Turner & Townsend responds to urgent climate change challenges and opportunities in its 2023 report
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework helps provide information to investors on how companies plan to mitigate the risks of climate change and aims to improve reporting of climate-related financial information.
Turner & Townsend's review of this framework to define sustainable governance is summarised in the 2023 report. Since its first publication in 2022, the company has reviewed how it operates under the four pillars of TCFD, redefining its overall governance, strategy and how its risks and opportunities are managed.
Recognising the increasing significance in climate risk, the company is proud to have greatly expanded its TCFD methodology and research in 2023, reporting against three of its main regions (United Kingdom, North America, and Europe).
As a responsible business, Turner & Townsend wants to transform performance for a green, inclusive, and productive world. The challenges the industry faces, whether economic, social, or climate-related, require fresh thinking and new solutions.
The climate crisis poses increasingly significant risks, and for this reason, the company has incorporated the recommendations of TCFD and embedded them into its climate-related considerations as a business.
Assessing climate risk management
Climate risk management is one of the four core elements identified in our TCFD report. Risks are categorised into two groups: transition and physical.
The company's methodology is underpinned by an extensive, stratified review and analysis process. Physical risks were assessed against each scenario using a combination of quantitative and qualitative sources, including publicly available and regionally appropriate open-source climate data.
Transition risks were assessed against each scenario by several well-placed, internal subject matter experts combining regional research – such as existing and emerging regulatory requirements – with their deep knowledge of the company's business and operations.
From a physical risk perspective, heat stress, wildfires and adverse weather conditions related to water, inclusive of increased precipitation and storm events, are likely to have adverse effects on the company's operations. To mitigate these challenges, Turner & Townsend has integrated the findings into its business sustainability planning and office selection criteria.
From a transition risk perspective, there are both risks and opportunities related to regulations, related to carbon pricing and reporting obligations.
The company's priorities
Turner & Townsend aligns with TCFD guidance, which maintains that a company should provide a transparent, clear description of the resilience of the company’s climate strategy, taking into consideration different climate-related scenarios.
Its net-zero strategy, NewLeaf, addresses its goals through targets, actions, management, and collective responsibility for the reduction of its total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. NewLeaf complements the company's industry-leading market services to accelerate its clients’ own decarbonisation goals.
Using the TCFD methodology, the company identify opportunities to respond to climate risk, and to strategically align these actions with its NewLeaf sustainability strategy and net-zero ambitions.
Turner & Townsend's global team continue to develop some of the world's most exciting, complex and purposeful programmes. Through its work the company aims to be at the centre of the world's clean energy and decarbonisation transition, while sustainably managing its natural resources to enable security and social prosperity.
The company's strategy is to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis and incorporate resilience into its operations, supply chain and its work with clients across the globe.
James Dand, Chief Operating Officer, said:
Our purpose at Turner & Townsend is to transform performance for a green, inclusive and productive world.
"Against a backdrop of increasing complexity, we are living this purpose through our work supporting clients globally to deliver on their net-zero commitments and transition to clean energy. Equally, it is working hard to decarbonise its own business."
"This is our second TCFD disclosure, which reflects its commitment to understanding and integrating climate risk into its risk management governance, processes, and strategies, as well as its commitment to achieving its net-zero goals."