Corporate social responsibility is entwined in Bain's DNA because our people believe deeply in making the world a better place. And because we share our experiences with our clients around the world, the benefits of our efforts—like our work with community organizations or our certification as a CarbonNeutral® company—are magnified far beyond Bain itself.
In 2010, Bain set the aggressive goal to become carbon neutral. Just two years later, we are proud to announce that we have been formally certified as a fully CarbonNeutral® company.
This achievement is the result of an exhaustive effort to measure our global footprint—including all client travel—in accordance with international certification standards, coupled with a multi-faceted approach to reach net zero carbon emissions.
We have been aggressively reducing our footprint where we can. More than 60 office-level initiatives have been underway for years spearheaded by our Green Teams, including recycling, reducing paper usage and conserving electricity. These are joined by firm-wide initiatives to reduce our emissions, such as server consolidation, increased teleconferencing and purchasing green power where possible.
Reduction remains a priority. However, recognizing the travel-intensive nature of our business, we are also offsetting the unavoidable portion of our footprint by investing in green projects. These investments provide a critical source of funding for renewable energy and other emissions-reducing projects that would not otherwise be financially viable. To date, Bain has invested in six projects around the world, carefully selected to span geographies and technologies, including:
