About this report
Supporting data
To measure our social, economic and environmental impacts and support programs for improving our sustainability performance, ERM collects and reports data relevant to our global operations. The data are grouped, where applicable, in alignment with the focus areas presented in this report.
Data that relate to specific GRI G4 indicators are labeled in each table (e.g. ). More information on the location of specific GRI G4 and UN Global Compact content within this report can be found in our Content indexes.
Organizational boundaries and associated methodology for data collection and management are set out in the Boundaries and methodologies tab and within the relevant subsections. All financial data are reported in US dollars, unless otherwise noted.
Select from the categories below:
Our people
Data presented here support the Our people section of this report. ERM acquired a number of organizations during FY15, and employees of these organizations are included in the data, unless otherwise noted.
Global headcount |
Employees by employment type and regions (headcount) FY15 |
| Permanent | Casual1 | Fixed Term | Intern (paid) | Leave (paid) | Leave (unpaid) | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 915 | - | 53 | 7 | 19 | 29 | 1,023 |
| Asia Pacific | 803 | 46 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 893 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 362 | - | 36 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 410 |
| North America | 2,046 | 96 | 53 | 8 | 14 | 23 | 2,240 |
| Specialty Global Businesses | 388 | 5 | 3 | - | 1 | - | 397 |
| Group | 205 | - | 1 | - | - | 3 | 209 |
| Total | 4,719 | 147 | 167 | 25 | 38 | 76 | 5,172 |
1 A casual employee is a person hired to work occasional and irregular hours on an as-needed basis or to provide supplemental help during periods of unusual circumstances.
Global gender diversity by career level (CL) |
Female
Partners
Male
Total Senior Consultants (CL4 & 5)
Total Partners & Consulting
Professional Support
Total All Employees
Age diversity - global summary (%)
Age diversity - regional summary (%) |
| 25 years or less | 26 - 34 years | 35 - 44 years | 45 - 54 years | 55+ years | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY14 | FY15 | FY14 | FY15 | FY14 | FY15 | FY14 | FY15 | FY14 | FY15 | |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 4.7 | 5.1 | 41.1 | 37.3 | 32.5 | 34.8 | 17.0 | 17.1 | 4.8 | 5.7 |
| Asia Pacific | 10.7 | 9.0 | 47.6 | 45.4 | 30.4 | 33.7 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 3.0 | 3.2 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 9.7 | 10.2 | 42.4 | 42.9 | 30.4 | 30.2 | 12.2 | 11.7 | 5.2 | 4.9 |
| North America | 7.7 | 8.6 | 26.4 | 26.4 | 27.2 | 26.7 | 22.0 | 21.7 | 16.7 | 16.7 |
| Specialty Global Business | 15.9 | 10.8 | 38.4 | 37.8 | 20.5 | 25.7 | 17.3 | 17.6 | 8.0 | 8.1 |
| Group | 2.0 | 2.4 | 21.9 | 14.4 | 29.9 | 33.0 | 36.8 | 37.8 | 9.5 | 12.4 |
| Total | 8.1 | 8.0 | 35.5 | 33.5 | 28.8 | 29.9 | 17.9 | 18.1 | 9.8 | 10.4 |
Diversity within ERM senior management |
At the close of FY15, the United Kingdom-based Board of Directors consists of four male members of Caucasian descent, with two aged between 30 and 50 and two aged over 50.
The 13 members of the Executive Committee reside in different countries around the world, including Argentina, Australia, the United Kingdom and United States. The Executive Committee consists of one female and 12 male members, all of Caucasian descent. Three members are aged between 30 and 50, the other 10 are aged 50 years or over.
Training1 (hours per FTE) |
1 Data does not include employees in organizations acquired by ERM in FY15.
Health and safety mandatory training1 (% compliance) |
1 Data does not include employees in organizations acquired by ERM in FY15. However, employees in companies acquired by ERM were provided with “in-person” training as part of the integration process. After certain in-person training and systems integration, acquired company “new joiners” also completed online training under the 5-day/30-day format.
