Environmental Impact - By the numbers

Reducing and monitoring our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

RSM is committed to transparently and accurately reporting our carbon emissions. We are working to define an accurate baseline to set realistic and consistent emission reduction targets. Beginning in 2022, with guidance from our ESG advisory practice, we collected data from our U.S. offices to report on our Scope 1, 2 and select Scope 3 (specifically, business travel) GHG emissions, developed using guidance from the GHG Protocol framework. RSM will set realistic and consistent emission reduction targets based off this baseline year data and will continue to expand data collection efforts across the full geographic footprint.

RSM’s carbon footprint

January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022

TOTAL gross GHG emissions (MTCO2e)

32,471.31

Scope 1 [MTCO2e]

4,830.10

Natural Gas Utility

4,830.10

Scope 2 [MTCO2e]

10,041.25

Electricity Utility

Steam Utility

Cooling Utility

9,823.70

217.50

0.05

Scope 3 [MTCO2e]

17,599.96

Air Travel

Non-Air Travel

Accommodations

10,628.45

2,754.74

4,216.77

This inventory only includes RSM US LLP offices located in the U.S.
All greenhouse gas emissions units are in metrics tons of CO2 equivalent (MTCO2e).
Additional information on calculation methodology and boundaries can be found here.

Reducing business air travel

The COVID-19 pandemic gave us the opportunity to reevaluate how we do business with the abrupt halt of travel in 2020. We adapted by effectively engaging our clients and colleagues virtually and empowering our professionals to own their future through more virtual, on-demand technical learning opportunities. The valuable lessons we learned from the pandemic have changed the way we work and operate.

32.1% Reduction in 2022 air travel compared to 2019

Since returning back to “normal” at the start of 2022, we have continued to prioritize virtual meetings, as well as updated our travel policy and internal meetings guidance. These actions contributed to the reduction of miles flown by RSM U.S. employees by 32.1% compared to 2019, even with headcount in the U.S. increasing by approximately 3,000 employees.

Air travel – total mileage

120,000

100,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

106,272

2019

24,008

2020

18,742

2021

72,163

2022

Miles are in thousands

Air travel – average mileage per FTE

0.00

2,000.00

4,000.00

6,000.00

8,000.00

10,000.00

2019

9,183.59

2022

4,748.21

by the numbers