Capgemini pledges to become carbon neutral and net zero

Continuing its leadership in the corporate fight against climate change, Capgemini has announced intentions of reaching carbon neutrality over the next five years, while also setting its net zero deadline at 2030.

First on the agenda is to reach carbon neutrality – a scenario where emissions generated by one part of a business are entirely offset by actively reducing emissions in other parts. For Capgemini, this will be achieved by changing work structures to minimise travel, developing an electric vehicle fleet, and collaborating with suppliers to reduce supply chain emissions. This is in addition to driving a shift to 100% renewable electricity.

As these initiatives shave off emissions to the point of neutrality by 2025, the IT services group plans to simultaneously engage in active reforestation and other carbon removal schemes. Over the next decade, this should bring Capgemini’s operations down to net zero emissions – defined as a scenario where a business contributes nothing to emissions, or can set up carbon removals to counter any emissions that may persist.

Capgemini is well on course to meet these targets, evidenced by its strong track record in cutting emissions so far. Back in 2017, the firm pledged to cut its emissions per employee down by 30% by 2030 – a target that it has already achieved this year, accounting for a significant increase in employees.

Add to this a whole host of green initiatives taken by the firm, including the commitment to help its clients cut 10 million tonnes in carbon emissions over the next decade. The firm is a founding member of the United Nations RacetoZero campaign, a leader of advocacy programmes to use technology as a driver of green transformations, and was a supporter of the World Climate Summit in Madrid last year.

CEO at Capgemini Aiman Ezzat highlighted that the Covid-19 crisis has only increased the need for a more climate-friendly business environment, adding that Capgemini was placing renewed focus on going green over the next few years. 

“Capgemini has had a decade long focus on reducing environmental impacts and whilst much has been achieved to date, we are now announcing our increased ambition. Acting on climate change is at the heart of our Group priorities with a focal point of our ambitious target of net zero by 2030. A strong set of actions have been put in place, that range from expanding our digital workplace initiatives and work from home, through to leveraging technology to help our clients drive down their own emissions,” he said.

From electrification to investing in renewable power sources, Capgemini is implementing measures that have been positioned as crucial to cutting emissions going forth. It is likely that others will follow suit, as businesses across Europe race to reach the European Climate Foundation target of net zero emissions by 2050.