Zoom in on Net Zero - with Boston Consulting Group's Bas Sudmeijer

BusinessGreen staff
clock • 2 min read

VIDEO: Managing director and partner at management consultancy giant once again joins BusinessGreen's James Murray for a chat ahead of the 2021 Net Zero Festival

Our latest Zoom in on Net Zero interview guest is Bas Sudmeijer, a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the world's largest management consultancies.

Based out of the US firm's London office, Sudmeijer leads on the BCG's climate and energy transition topics, and boasts vast experience in particular working with utility companies and oil and gas majors in Europe.

With the pandemic still far from over, Sudmeijer has over the past year been working with businesses over a tumultuous period for the global economy, ahead of what promises to be a critical few months for the net zero agenda, with COP26 just around the corner.

In his latest chat with BusinessGreen editor-in-chief James Murray (you can also watch last year's conversation here) Sudmeijer offers his take on what the past year has been like for corporates working to drive the net zero transition, whether sustainability has slipped down the agenda or remains on track for many businesses, and how to nurture and boost the policy environment in the UK. The conversation can be watched in full above.

It comes as the firm announces plans to bolster its climate commitments for the coming decade with a fresh Science-Based Target-approved goal for 2025.

Last year, BCG announced a new target to become a net zero emissions business by 2030, backed by a pledge to invest at least $400m over the next decade to help its teams drive climate action among its clients and stakeholders. 

But today, the firm said it planned to go further, by halving the emissions intensity of its operations by 2025 - a goal that is aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5C, and which has been validated by the SBT initiative, it said.

As part of the new commitment, the firm has also increased its goal to reduce its business travel emissions from a 30 per cent reduction per full time employee (FTE) to a 48.5 per cent reduction per FTE by 2025, both against a 2018 baseline year, as well as exploring the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for flights taken by employees.

BCG said it would also look to remove 100 per cent of the emissions it is unable to reduce "with the most effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions" by 2030.

Later this month, meanwhile, BCG is proudly partnering with BusinessGreen for the second annual Net Zero Festival, a three-day virtual summit offering in-depth analysis on the many trends, opportunities, and challenges that define the net zero transition.

Boston Consulting Group is a partner of the Net Zero Festival , which takes place over three days from 29 September - sign up now for a free pass.

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