Business conduct and ethics mandatory training1 (% compliance) |
1 Data does not include employees in organizations acquired by ERM in FY15. However, employees in companies acquired by ERM were provided with “in-person” training as part of the integration process. After certain in-person training and systems integration, acquired company “new joiners” also completed online training under the 5-day/30-day format.
Health and safety
Data presented here support the Health and safety section of this report and are inclusive of one of the organizations acquired by ERM, Natural Resource Group (from 1 October 2014 to 31 March 2015).
3-year rolling TRIR average1,2 |
1 This data includes full-time ERM employees only and does not include independent contractors at this time due to system limitations.
2 Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) is the number of recordable injuries and illnesses multiplied by 200,000 (with 200,000 hours equivalent to 100 employees working a 40-hour week for 50 weeks of the year) and divided by the total number of hours worked by all employees.
3 In October 2015, after submission of FY14 Sustainability Report data, an injury from March 2015 (FY14) was reported within EMEA. This has resulted in the FY14 three-year rolling TRIR average to increase from 0.51 as previously reported.
Health and safety data - global and regional summary1 |
| Recordable incidents | TRIR2 | Severity rate3 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 4 | 5(4) | 5 | 0.44 | 0.59(4) | 0.61 | 0.99 | 30.87(4) | 1.10 |
| Asia Pacific | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.34 | 0.00 | 0.13 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2.55 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 6 | 7 | 9 | 1.43 | 1.80 | 2.27 | 97.03 | 3.34 | 11.09 |
| North America | 4 | 7 | 7 | 0.23 | 0.38 | 0.35 | 0.06 | 0.43 | 7.20 |
| Specialty Global Businesses | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.90 | 0.00 | 0.28 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Group | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.09 | 1.03 | 1.01 | 4.37 | 0.00 | 29.25 |
| Total | 20 | 20(4) | 24 | 0.47 | 0.46(4) | 0.54 | 9.85 | 6.50(4) | 5.52 |
1 This data includes full-time ERM employees only and does not include independent contractors at this time due to system limitations.
2 Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) is the number of recordable injuries and illnesses multiplied by 200,000 (with 200,000 hours equivalent to 100 employees working a 40-hour week for 50 weeks of the year) and divided by the total number of hours worked by all employees.
3 Severity rate is the total number of days away from work and restricted-duty days multiplied by 200,000 and divided by the number of hours worked by all employees.
4 In October 2015, after submission of FY14 Sustainability Report data, an injury from March 2015 (FY14) was reported within EMEA. This has resulted in an increase in the values reported in the FY14 Sustainability Report of 19 (recordable incidents), 0.44 (TRIR) and 6.27 (severity rate) globally and 4 (recordable incidents), 0.447 (TRIR) and 29.68 (severity rate) for EMEA.
Recordable incidents by type1 |
1 In FY15, recordable incidents were re-categorized to better represent the types of incidents occuring.
2 Includes caught on, in or under.
3 Includes ergonomic (office and field) and fatigue.
4 Includes chemical and environmental.
5 Includes hit by and against.
Event communication system events1 |
1 ERM's health and safety performance and the pulse of our culture are monitored continuously through our event communication system (ECS). The ECS allows any employee to "communicate" the occurrence of a health, safety, security or environment event. Its use is encouraged as part of everyday life in the company. ECS information is used in real-time for sharing lessons learned around the globe, refining ERM's procedures for safe work, observing trends and identifying areas for improvement.
Environment
Data presented here support the Environmental footprint and Greenhouse gas emissions sections of this report and do not include data from organizations acquired by ERM during FY15. All of our FY14 and FY13 GHG results in this section have been restated following the application of revised methodology in accordance with updated protocols. For more information, please refer to the Boundaries and methodologies tab.
GHG emissions intensity1 (tCO2e/FTE) |
1 Total GHG emissions normalized by full-time equivalents (FTEs).
Total GHG emissions1,2 (tCO2e) |
1 Total GHG emissions include Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
2 Scope 2 data has been calculated using the market-based approach. For further information on Scope 2 location and market-based methods, please refer to http://www.ghgprotocol.org. All data has been calculated using market-based approach, unless otherwise stated.
