Sustainability

For six decades, Abt Global has pioneered what it means to be a social impact organization—inside and out. We care as much about how we work as the difference our work makes for communities and clients worldwide.

Our founder, Clark Abt, led by operating and measuring Abt by the social benefits it generates. Today, Abt’s award-winning Global Sustainability Program encompasses a company-wide framework for integrating sustainability and impact across our operations, business, and culture.

In the 1960s, founder Clark Abt pioneered the concept of a “social audit” for business—an impact measurement methodology that quantifies the benefits Abt operations create for employees, society, and the environment. In 1977, he published a book, "The Social Audit for Management" outlining this methodology, which contributed to founding literature on responsible enterprise management.

Abt has taken the climate crisis seriously since we completed construction of our proof-of-concept solar-powered office building in the 1970s. We put our people first when we became one of the first U.S. employee-owned businesses and created one of New England’s first onsite childcare centers for staff. We’ve changed and grown since then, but our commitment to our people and the planet and our creative thinking about the future have remained unwavering.

We’ve eliminated gender and racial pay gaps for staff worldwide, cut our carbon footprint for more than a decade and, in 2022, appointed our first Chief Climate Officer, to catalyze, incubate, and accelerate climate-readiness across the enterprise. We lead professional services firms as the first-ever certified in NSF governance, social, and supply chain standards. We implement an air travel emissions budget, conduct regular surveys on telecommuting, and provide employee subsidies for bike maintenance and public transportation. Our telework program has saved nearly 78,200 gallons of gas in the D.C. metro area alone. And we regularly report our energy consumption and emissions through our commitment to the Global Reporting Initiative Index and our annual Mission Impact Reports.

Our Climate Commitments

The greatest challenge we face, threatening decades of social progress, is climate change. Abt has set and exceeded ambitious goals for cutting Abt’s carbon footprint, and we aim to decarbonize fully by 2050. We’re integrating climate mitigation and adaptation strategies into our programs around the world, too, with the goal to:

• Expand our GHG reduction target to cover Abt’s global footprint
• Align our GHG reduction strategy to keep warming to a 1.5°C pathway
• Reach science-based net zero emissions by 2050
• Set an interim science-based target of 38.6% reduction (Scope 1+2 and Scope 3) by 2027 over 2019 levels

We have aligned our climate mitigation targets to limit global warming to 1.5°C and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. We apply ambitious science-based climate approaches to our internal operations, just as we do for our clients. Four years ahead of schedule, we beat our initial reduction target of 25% by 2021 from the 2012 base year and achieved a 49.7% reduction by 2019. Our next target is a 38.6% reduction by 2027 over 2019 levels, in line with our momentum and mission towards purpose-driven change.

Our Certifications, Awards, and Pledges

Through our people, operations, and projects we work every day to respond to the urgency of addressing climate change and social inequities. Our sustainability solutions and commitments receive industry recognition year after year.

• SBTi: Committed to the Science Based Targets initiative, We Mean Business, UNFCCC – Business Ambition for 1.5°C, and Race to Net Zero since 2021
• UNGC: UN Global Compact Ten Principles Signatory since 2017
• CDP: Partnered with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) since 2015 and received an A- Climate Change Rating in 2020
• TCR: Working with The Climate Registry since 2012 and earned Climate Registered™ Platinum status in 2019-2020
• ANSI/NSF 391.1: First professional service organization certified ANSI/NSF 391.1 globally - the only environmental impact, social equity, economic governance, and supply chain sustainability certification designed for the professional services sector
• MWCG: Proud recipients of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments 2023 Commuter Connections Employer Recognition Award for Telework Category and 2020 Award for Incentives Category