Committed to Sustainability
Our employees are proud to work for a company that
HDR defines sustainability as the act of
balancing the environmental, social and
economic needs of the built and natural
environments for present and future
generations. We strive to offer our clients
the best possible economic, social and
environmental value by delivering integrated
and balanced solutions, resulting in sound
choices and decisions.
KEY PRIORITIES
We focus on two key priorities to
move toward our goal of incorporating
sustainability into everything we do:
1. We transform how buildings,
infrastructure and communities are
designed and built to support resiliency,
sustainability and human health.
2. We improve our business practices to
reduce impacts, and commit to sharing
our progress in a transparent manner.
Visit our hdrinc.com to learn more from our 2016
Sustainability + Corporate Responsibility Report.
understands the importance of responsible practices—for our
clients, employee-owners and communities. We work together
to reduce our environmental impact and develop employee skills
to achieve evolving environmental expectations.
Environmental Policy
Our Environmental Policy, adopted in 2008, describes the
priorities guiding both our internal and external practices,
including reducing fossil-fuel use, water consumption and waste
generation; capturing opportunities to support client programs
to help them meet their sustainability goals; and providing
technical opportunities and resources for our staff to increase
sustainability-related expertise.
Sustainable Office Environments
With more than 225 locations, we are continually working with
offices spaces to ensure sustainability. Whenever we plan to
relocate an office, our leasing agent begins by asking a lot of
questions about where we are moving, including sustainability
characteristics. For example, will the new space be near mass
transit? Are there restaurants, stores and other amenities
within easy walking distance? Is bicycle transit feasible and
can bike racks be set up? Is it a LEED®-certified structure?
This information helps in the decision making process. Once
a space is selected, our staff works to make our spaces more
sustainable. Depending of the unique opportunities in each
space, this might include engaging lighting designer, acoustics
experts, and energy and sustainability experts.
Our Work
Our integrated project teams assist clients in creating
cost-effective, energy-efficient, and adaptable long-term
infrastructure investments. We capitalize on our experience
with sustainable projects to deliver investments with longer-
term viability, reduced risk, lower cost, better value, fewer
negative impacts on the community, and the potential to save
owners money over time.
Our GHG Emissions
We are committed to reducing our
carbon footprint and annually tracking
our GHG emissions reductions.
Our Target:
Reduce GHG emissions levels 20%
by 2020 from our 2011 baseline,
adjusted for growth.
To achieve this goal, our Office of
Sustainability works with executive
management, local office leadership and
Green Teams to examine our day-today
activities and determine where we can
make business improvements that
deliver long-term sustainable value.
Progress Toward our Goal
• Emissions from paper use has
decreased by nearly 50% since 2011.
• Purchased electricity for the Omaha
headquarters has decreased nearly
50% since 2011.
• Employee commute emissions, which
comprises a significant portion of our
Scope 3 emissions (approximately
60%), has had an overall increase of
2.6%.
• Scope 1 & 2 emissions have decreased
nearly 10% since 2011.
Sustainable Business Practices
All segments of the company are
tasked with making environmental
sustainability our standard way of
doing business. Balanced sustainable
solutions result in sound choices
that are resource-sensitive, provide
opportunities for economic growth and
development, and consider the broad
context of each decision.
Smart Solutions Program
Our Smart Solutions program helps to
instill the above principles in our approach
to improving all areas of our business. The
program focuses on three areas:
1. SMART PRODUCT USE
Initiatives related to the selection and
use of products in our offices, including
materials, equipment and supplies.
2. SMART BUSINESS TRAVEL
Our efforts to reduce the environmental
impact of our employee commutes and
business travel. Since 2013, we have been
advocating and tracking the purchase of
carbon offsets for business travel.
3. SMART OFFICE
ENVIRONMENTS
Initiatives to create sustainable, healthy
work environments for our employees,
including energy efficiency and waste
prevention and recycling.
Green Teams
Green Teams offer our employees an
opportunity to get directly involved with
sustainability and make a difference in
their offices and communities. Green
Teams are made up of motivated
professionals who help implement
sustainable solutions, educate and
promote sustainability in their local
office. They work toward meeting
our GHG emissions reduction
target, achieve our Smart Solutions
Program goals, maintain a network
of professionals passionate about
sustainability, and provide in-office
networking and social opportunities.
Each year we recognize the outstanding
efforts of these groups through
our Green Team Awards, which
celebrate innovation and efforts to
promote sustainability in our offices
and communities, and promote best
practices across the company.
Green Teams
are essential to
our Sustainable
Business Practices
initiatives.
Sustainable Business Practice Results
Our Sustainable Office Finish
Standards outline use
of low-flow fixtures
emissions reduction
in office fit-out and
2011 - 2015
renovation, with
In 2016, we performed a
thorough examination to paper use reduction
adjust our emissions data from 2011-2015
for growth and align our
inventory with new GHG water savings requirement.
Protocol Scope 2 Guidance.