Total GHG emissions by region (tCO2e) |
| Total GHG | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 4,729 | 4,871 | 4,895 |
| Asia Pacific | 5,725 | 4,743 | 4,936 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 1,546 | 1,355 | 1,520 |
| North America | 10,412 | 10,861 | 10,694 |
| Specialty Global Business | 451 | 931 | 597 |
| Group | 471 | 484 | 558 |
| Total | 23,335 | 23,245 | 23,199 |
Scope 1 emissions (tCO2e) |
| Scope 1(1,2,3) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 308 | 228 | 251 |
| Asia Pacific | 84 | 87 | 82 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 18 | 17 | 26 |
| North America | 845 | 881 | 720 |
| Total | 1,255 | 1,213 | 1,078 |
1 Scope 1 includes direct emissions from operations we own or control.
2 Gases included in Scope 1 calculation include carbon and other gases (e.g., R-134a, R-22, R-410A). Natural gas consumption is included in Scope 1.
3 Scope 1 emissions from Specialty Global Businesses and Group are included in the data for the ERM region in which employees home offices are located.
Scope 2 emissions (tCO2e) |
| Scope 2(1,2,3,4) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location based | Market based | |||||
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 1,468 | 1,891 | 1,586 | 1,731 | 2,148 | 1,706 |
| Asia Pacific | 1,857 | 2,508 | 2,507 | 1,799 | 2,456 | 2,455 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 256 | 281 | 296 | 256 | 281 | 296 |
| North America | 4,954 | 5,063 | 4,875 | 4,885 | 4,991 | 4,801 |
| Total | 8,535 | 9,742 | 9,264 | 8,672 | 9,877 | 9,257 |
1 Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heating, cooling and steam that we consume or use.
2 Only carbon is included in Scope 2 calculations because it is our most material gas source.
3 Scope 2 emissions from Specialty Global Businesses and Group are included in the data for the ERM region in which employees home offices are located.
4 For further information on Scope 2 location and market-based methods, please refer to http://www.ghgprotocol.org.
Scope 3 emissions (tCO2e) |
| Scope 3(1,2) | |||
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 2,691 | 2,494 | 2,938 |
| Asia Pacific | 3,842 | 2,200 | 2,399 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 1,272 | 1,058 | 1,199 |
| North America | 4,682 | 4,989 | 5,173 |
| Specialty Global Business | 451 | 931 | 597 |
| Group | 471 | 484 | 558 |
| Total | 13,409 | 12,155 | 12,864 |
1 Scope 3 includes other indirect emissions that occur outside ERM (e.g., business travel).
2 Only carbon is included in Scope 2 and 3 emissions as the most material gas source.
Global office energy use (MWh) |
Office energy by region (MWh) |
| Other Electricity2 | Office Electricity | RECs Electricity3 | Fuel Consumption | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region1 | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 1,220 | 1,182 | 1,283 | 1,871 | 2,305 | 1,589 | 30 | 106 | 87 | 1,199 | 807 | 925 |
| Asia Pacific | 1,312 | 2,123 | 2,151 | 1,213 | 1,300 | 1,240 | 73 | 64 | 65 | 183 | 157 | 115 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 572 | 571 | 549 | 384 | 530 | 490 | - | - | - | 8 | 229 | - |
| North America | 4,821 | 6,489 | 5,476 | 4,637 | 3,829 | 4,360 | 208 | 216 | 225 | 1,757 | 1,512 | 1,375 |
| Total | 7,925 | 10,363 | 9,459 | 8,105 | 7,964 | 7,679 | 310 | 387 | 377 | 3,147 | 2,476 | 2,415 |
1 Employees from Specialty Global Businesses and Group are included in the data for the ERM region in which their home offices are located.
2 The portion of shared resources for which ERM is responsible in multiple-occupant buildings, where this amount is not already reported or included in office billings.
3 REC — Renewable Energy Certificate, i.e., the tradable part of generated electricity from renewable resources representing attributes such as GHG emissions.
Business travel emissions1 (tCO2e) |
1 Business travel emissions total includes all Scope 3 emissions (12,864 tCO2e) plus Scope 1 emissions associated with fuel consumption for leased vehicles (363 tCO2e).
