With its climate strategy, COWI aims to become the leading climate consultant in Denmark and the first choice among international customers by 2010.
According to R&D Director Stig P. Christensen, the strategy should be seen in a broader perspective:
"As a firm that provides consulting in the areas of engineering, environmental sciences and economics – what we call the three Es – COWI has a unique opportunity to use climate issues as a way to integrate our business interests with our responsibilities in a world increasingly less dependent on fossil fuels."
"We wish to use the climate strategy to achieve three essential goals," continues Christensen. "To reduce the environmental impact of COWI's own activities and projects, to work together with customers to develop the most climate-friendly solutions possible and to make it easier for employees to voluntarily reduce their own impact on the climate."
Three roles
For COWI employees, the climate strategy can be broken down into the three roles they assume: employees, consultants and individuals.
"COWI's best opportunity to take social responsibility for the climate comes in its role as a consultancy firm, since we're actively involved in anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 projects around the world at any one time," Christensen says, and continues:
"On the homefront, COWI has calculated its carbon footprint in Denmark and presented it in its 'green account', which serves as the foundation for initiatives to further reduce CO2 emissions and other environmental burdens. And in 2009, a committee will present its proposals for how COWI employees can voluntarily reduce their own impact on the climate."
Future strategy Some of the climate strategy's main points will include:
- A ten-point plan for more efficient energy use in the organisation
- Participating in more green construction projects
- New climate-related business ideas.
"The 10-point plan includes a website employees can use to coordinate carpooling, increased use of virtual conferencing and a tool that can compare the CO2 emissions generated by employees' various modes of transport."
Green buildings In recent years, COWI has been involved in green projects such as the Danish Royal Theatre’s new Playhouse, Green Lighthouse – a new sustainable building at the University of Copenhagen – the extension of Denmark's Moesgård Museum, and the '4D' project in Copenhagen's Ørestad district – a 26,000 square metre building designed to use 65 per cent less energy.
More climate-related businessIn order to make sure that the climate is taken into account across the entire company, all of COWI’s regions – Denmark, Norway, Central & Eastern Europe, Gulf and Africa – will work to prioritise climate-related projects in their business strategies. The climate themes contained in the strategies will be tailored to suit local conditions, needs and business opportunities.
