MWH

Sector: Corporate

Carbon Footprint:

6,000 in more than 35 countries.

TARGETS

> Develop and implement Climate Change Commitment (CCC) by 2009.
> Reduce annual internal-related travel mileage by 10% globally in 2007.

Achievements

> Renewable energy used at 90% of company-owned and operated buildings in New Zealand
> Between 2004 and 2006, MWH achieved a 23% reduction in its UK travel mileage

Benefits

Low Carbon Solutions

Background

Headquartered in Broomfield, CO., MWH is a private, 6,000 strong employee-owned firm. The company provides water, wastewater, energy, natural resource, programme management, consulting and construction services to industrial, municipal and government clients in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, India, Asia and the Pacific Rim. 

In late 2006, after joining the Clinton Global Initiative, MWH developed its Climate Change Commitment (CCC), as a plan for reducing its carbon footprint and educating its clients and communities about their greenhouse gas emissions and the effects of climate change.

“MWH is not going to solve global warming - it will be many, many firms like ourselves; many, many industries like ourselves; many more populations like ourselves,” said MWH President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Uhler. “But we’ve got to give it a shot. And I think that the passion of the company is there. And I think now’s the time to do it.”

MWH’s CCC goes beyond lowering the company’s own carbon footprint it also seeks to educate and engage clients on how they can lower their impacts on and react to the effects of climate change.

MWH is increasing both internal and external awareness of the impacts of and solutions to climate change as part of its focus on client engagement and youth education.

Internally, MWH actively educates employees on what the company is doing to reduce its carbon footprint, as well as how they can reduce their personal impacts and those of their clients. The company developed online training for client service managers and has held conference calls and presentations to inform the employee population as a whole.

MWH also hosts client workshops focused on climate change, with a specific interest in encouraging dialogue around the business implications of climate change. These workshops have been held in Florida, New York, California and the UK, with plans underway for similar events in several other locations. In addition, MWH hosts a quarterly climate change conference call for employees, clients, peers and partners.

MWH’s focus on educating youth about climate change includes lessons on the water cycle and energy efficiency. Recently, MWH developed an educational course curriculum about climate change to present to middle school classes. As part of this curriculum, MWH also developed a carbon wheel for the students to calculate their home carbon footprint. MWH is currently working to incorporate this course into the UK and other regions’ educational curriculum.

In addition to encouraging employees to monitor and reduce their personal carbon footprints, MWH US offices have implemented a new green office initiative. The programme includes energy audits, travel footprint calculation and office waste calculation. This programme, implemented by MWH’s Young Professionals Group, makes it easier for the company to monitor its travel and reduce waste. 

Going beyond simply reducing its carbon footprint, MWH is also working to offset its emissions. In 2005, MWH made its annual knowledge-sharing conference carbon neutral by purchasing carbon credits. In 2006, MWH purchased twice the needed carbon credits for travel and waste to make the event carbon positive. Recently, the office of the president of MWH’s Europe, Middle East, Africa and India operations committed to making its activities carbon neutral in 2007. MWH continually participates in tree planting activities as an additional means of offsetting its emissions.

MWH became a Climate Group member in January 2007 and in addition to its work with The Climate Group, MWH is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which provides its members the opportunity to work with its peers to identify best practices.

In an effort to achieve the client engagement focus of its Climate Change Commitment, MWH is incorporating the carbon footprint of project design and delivery into alternatives screening and the recommendations process.

For many years now, MWH has enabled its clients to reduce their carbon footprint and adapt to climate change through innovative design. MWH has also developed models to calculate the carbon footprint of various water treatment options and has studied the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels on treatment facilities. Additionally, MWH is developing a model for an integrated community infrastructure that is sensitive to reducing carbon emissions and climate change impacts.

Finally, MWH is developing fuel efficient pumps under AB 32 (California Climate Change Act) and a 100-MW solar array for SoCal, a southern California water utility.

MWH supports the use of renewable energy whenever possible. In New Zealand, MWH purchases 90% of its office electricity from Meridian Energy, which uses a combination of hydroelectric, wind and geothermal sources and is third-party certified as a carbon neutral company.

Internally, MWH is reducing carbon emissions by minimising travel. Encouraging video-teleconferencing as an alternative to travel enabled MWH’s UK offices to achieve a 10% reduction in business mileage in 2005 (24% reduction per employee) and a 23% reduction since 2004 (40% reduction per employee) with most of this reduction resulting from reduced car mileage. By examining its corporate meeting schedule, MWH decided to change the location of its annual leadership summit from China to the US and reduced travel by 250,000 air miles.