Our Thinking On Our Industry
In today’s complex and rapidly evolving world, staying ahead of the curve requires more than just reacting to change – it demands proactive insight and visionary thinking. We’re dedicated to sharing our deepest expertise, pioneering research, and provocative perspectives on the critical issues shaping our industry and the future.
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remain the world’s roadmap for ending poverty, protecting the planet and tackling inequalities. The 17 SDGs reflect an understanding that sustainable development everywhere must integrate economic growth, social well-being and environmental protection.
At PUNCH, we have adopted 4 SDGs:
- Goal 4: Quality Education
- Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
As engineers working in the development of the built environment, we recognise that we have a significant opportunity to positively impact the protection of the natural environment. We are committed to our Mission to ‘Deliver Sustainable High-Quality Engineering Solutions’.
We commit to the aims of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) therein, which were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015. The SDGs recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
We Aim To:
- Reduce our energy usage, waste generation and emissions.
- Promote sustainable engineering solutions across all of our projects, which minimise their impact on the environment.
- Source our supplies from companies that are also committed to environmental sustainability.
- Promote environmental awareness among our staff, our colleagues, our clients and our industry.
Our Memberships & Representation Initiatives
iWish Bronze Partner
We are proud to be a Bronze Partner of iWish, a non-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring young women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Through this partnership, we help enable hands-on learning experiences, mentorship opportunities, and national events that empower the next generation of innovators.
Irish Green Building Council
We are also a committed member of the IGBC, supporting its mission to accelerate the transformation of the built environment to one that is sustainable, energy-efficient and low-carbon. Our membership reflects our dedication ot improving industry standards and contributing to a more sustainable future for Ireland.
Improving Female Representation within the Organisation
We are dedicated to improving the gender balance across the business. In recent years, we have introduced various initiatives to encourage women to join and progress with PUNCH, and we recognise that more needs to be done to address these long-standing industry-wide challenges.
Our Pledge to Net Zero
To demonstrate our commitment to sustainability, PUNCH made the decision to sign the Pledge to Net Zero in 2022. As part of our Pledge, we have committed to a 42% reduction in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 25% reduction in our Scope 3 emissions by 2030 relative to our base year in 2022.
Our total emissions for our base year were 180.3 tCo2e, and our total emissions for 2023, which is the latest year for which we have full data available, were 175.5 tCO2e, which represents a modest reduction in emissions against a backdrop of growing employee numbers.
In 2024, we made the decision to switch our electricity provider to a 100% renewables provider, thereby dramatically reducing our combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions. As an engineering services company, our Scope 3 emissions associated with employee commuting and homeworking currently present us with the biggest challenge, as this sector represents over 40% of our total emissions.
We are currently looking at initiatives to reduce our Scope 3 emissions in the Employee Commuting and Homeworking area, including the installation of electric chargers in our offices, incentivising Public Transport and Active travel and facilitating more homeworking in the case of employees who live significant distances from their closest office location.
PUNCH recently published a Thought Leadership article relating to the opportunity presented by existing surface carparks for the deployment of solar installations and the significant contribution that this could have on our total renewable electricity generation if deployed at scale.
Our Thought Leadership article also assessed the Embodied Carbon associated with the new structures which would be required to support such car park solar installations and confirmed that the payback in carbon terms is no greater than 3 years.
