and office (reducing resources used, energy, pollution and waste)

Net zero targets

We have published an environmental sustainability policy and have committed to the following carbon reduction targets: 

• reduce our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 75%, over the period 2019 to 2030 
• reduce our Scope 3 emissions by at least 40%, over the period 2019 to 2030 
• reduce all emissions by at least 90%, over the period 2019 to 2040 

Our carbon targets meet or exceed the requirements of the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative). 

In addition to setting carbon reduction targets, we have also procured nature-based carbon removal offsets which comply with the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code. This is to ensure that we will be a net zero organisation in the 2040s once our 90% reduction target has been achieved.  

Our carbon footprint

EngineeringUK uses the GHG Protocol to assess and report its carbon emissions. We are currently ahead of target in reducing emissions from our baseline year of 2018-19. In our last reporting period, 2022-23, the carbon footprint of EngineeringUK was [391 tCO2e], which represented a 61% reduction from our baseline. 

The size of EngineeringUK’s carbon footprint can be seen in the graph below, and is broken down by Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. 

We use the market-based method for reporting our Scope 2 emissions. 

Scope 3 accounts for 99% of EUK’s emissions and includes: purchased goods and services, capital goods, waste generated in operations, business travel, staff commuting and home-working, investments and transport of attendees to events.   

The bulk of carbon reductions are associated with ‘transport of attendees to events’, and were reduced in 2019 to 2021 due to no in-person events taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

EngineeringUK is dedicated to playing our part in reaching net zero in the UK and has a Carbon Management Plan to ensure that we hit our carbon reduction targets. We will update progress as the team continue to review and reduce our carbon emissions.

 

Our work

We have analysed current projections for green jobs and associated skills demand, publishing our findings and recommendations for government in the Net zero workforce briefing. We have also explored opinions on the link between environmental sustainability and engineering and show that this correlates with interest in engineering as a future career for young people.

Through Neon, Energy Quest and Tomorrow’s Engineers Week we we highlight the positive impact that engineering can have on the environment and showcase a broad range of green jobs, encouraging young people to think about how a career in engineering could align with their interest in a sustainable future.

We are measuring our carbon footprint, across all elements of our work and introducing new approaches and considerations to help us operate more sustainably.

Find out more about how to use environmental sustainability to inspire young people into engineering and technology in this Tomorrow's Engineers webinar with Mike Hardisty, Head of Environmental Sustainability at EngineeringUK.