Practice Net Zero Target

Our mission

ECE recognise that we are at a critical time for our planet and that our impact as designers and specifiers is significant in terms of the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency. In the UK, 49% of annual carbon emissions can be traced to our buildings, so we appreciate the requirement to be designing new buildings to be Net Zero Carbon by 2030, and all existing buildings by 2050.

ECE has declared a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, and we are integrating the RIBA’s Climate Challenge into our workflow to ensure measurable progress in the journey to Net Zero Carbon.

This year, we are developing our Net Zero Carbon Strategy, with an ambitious target of reducing our impact significantly within 5 years, in line with our Climate Emergency Declaration.  We host a Green Planet Monday lunchtime, where we share ideas and presentations from experts, as well as in-house knowledge. We also review major purchases for environmental impacts, such as new computing equipment, and any electronic waste is disposed of responsibly.

We monitor our annual carbon footprint (scopes 1, 2 with scope 3 where relevant), and measure the paper, plastic, and food waste we produce.  This has helped us identify our greatest impacts associated with our activities, which are from business travel, gas, and electrical use.

Our recent studio moves and refurbishments have resulted in us no longer using direct fossil fuel heating (gas), leading to a significant reduction in our own carbon emissions. Our hybrid working policy is helping reduce commuting emissions, and we are conducting travel surveys to identify opportunities for lift sharing, public transport, and cycling.

This year, we are developing our Net Zero Carbon Strategy, with an ambitious target of reducing our impact significantly within 5 years, in line with our Climate Emergency Declaration.

We are acutely aware that our greatest indirect impact is in our building designs, and we strive to provide efficient and low carbon solutions, targeting the RIBA 2030 Challenge targets where possible. Currently, we are introducing embodied carbon calculations and alternative methods of construction to assist in reducing whole life cycle carbon, as well as utilising our in house Passivhaus designers to help deliver low operational energy buildings.