Business travel by region (tCO2e) |
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | 2,691 | 2,494 | 2,938 |
| Asia Pacific | 3,842 | 2,200 | 2,399 |
| Latin America and Caribbean | 1,272 | 1,058 | 1,199 |
| North America | 5,132 | 5,489 | 5,537 |
| Specialty Global Business | 451 | 931 | 597 |
| Group | 471 | 484 | 558 |
| Total | 13,859 | 12,656 | 13,228 |
Business travel by mode (tCO2e) |
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air | 10,431 | 9,175 | 9,793 |
| Road1 | 3,209 | 3,242 | 3,242 |
| Rail | 219 | 239 | 193 |
| Total | 13,859 | 12,656 | 13,228 |
1 Includes Scope 1 and 3 car travel.
US hazardous and nonhazardous waste FY151 (metric tons) |
1 ERM has been requested to provide waste data in the United States, to meet the procurement requirements of a large industry sector.
| Gas | Type | Source |
| CO2 | Air travel - long-haul, short-haul, domestic | 2012 Guidelines to Defra / DECC GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, Version 1.0 Final (Updated 28 May 2012) |
| CO2 | Rail travel | 2012 Guidelines to Defra / DECC GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, Version 1.0 Final (Updated 28 May 2012) |
| CO2 | Vehicle (road) travel — all fuel types | World Resources Institute/WBCSD http://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/ghgp/Transport_Tool_v2_6.xlsm OR 2012 Guidelines to Defra / DECC GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, Version 1.0 Final (Updated 28 May 2012) |
| CO2 | Electricity — International | IEA CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion (2011 Edition) |
| CO2 | Electricity — US | US Environmental Protection Agency, eGRID2010, Version 1.1 (May 2011) |
| CO2 | Electricity — UK | 2012 Guidelines to Defra / DECC GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, Version 1.0 Final (Updated 28/May/2012) |
| CO2 | Electricity - Europe (Market based) | Reliable Disclosure System for Europe (2014) http://www.reliable-disclosure.org/documents/#thema3 |
| CO2 | Fuel — heating | IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html |
| HFCs/F-Gas | Refrigerants | World Resources Institute/WBCSD http://www.ghgprotocol.org/calculation-tools/all-tools OR 2012 Guidelines to Defra / DECC GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, Version 1.0 Final (Updated 28 May 2012) |
Clients and society
Data presented here support the Financial performance and Contributing to society sections of this report and include data from FY15 acquisitions.
In addition to the information provided in the Financial performance section, additional data is provided on sales by region.
Sales by region FY15 (%) |
Global sustainability initiatives: ERM's contributions |
| FY13 | FY14 | FY15 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro Bono Time1 | $234K | $503K | $360K |
| Direct Contributions | |||
| Matching Funds2 | $130K | $162K | $197K |
| Charitable Contributions3 | $62K | $62K | $74K |
| Operational Support4 | $532K | $592K | $508K |
| Membership5 | $103K | $119K | $105K |
| Total | $1,062K | $1,438K | $1,244K |
| Percent of Profit6 | 1.04% | 1.04% | 1.13% |
| Employee Contributions | |||
| Fundraising7 | $213K | $222K | $263K |
1 Pro bono hours are registered by consultants on approved projects. Pro bono time is calculated at 80 percent of hourly chargeout rate.
2 Matching funds were made on a 50 cents in the dollar donated (North America) or dollar-for-dollar basis (other regions) in FY13 and FY14. This was adjusted to 75 cents in the dollar for all regions in FY15.
3 Charitable contributions made to organizations other than The ERM Foundation.
4 Operational support includes salaries and direct costs for employees responsible for the ongoing operations of the LCEF and Foundation and other professional support costs.
5 Membership fees for global sustainability-focused organizations, where ERM actively contributes to thought leadership activities.
6 Calculated from FY13 Earnings Before Interest, Tax and Amortization (EBITA) of $102,292,000. Total contribution of $1,062,000 equals 1.04% of EBITA in FY13. Decision taken in FY14 to calculate percentage of previous year profit. Therefore, FY14 percentage calculated using FY13 EBITA figure and FY15 percentage calculated using FY14 EBITA figure.
