the serviced emissions hub

An Oxford Net Zero research and engagement initiative helping professional service providers account for the climate impact of their work. 

The Serviced Emissions Hub, led by Oxford Net Zero, is a research and engagement initiative  helping professional services providers (PSPs) take responsibility not only for their operational emissions, but also for the climate impact of the services they deliver. 

 With influence across every sector of the economy, Professional Services Providers (PSPs) – from lawyers and consultants to advertisers and engineering consultants – have immense power to influence their clients to accelerate the transition to net zero. By shaping strategies, advising leaders, and guiding those still early in their transition, PSPs can turn every brief, contract or piece of advice  into a lever of change: one that can either entrench the status quo or drive a just and sustainable future. 

By leveraging their influence and advice, PSPs can accelerate systemic change far beyond their own operational footprints. Just as banks and investors were called to account for the activities they enable through their financed emissions, so too must PSPs take responsibility for the emissions they enable through their counsel, strategies and client work.

Serviced Emissions are greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from or impacted by client activities that are informed or enabled by the advice or services of a professional service provider. In other words, they are the emissions a PSP influences through its expertise and decisions, not just those produced by its own operations. Recognising and addressing serviced emissions helps PSPs align their professional influence with global climate goals.

The concept of Serviced Emissions was first developed through the Race to Zero Professional Services Working Group in 2023, which brought together experts across law, advertising, environmental consultancy, and civil society to explore how PSPs can address the emissions linked to the projects and clients they support. 

 The group developed a set of draft principles to guide PSPs in integrating climate accountability across their strategy, due diligence, governance, and client engagement. Following a global consultation, the group’s recommendations, published as the Catalysing Climate Action report, were presented at New York Climate Week 2024, introducing the concept of ‘serviced emissions’ to the wider climate and PSP community and highlighting the crucial role PSPs play in driving the net zero transition. 

This laid the groundwork for the Serviced Emissions Hub, which now works to translate this research into practice.

The Serviced Emissions Hub advances understanding and implementation of climate accountability within professional services through research, engagement, and collaboration — moving from concept to implementation. 

Building on the foundation of Catalysing Climate Action report, the collaboration that first articulated the Serviced Emissions framework, the Hub: 

• Hosts Implementation Working Groups, which in turn convene firms across the law, consulting, advertising, and PR sectors to implement, trial and innovate the Serviced Emissions guidance by testing approaches, piloting methodologies for measurement and identifying best practice to share across the PSP community 
• Leverages cross-PSP learnings to create and roll out sector-specific guidance to support further implementation within PSPs
• Engages with clients, i.e., the organisations that commission professional services, to encourage them to align procurement and engagement practices with their net zero goals. including asking their providers to address their own serviced emissions and to avoid work that conflicts with climate commitments
• Advocates for integration of serviced emissions into global net zero standards such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Science Based Targets initiative, and the ISO Net Zero Standard
• Leads academic research to close knowledge gaps and overcome barriers to implementation.