Bain is first company to make carbon credit claim under new rules

Consultancy commits to take the most ambitious approach under VMCI code.

Bain & Company has become the first firm to make a claim using new rules for the voluntary carbon markets.

The management consultancy today announced it would buy enough carbon credits to offset all the emissions it generates after it has met its annual decarbonisation target.

It made the claim using a framework launched last year by the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative (VCMI) – a non-profit body set up to restore confidence in the carbon offsetting market after years of scandal and accusations of greenwashing.

Its new Claims Code of Practice provides a series of ways that companies can credibly use carbon credits to contribute towards their net zero efforts. The approaches are labelled ‘silver’, ‘gold’ and ‘platinum’.  

Bain has made a ‘platinum’ claim, the most ambitious of the three, meaning it will purchase and retire high-quality carbon credits equivalent to 100% of its “remaining” emissions. “Remaining” emissions are those left over once a company has met its annual decarbonisation target – as approved by a third-party verifier – by reducing its own emissions directly.

Eventually, only credits approved under the Core Carbon Principle programme will qualify as ‘high quality’, but that scheme is still being rolled out. In the meantime, Bain will have demonstrate its alignment with the principles, or use credits generated through the aviation industry’s well-established CORSIA offsetting scheme.

“Our first priority has been to reduce our own climate impact by reducing operational emissions in line with the Science Based Targets Initiative Net Zero standards,” said Sam Israelit, Chief Sustainability Officer at Bain & Company, claiming that the firm was set to cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30% by 2026, and slash business travel emissions by 35% per employee by the same date.

“The VCMI Claims Code of Practice brings welcomed additional clarity for us to go beyond our own value chain mitigation by removing more carbon from the atmosphere than we emit on an annual basis. We hope others will join us on this journey.”