7 Funds raised by employees to support The ERM Foundation and other charities/not-for-profit organizations.
Economic value generated and distributed |
| Total $M | FY13 | FY14 | FY15 |
| Net Revenues | 658 | 680 | 699 |
| Direct Economic Value Distributed | |||
| Operating Costs1 | (77) | (75) | (72) |
| Employee Wages & Benefits2 | (470) | (488) | (507) |
| Payments to Providers of Funds3 | (28) | (25) | (47) |
| Payments to Government4 | (27) | (27) | (18) |
| Community Investments | (1) | (1) | (1) |
| Economic Value Retained5 | 55 | 64 | 54 |
1 Includes all operating costs excluding staff costs, depreciation and community investments.
2 Includes total staff costs; excludes labor costs for community investments.
3 Includes all interest on ERM bank debt.
4 Includes tax charge; excludes deferred tax.
5 Calculated as the difference between economic value generated and economic value distributed.
Boundaries and methodologies
Organizational boundaries
ERM follows GRI G4 guidance, including the identification of material aspects. All information in this report, including data and performance information presented covers ERM's operations as a group. Data reported are for those entities controlled by ERM Worldwide Limited (EWL), which is based in London, UK.
Data in this report are inclusive for ERM CVS. ERM CVS is a wholly owned subsidiary of EWL. ERM CVS works with many of the world's leading multinational organizations and delivers independent, third-party, performance-driving certification, verification and report assurance services to help clients improve their sustainability performance. For more details of these services, visit www.ermcvs.com
ERM CVS operates under ERM's internal policies and practices and the following sections of the Sustainability Report therefore apply also to ERM CVS unless indicated otherwise: People, Health and safety, Business conduct and ethics, Environment, Community and Thought leadership. Because ERM and ERM CVS have combined HR systems and office premises, the data in this report include the operations of ERM CVS.
Due to the nature of its work, ERM CVS has additional policies and procedures relating to independence and an Advisory Board that undertakes the role of the Committee for Safeguarding Impartiality.
Methodologies
Our ERM Sustainability Reporting Protocol guides the data-collection process. Where applicable, the protocol is based upon external guidance including the GRI Guidelines and the World Resources Institute/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Sustainability focal points at ERM offices around the world coordinate the collection of the majority of our environmental data. We expect to continue to improve the robustness and depth of our data over time.
We report environmental data for offices that fall within ERM's material threshold (as defined in our Sustainability Reporting Protocol) per fiscal year (FY), which runs 1 April to 31 March. ERM's Sustainability Reporting Protocol provides guidance for the development and maintenance of robust data collection systems that will measure sustainability performance across all key performance areas in a consistent, accurate and auditable manner.
We continue to improve our GHG data, including working with landlords to increase access to actual energy consumption data for leased offices. Where data are unavailable, we estimate consumption based on the amount of space we lease and expected energy intensity of office buildings. In prior years, we used a generic standard for commercial office buildings. We now have sufficient real data to calculate ERM intensity factors for leased office space and buildings. This is more representative of how ERM operates, as well as our office performance. Our FY14 and FY13 results have been restated applying this new methodology.
On a per-indicator basis, sources constituting less than one (1) percent of ERM's total impact for that performance indicator annually were excluded from the data collection and reporting process. Sources excluded are reviewed annually to determine if emissions are relevant for a continued de minimis exemption. For FY15, leased or owned office locations that were registered as encompassing less than 50 square meters, excluding dedicated server hosting spaces, were also considered de minimis and excluded from the data collection and reporting process. Impacts associated with office spaces of this size are projected to be less than one (1) percent of ERM's total impact in aggregate. Travel data for employees residing in these offices is included in the office responsible for booking travel.
For data normalized by the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, we applied the average yearly FTE, which is more representative of FTEs throughout the year than the year-end FTE. This is a change from previous reporting years, made in the interest of improving the robustness of our data, and will be applied for FY15 onwards.
Data for new offices or offices acquired during the reporting period are included where available from the date of opening or acquisition, with exceptions noted where relevant.