For our Water Business Group

More and more offices are developing composting programs. Conference we partnered with the
In 2016, many offices had composting programs. Arbor Day Foundation to donate
We also integrated sustainability into our
conferences to divert nearly
Trees

to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

pounds of waste from landfills. Restoration, a 200-mile-long estuary that
runs through six states and the District of Columbia.

Purchased
electricity for In 2016, more than
our Omaha
headquarters has
decreased nearly response rate
on our annual
offices employee commute survey.
updated their Waste Used as part of our annual GHG
inventory and to solicit input on
Prevention and Recycling survey
strategies to make our employees’
since 2011. and set new waste reduction goals. commute to work more sustainable.

Recognized Leader in Sustainability

Business Intelligence Group
- Sustainability Service of the Year

- Sustainability Leadership Award

Alliance for Workplace Excellence
- EcoLeadership Award Greenroads
Vanguard Award
- Workplace Excellence Seal of Approval
Chicago Athenaeum
- Health & Wellness Seal of Approval Green Good Design Award for Green Architecture
Our Work Makes an Impact Leadership in Sustainable
Rating Systems
For more than 20 years, we’ve championed the belief that sustainability isn’t just
As the first architecture firm to join the
about achieving a solitary target or end goal, it’s about changing values, culture, and
USGBC in 1994 and a charter member of
processes. Using a holistic approach to design, we have adopted high-performance
the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
sustainability requirements for all of our projects and have endorsed the Architecture
(ISI), we have been at the forefront of the
2030 Challenge to achieve dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
movement to implement industry standards
for green buildings and infrastructure—and
Every project has an opportunity to incorporate some level of sustainability. While
are committed to design that creates a more
there are some sustainable design solutions that are appropriate for all projects, most sustainable future. We are experienced with
are project-specific. We work to integrate numerous green rating systems, including:
project-specific solutions that make sense We were ranked LEED
for the environment, users and the long-
term cost to the client. Our first step on the #7 Sustainable We have more than 140 LEED certified projects
included in our 54.4 million square feet of
every project is to identify the sustainable
goals for a project so that we can focus on
Design Firm in 2016 sustainable projects. With more than 500
LEED accredited professionals across a variety
the best sustainable solutions.
by Architect 50. of disciplines, we have professionals involved in
multiple facets of USGBC and LEED, including
INTEGRATED DESIGN committees, speakers, and board members.
Our integrated approach involves project team members, client(s), users and other
stakeholders and our holistic approach considers all systems interdependently. Envision
HDR has worked on numerous Envision
We use a number of tools to stay focused on the goals that were identified early in
verified projects, across all markets and project
project design, including working with many global assessment systems to rate the
types. We have more than 200 credentialed
environmental impact and performance of buildings.
professionals (ENV SP) and serve as an
Envision third-party verification provider.
TOOLS
HDR has two ISI-approved trainers authorized
We are dedicated to developing tools and improving processes that empower
to present full-day in-person exam-prep
our colleagues and clients. We have created a number of tools and resources to
credential workshops and is active on ISI’s
facilitate the integration of sustainability into every project. From greening our
board and Envision committees.
master specifications, to the development and upkeep of an extensive database
of sustainable products, our clients benefit from our investment in integrating Greenroads
sustainability into our overall design and project delivery culture. HDR worked on the first Greenroads pilot
project in Alaska and is currently working
PARTNERSHIPS on two Greenroads projects in the state of
Developing sustainable solutions means knowing the industry and understanding Washington. We are a member of Greenroads,
the dynamics of integrated design. We are committed to working in partnership with and HDR staff currently sit on the Greenroads
other sustainable design industry leaders and organizations. Foundation Board of Directors. We have
12 Greenroads Sustainable Transportation
Professionals (STP) on staff.