Sustainability Impact & Initiatives

We are experiencing an overwhelming rush of corporations and governments declaring their intentions to become carbon-neutral, and we are hearing a unified voice of the youth of our planet, championing urgent action on climate change. There is a genuine, collective movement that believes taking action now is a global imperative. This new movement unites us all with a goal for positive change as citizens, businesses, and world leaders. We now realize we can do well by doing good!

Due to the dynamic force of governmental push and consumer pull, all businesses and industries are exposed and must respond to the new requirements of a Sustainable Global Economy. Broader macro goals need to be translated into specific action plans for which business and government leaders will be held accountable as they work toward clear, well-defined sustainability objectives over the coming years. These challenges are compounded by a rapidly evolving and complex operating environment that varies by region and industry.

At Kline, we encourage our staff, our clients and our suppliers to contribute towards creating a sustainable future, defined in its simplicity and perfection by the United Nations as:

“meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Each and every being can make a difference, bring awareness and move the needle towards a more sustainable world.

Corporate Sustainability

Reducing Our Carbon Footprint

We, as a company and as citizens of Earth, embrace our role and responsibility to be active participants in positively impacting the health and welfare of the planet and its people. As a company, Kline is on the path to being carbon-neutral/net-zero. To this end, we engaged Fokus Zukunft, an industry-independent and external sustainability consultancy, to provide a baseline measure of our carbon footprints and specific recommendations to guide us on our path to net-zero.

Fokus Zukunft evaluated Kline’s global operations in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used and recognized international standard for accounting for greenhouse gas emissions of companies. We chose 2019 as the base year for evaluation (i.e., to mitigate results bias due to the COVID impact in 2020 and 2021) and covered all Kline global office locations and employees. Kline provided detailed data for each location, including emissions in three categories: 1) heat and fuel consumption; 2) electricity consumption and district heating/cooling/steam; and 3) services and third-party services (e.g., business travel).

How did Kline do? Kline’s greenhouse gas balance totaled 1730 tons of CO2, or 11.5 tons of CO2 per employee. Compared with other companies of similar size, the emission value per employee is in the middle range. No surprise, business travel was the largest contributor to our carbon footprint in 2019, followed by heat consumption and employee commuting.

Source: Fokus Zukunft’s CO2 Emission Balance 2019 Report of Kline Group dated 3-22-22.

What reduction targets did Fokus Zukunft suggest? Their recommendations involved Science-Based Targets in line with the 1.5° Celsius target of the Paris climate agreement of 2015. For Kline, this would involve reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 21% from 318 CO2 tons in 2019 to 251 CO2 tons in 2024.

Kline’s Sustainability Task Force, headed by Vice President, Technology, Duncan Lawie, has implemented three initiatives to help all Kline offices and employees reduce our carbon footprints and reach our goals in 2024, when we will conduct our next carbon footprint report.

Business Travel Policy

Kline has updated its travel policy to promote guidelines that will help us decrease our carbon footprint by choosing teleconference as a preferred option for client meetings; replacing short-distance flights (under two hours) with rail; limiting the number of employees traveling to specific meetings; selecting the lowest carbon impact options for business trips; and offering the flexibility of hybrid / remote work for Kline employees to avoid the heavy impact daily commute into the office.

Recycling Policy

Office practices to reduce waste by integrating recycling and digitalization processes, eliminating all disposable food and beverage utensils, offering reusable dishware, glasses, etc…. in all Kline offices, easy access to recycling bins in offices as well as diffusing instructions on the importance of recycling and how to improve both in personal and professional life.

Commuting Policy

Kline’s office policies promote hybrid and/or remote work flexibility as well as incentives to encourage use of the lowest carbon producing forms of transportation wherever and whenever possible: public transportation, bicycles, electric scooters, etc.

Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Kline’s local offices encourage and incentivize initiatives that are important to our communities, our employees, and our planet. CSR also extends to our provision of an inclusive work environment and our support of empowerment solutions for all, both inside and outside of the office. We have implemented Volunteer Days, which allow our teams to bond over environmentally and socially impactful initiatives during the year.

Play Video
Members of the Kline India office and participants in the Analyst Academy put their cooking skills to the test for a “feeding the hungry” initiative. After preparing Dal and rice together, they headed to the Old Delhi railway station and doled out meals to some 250 people (July 2022).
Local Kline offices participate in a variety of social initiatives throughout the year. It’s enjoyable to collaborate and spend time together outside of project work, and to support the greater good!
Kline's U.K. staff members gathering at Romney Marsh in Kent to help in the conservation of bumblebees
Carrie Mellage, our Vice President of Consumer Products, and her daughter Alexa coaching another season with Girls on the Run International, a program designed to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident (Carrie is second from right in the top row, and Alexa is beside her in the light-blue hoodie)
Carrie Mellage, our Vice President of Consumer Products, and her daughter Alexa coaching another season with Girls on the Run International, a program designed to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident (Carrie is second from right in the top row, and Alexa is beside her in the light-blue hoodie)
Kline staffers in India lend a helping hand to iamgurgaon, a citizen’s initiative focused on restoring Gurugram’s green habitat, in celebration of Earth Day
Kline staffers in India lend a helping hand to iamgurgaon, a citizen’s initiative focused on restoring Gurugram’s green habitat, in celebration of Earth Day
Members of our NJ office volunteering their services at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown on Earth Day
Members of our NJ office volunteering their services at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown on Earth Day

Contact Us

Vice President,
Technology

Vice President, Energy Practice Leader

Vice President, Chemicals Practice Leader

Vice President, Beauty and Wellbeing Practice Leader