2.0°C – Kirchhoff Consult determines its own climate impact

Together with four other partner companies in the TEAM FARNER alliance, Kirchhoff Consult GmbH has measured, reported and obtained certification for its greenhouse gas emissions for the 2024 financial year. Based on this data, the company has now been able to determine its individual contribution to global warming using the XDC model from right°: Under a business-as-usual scenario, this currently equates to 2.0°C. In other words, if the entire global economy operated at our emissions intensity, warming of 2.0°C would be expected by 2100.

‘We are not yet achieving the official climate protection target of 1.5°C. However, by evaluating our data, we have created transparency and laid the foundation for the development of a 1.5°C-compliant transition plan," says Dr Jan-Ole Brandt, Director ESG/Sustainability at Kirchhoff Consult. ‘It is important to us to take the lead on strategic sustainability issues – not only to position ourselves as a sustainable company, but also to be able to provide our customers with the best possible advice.’

The joint assessment revealed that around 27 per cent of emissions from TEAM FARNER partner companies stem from employee commuting, 21 per cent from company vehicles and 13 per cent from business travel.

The key levers for decarbonisation have therefore already been identified: ‘Our carbon footprint has once again shown that mobility is the biggest driver of emissions and, at the same time, the most important lever for potential savings. This is typical for the industry. But by using renewable energy, such as switching 100 per cent to green electricity, we will continue to move towards 1.5°C in the future,’ explains Dr Jan-Ole Brandt.

Kirchhoff Consult has been a direct access partner of right° for over a year and uses the science-based approach of the XDC model to carry out verifiable Scope 3 materiality analyses and develop sound transition plans for climate protection. right°’s X-Degree Compatibility (XDC) model calculates a company’s, product’s or asset’s contribution to global warming, with results expressed in degrees Celsius for clarity.

‘The methodological approach, which calculates an emissions budget in relation to gross value added instead of consistently demanding absolute reductions, is often more compatible with the strategic orientation of companies. This makes the XDC software an alternative to science-based targets,’ says Antonia von der Beeck, Senior Consultant ESG/Sustainability at Kirchhoff Consult.

As in the previous year, Kirchhoff Consult, together with komm.passion from Germany, Farner from Switzerland and the VIM Group with offices in Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, collected all climate-related data for the 2024 financial year and reported it in accordance with the international Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol standard. This year, the TEAM FARNER reporting circle expanded further: data from Lansons in the UK was included for the first time. GUTcert GmbH has once again officially certified this climate balance sheet.

The full audit report and verification of Kirchhoff Consult GmbH’s climate balance sheet are available here.