Living the climate commitment

Around the world, family offices are stepping up as influential leaders in climate philanthropy and sustainable investing. Through bold public commitments and substantial capital deployment, they are helping shape the global response to climate change.

As stewards of these commitments, many are now looking inward and recognizing that aligning their own operations with the climate solutions they fund enhances both credibility and impact. Whether through funding breakthrough climate technologies, supporting environmental nonprofits, or influencing global policy, family offices have an opportunity to model climate leadership not just through capital, but through the integrity of their own practices.

Measuring internal emissions is a natural extension of that leadership. While external investments are critical, sustainability strategies that overlook the family office’s own footprint may miss an opportunity to reinforce their values and reduce reputational risk. For family offices seeking long-term influence in the climate space, understanding and managing their emissions is a meaningful way to lead by example.

Assessing the family office’s climate impact

Credibility begins at home. Measuring and addressing a family office’s climate impact is essential to aligning with the sustainability commitments and values they champion. Without it, even the most generous climate initiatives can appear disconnected from daily practice.

Family offices also play an outsized role in shaping norms. By taking meaningful steps to assess and reduce their footprints, they set the standard for peers, stakeholders, and the next generation. Their actions show that private capital can do more than fund solutions; it can model the behaviors needed to catalyze collective action.

Although family offices often operate outside formal climate disclosure frameworks, carbon footprint measurement remains the starting point for any credible climate strategy. Understanding baseline emissions is the foundation for effective action. Even if existing frameworks do not apply directly, authentic climate leadership begins with knowing and owning their impact.

Which emissions should be measured?

Operational emissions include the energy used to run office spaces, staff commuting and business travel, and procurement decisions such as IT services, supplies, and external vendors. Even for a lean family office team, these activities generate emissions that accumulate over time.

Personal emissions include energy use of property, travel, and other lifestyle-related impacts. For example, contrails from private jet flights can have a significant warming effect that is often overlooked in traditional carbon accounting. A recent study found that private jets produced more emissions in one calendar year than all departing flights from London’s Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport in Europe.

The emissions of families with complex global footprints can often rival or exceed those of small companies. Measuring this impact equips families with insights to align their broader asset allocation strategy with decarbonization goals, ensuring that personal and portfolio decisions work in concert.

For any family office seeking a net-zero pathway, full-spectrum measurement is essential. Without understanding both operational and personal emissions, it is impossible to identify effective reduction strategies or to credibly communicate climate progress. Comprehensive measurement ensures that efforts to support decarbonization externally are reinforced by genuine action internally.

How to move from measurement to action

Understanding an entity’s emissions footprint is the critical first step towards credible climate action. Comprehensive carbon footprint assessments, that cover both personal and operational emissions, create a foundation for meaningful, science-based decision-making. This includes everything from office energy use and business travel to private aviation, real estate, and lifestyle-related impacts. 

Gaining greater precision into the full extent of a family office’s emissions enables more effective and targeted opportunities for reduction. These strategies may include transitioning properties to renewable energy, optimizing private aviation scheduling to minimize fuel burn and contrail impacts, and reducing business travel emissions through virtual alternatives or sustainable aviation fuel purchases. Benchmarking against peer organizations allows them to more confidently and transparently communicate the results.

To address residual and historical emissions and make meaningful progress toward net zero, family offices are also deploying high-quality carbon removal. These credits are most effective when grounded in climate science and aligned with the family office’s mission and investment principles. 

High-quality carbon removal goes beyond traditional offsets, focusing on additionality, verifiability, durability, and scientific rigor. Leaders in the space are helping define what “high-quality” means to ensure credits avoid the pitfalls of overstated or short-lived climate benefits. 

A well-structured, science-backed portfolio of carbon removal that is carefully vetted, contracted, and monitored can help family offices address their emissions while advancing decarbonization solutions. This integrated approach supports credibility, mitigates reputational and financial risk, and enables families to lead with integrity and long-term impact.