Carbon impacts → People mobility

Global people mobility

People mobility remains an integral element in our way of working: we have flexible working arrangements, but working in a corporate office or on-site with a client remains an important part of our set-up. This impacts commuting (daily travel) and business travel (infrequent or additional travel to commuting). Whilst both are separately assessed in our GHG emission reporting, we combine in our analysis so we can understand the collective impact of ways of working.

Overall emissions tCO₂e

Business travel tCO₂e/ capita

Commuting tCO₂e/ capita

Low carbon commute

“It’s been exciting and inspiring to see the progress towards better understanding our environmental performance in region and what we have control over. There is a recognition at all levels of the business about the impacts arising from the operational decisions we make. As we build increasing understanding of emissions impacts, especially in Scope 3 and our supply chain, we are better able to make informed decisions that can improve our performance.”

Lindsey Malcom Sustainability Lead, Middle East

We don’t rely solely on the most local talent for our clients, but balance proximity and sustainability with providing the best possible individuals to each commission. This requires business travel at inter- and intra-national scales, and we are partially dependant on travel-sector businesses continuing their own sustainability and low-carbon transformations – some of whom we partner with to deliver their projects and programmes.

Whilst we continue to seek an ethical and sustainable balance, in 2025 our business travel emissions increased in absolute terms (7.4%), albeit intensity per capita decreased by 5.1%. Globally, our hotel stays increased by 23%. This is often perceived as an indicator of how much travel takes place, but it may also indicate improved logistical planning, i.e. one return travel trip with an overnight stop, opposed to two return trips without a stop, possibly indicating less travel impacts. Therefore, we monitor this but avoid making assumptions at global or regional levels as to any indicated patterns but encourage that at a cost-centre or localised level.

Absolute business travel changes, are inevitably, driven by headcount growth, and we have seen an increase in business travel mileage over-ground (a near trebling, largely in EMEA and the Americas), but conversely have seen a reduction in air mileage, short- and long-haul (-23%). Flying, however, remains our most impactful form of business travel, albeit private car use is the single largest contributor when sub-sectors (e.g. short-haul, private car use, trains etc.) are analysed. We continue to invest in new travel management systems, policies and controls to support these positive trends and address the negative trends.

Commuting and teleworking make up 2.9% of our emission profile, comprised of ~30,400tCO₂e (89%) and ~3,600tCO₂e (11%) respectively. 2025 emissions in this category rose significantly (77% ) largely attributed to business growth (more people) and a decrease in teleworking which has dropped from a global average of 2.4 days a week, to 1.5 days a week.

Our commuting and teleworking data is derived from our annual commuter survey, which is distributed to all global employees. In 2025, we had nearly 6,000 responses, each one providing details on working patterns and locations, distances and modes of commute dependant on destination, and barriers or mechanism which would support further transition to low-carbon commute options.

Use of petrol and diesel personal vehicles remain primary modes of travel globally (42.9% – by distance), but we are encouraged to note that train (26.1%), other forms of light rail, underground and tram systems (6.8%), public transport such as bus and ferry (5.6%) and walking/cycling (2.5%) combine to account for 41% of commuting distance. Use of electric vehicles (inclusive of bikes) remains a small percentage, varying significantly by geography, and accounts for 4.0% of commuting distance (7.8% if including hybrid vehicles, too).

We continue to account for commuting and teleworking impacts, recognising post-COVID-19 working patterns that embraced increased flexible working patterns. In 2025, we adopted the EcoAct teleworking methodology, as developed with NatWest Group and Lloyds Banking Group. This minor amend to the methodology assures we account for electricity and gas usage, for heating and cooling demands, based on geography. Contextually teleworking accounts for 11% of commuting and teleworking impacts, and 0.3% of the overall emissions.

Office and commuting GHG emissions intensity per capita is 1.40 compared to the emissions from teleworking per head at 0.16. This demonstrates that teleworking emissions are minor in comparison to the emissions associated with commuting and the subsequent office impacts.