SECTORS / GICS-2020 / TRANSITIONS

Consulting · transition pathways

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The recognised primary transition pathway for consulting, plus the upstream sectors consulting firms depend on for their own decarbonisation. A consulting firm cutting business travel still needs aviation to decarbonise; a REIT cutting tenant energy still needs the grid to clean up. These are the rate limiters.

Primary pathway

SBTi 1.5°C corporate target + Race to Zero

No sector-specific SBTi pathway for consulting. Most major firms align via SBTi general 1.5°C corporate targets, plus the UN Race to Zero / Climate Pledge commitments.

Sector-specific guidance for professional services is being scoped by SBTi but not yet published.

Reference ↗
Decarbonisation pathways
hover to read · click to pin
02550751002020203020402050
Year readout

Hover the chart to read off Best / Realistic / Worst values at any year. Click to pin the readout.

2050 endpoint:
Best 0% · Worst 70%
Corporate Scope 1+2 absolute emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020 · Source: SBTi 1.5°C corporate criteria (4.2% YoY) · Race to Zero · BAU
Dependant pathways· 4

Upstream sectors consulting firms rely on. The faster these decarbonise, the faster the firm can hit its own targets — even when it does everything in its control.

Aviation

Scope 3 · cat 6

Business travel — flights typically account for 20-40% of consulting Scope 3 emissions. Aviation's own decarbonisation rate caps how fast consulting can cut this.

framework:IATA Fly Net Zero 2050, CORSIA, SBTi Aviation
Decarbonisation pathways
07515020192020203020402050
Best0%
Realistic50%
Worst150%
Aviation CO2 (commercial) · % of 2019 absolute CO2 · base 2019
Source: IATA Fly Net Zero, ICAO LTAG, BAU (~3% pa growth)

Power & electricity

Scope 2 + Scope 3 · cat 1

Office and supplier-side electricity — Scope 2 directly, plus the Scope 3 cat 1 emissions of IT vendors and cloud providers all turn on grid carbon intensity.

framework:IEA Net Zero by 2050 (Power), Ember Global Electricity Review
Decarbonisation pathways
0501002020203020402050
Best0%
Realistic15%
Worst60%
Grid carbon intensity · % of 2020 gCO2/kWh · base 2020
Source: IEA WEO 2023 — NZE / APS / STEPS

IT Hardware & Networking

Scope 3 · cat 1 + cat 2

Capital goods (laptops, servers) and purchased ICT services. The pace of ICT decarbonisation directly bounds consulting's S3 reduction trajectory.

framework:SBTi ICT sector pathway
Decarbonisation pathways
0631252020203020402050
Best15%
Realistic40%
Worst80%
ICT sector absolute emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020
Source: SBTi ICT 1.5°C pathway, BAU growth (~5% pa traffic)

Buildings & Real Estate

Scope 1 + 2

Office space — landlord-controlled energy + tenant-side energy. Building stock decarbonisation rate caps consulting's office Scope 1+2 reduction.

framework:SBTi Buildings, CRREM (Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor)
Decarbonisation pathways
0501002020203020402050
Best10%
Realistic45%
Worst75%
Building operational emissions · % of 2020 emissions · base 2020
Source: IEA NZE Buildings, SBTi Buildings 1.5°C
Decarbonisation by location — coming soon

Once we have HQ + operations location data per firm in this cohort, we'll overlay Ember grid-carbon-intensity data per country so you can see the geographical decarbonisation tailwind (or headwind) each firm is operating against.

Source: ember-energy.org · Global Electricity Review + per-country grid carbon intensity (gCO2/kWh).