Mark Van Andel
Vice President of Environmental, Social & Governance, Parsons Corp.
Mark Van Andel and his team’s biggest recent achievement was establishing a strong foundation of the company’s approach to ESG and developing an actionable vision for the future, including:
- A commitment to set SBTi targets including a net-zero commitment.
- A goal of being 100% renewable energy by 2028.
In the second half of 2023, they held workshops across all markets and geographies to refresh climate reporting using the TCFD framework. With the release of the TNFD framework, they also held workshops to better understand their nature-related risks and opportunities and will begin incorporating TNFD into their disclosures.
Along with the TCFD & TNFD workshops, Van Andel and his team conducted stakeholder outreach for the company’s double materiality assessment. The results of the assessment will be included in their report in 2024.
Last, to be prepared for regulatory requirements, they updated the company’s GHG methodology and are recalculating emissions for 2019-2022 to meet investor and regulatory needs. For 2023, they are pursuing limited assurance of emissions for the first time, preparing for upcoming California and SEC requirements.
“With the constant change in ESG standards, regulation and the alphabet soup I always try to focus on what matters. ‘Worry about things you can control and prepare for what you can’t control,'” he said.
Why Watch
In 2024, Van Andel and his team are dedicating their efforts to creating a detailed plan for advancing ESG and sustainability initiatives at Parsons. For 80 years, sustainability has been fundamental to Parsons, and Van Andel’s team is committed to enhancing this legacy. They’re focusing on fostering collaborations throughout the company to share best practices and apply these principles directly to client projects. Moreover, having made significant promises on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they’re now tasked with turning broad strategies into actionable steps.
Fun Fact: Van Andel was born and lived in Hong Kong for almost 13 years. “Being a third culture kid has played in large part of the person I am today,” he said.