Charting Sustainability

July 24, 2024

Robert Allan Ltd.’s Path to Carbon Neutrality

Alice Brais | Naval Architect

Robert Allan Ltd. is built on ideas, thousands of which float in the world’s waterways. While unquantifiable amounts of greenhouse gases are emitted by vessels built to our designs, is there an environmental cost to getting those designs on paper before the first sheet of metal is cut?

Undoubtedly, there is an inherent cost to doing business. At the close of the last decade, with the maritime industry contemplating the International Maritime Organization’s initial greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy, we sought to investigate the environmental impact of our own operations and devise a plan to be a net positive influence on the planet.

In collaboration with Green Sky Sustainability, we thoroughly reviewed our company records to quantify our annual operational greenhouse gas emissions. We took full stock of all significant sources of emissions, from the electricity that keeps our lights on and servers running to the fuel that heats our office and powers the cars, buses, trains, and planes that move us around the globe.

As a business centred on ideas, our greatest asset is our team’s collective brainpower. Our biggest source of emissions is the movement of this brainpower to and from the office, to meet with our global client base, and to shipyards, suppliers, and conferences throughout the world. While this global outreach is crucial to our success, about three-quarters of our total emissions are due to air travel, with the remaining stemming from running our office. Tweaks to work habits, such as embracing remote work and hosting virtual meetings, have significantly reduced our emissions compared to pre-2020 levels. But mitigation is just one piece of the puzzle.

For the first time in our history, now armed with an honest understanding of our operational carbon footprint, we offset our annual corporate emissions for 2022, and again for 2023, by investing in several carbon-offsetting projects backed by Gold Standard, a non-profit organization focused on certifying projects that meet its rigorous standards. Located in Costa Rica, Zambia, and Uganda, these projects, selected by our staff, support initiatives such as reforestation, renewable energy adoption, and the implementation of cleaner cooking technologies – efforts that benefit both the environment and local communities.

We are immensely proud of our first two years as a carbon-neutral organization. As we continue this journey, we are committed to employing more sustainable business practices to reduce our carbon intensity and offsetting the balance of our operational emissions. We strive to uphold these commitments to environmental sustainability as we foster innovative ideas for decades to come.