Clients value Ricardo’s unique expertise, which is supported by over 50 years of heritage dealing with sustainability issues. In particular, clients value our deep understanding of energy and environmental drivers, policy development, technical excellence and the ability to turn challenges into business opportunities. A good way to appreciate the breadth and depth of our services is to look at a selection of our projects from around the world:

Environmental quality capabilities cover the land–air interface and how pollutants disperse to impact on human health and cause broader environmental damage – from acidification to the emissions of greenhouse gases. Our technical experts deliver services to national and regional governments, local authorities and businesses, including market-leading measurement, modelling and emissions inventory compilation and reporting for air quality pollutants and greenhouse gases. We are the major supplier supporting the operation of the UK national air pollution monitoring services, and generate and disseminate national, daily forecasts of air pollution for towns and cities across the UK and beyond. Our experts are able to model and forecast the formation, transport and fate of air pollution from international scales down to street level, and the insight from our work is relied upon by international policy makers in shaping policies to improve air quality.

Ricardo draws on four decades of experience in helping the public and private sectors to address climate change. As a result, we are at the forefront of efforts by businesses and governments to understand the implications of climate change, and to develop effective strategies and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and drive operational cost and risk down. We have a comprehensive understanding of the technologies and behaviours needed to survive, thrive and remain competitive in a low carbon economy. Our 100-plus climate change sustainability specialist consultants include national and international experts in climate change policy, low carbon technologies, carbon management, emissions trading and greenhouse gas inventories.

Energy

Ricardo’s Energy team provides technical and economic advice to utility companies and regulators in areas such as investment planning, cost of service studies, tariff design and the development of transmission charges to facilitate power trading. Our specialists have expertise in the business and technical issues involved in connecting renewable and conventional energy technologies into existing energy networks – whether large hydropower schemes, conventional thermal power stations or dispersed generation projects, such as wind farms and biomass-fired plants. They also provide world-leading smart-grid solutions to help clients implement networks that are intelligently integrating generation, storage and demand in real-time, while protecting the network assets. We also work closely with international donors and governments on the design and implementation of energy policies, including market incentives and climate finance support.

Water and environment

Ricardo is internationally recognised for its expertise in planning and overseeing complex and sensitive water and environmental projects. Ricardo’s experts specialise in developing and implementing policy, and are trusted advisors on water resources and drought management, irrigation modernisation, catchment
management, hydrological modelling and water management. This includes helping our clients to engage successfully with stakeholders, governments, donor agencies and regulators.

Resource Efficiency & Waste Management

The resource efficiency team at Ricardo has four decades of experience in developing resource efficiency and waste management solutions through our services to international governments, local authorities and businesses.

We support our clients with strategic and behavioural change programmes by providing cost-effective solutions that improve resource productivity,
identify savings and enhance the environment. As well as helping with immediate problems (e.g. waste diversion from landfill and legislative compliance), we also work in cuttingedge areas such as the environmental impacts of products, the risks associated with scarce strategic and high-value raw materials, and circular
supply chains and economies. In addition, we help improve supply chain resource efficiency by auditing performance and providingrapid and effective solutions. Finally, we support all stages of the implementation of low carbon systems, such as energy from waste technologies – from business case development and specification to procurement and commissioning. Since the 1990s, Ricardo has managed some of the world’s largest resource efficiency programmes. These
programmes have helped save UK businesses over £2 billion through on-site audits, workshops and provision of low-cost implementation solutions.

We also carry out related preparatory studies on products for the European Commission. In addition, we have worked on one of the world’s largest structured finance projects and procured new waste infrastructure for the UK, including advanced conversion technologies.

Sustainable Transport

Our work includes strategic policy development and research for the UK Government and the European Commission, and analysis and modelling for major private sector clients.

We produce the official emissions estimates for the transport sector as part of the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI). This forecasting and scenario modelling expertise is unrivalled, and underpins the UK Government’s understanding of current and future environmental challenges. We have provided the Department for Transport with technical advice on environmental issues for many years, and we have led research for the European Commission to help develop a long-term policy framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. Our expertise also covers alternative vehicle technologies (e.g. electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel-cell technology), biofuels, cost-benefit analysis, life-cycle assessments and policy evaluation. We have recognised expertise in the aviation and maritime markets. We advise airport operators and carriers on their environmental performance. Our services include inventory compilation, air quality impact modelling, corporate social responsibility and business resilience. We also have specialists capable of assessing the impacts of design and technological advances on aircraft-specific and sector-level emissions projections.

Utilising this range of skills and knowledge, Ricardo experts provide strategic and specialist support to develop and evaluate transport policy.

Chemical Risk

As the United Kingdom’s National Chemical Emergency Centre for the past 50 years, we have developed an in-depth knowledge of the global chemical marketplace and its critical interactions with stakeholders – from regulator to supply chain.

The extent of our knowledge and expertise places us in a unique position to understand and support the context in which our customers manage chemical risk. We have a global understanding of issues relating to chemical safety and legislation, built through many years of horizon scanning and response to policy. Our regulatory insight and strong international networks inform our complete global regulatory compliance portfolio. Reaction to the unprecedented change to the rules of chemical hazard communication is helped by our excellence in safety data sheet (SDS) authoring and management services. In addition, our global knowledge base enables our customers to communicate accurate and compliant information to downstream users.

Our decades of experience in chemical safety, regulation and Responsible Care have allowed us to develop extensive expertise in planning and preparedness,
helping our customers handle chemicals safely and be prepared for the worst. When accidents do happen, our worldleading, global, 24/7 emergency response helpline and chemical hazard software are at the heart of our entire offering and bring the pedigree and proven results to secure our claim to excellence.

Air quality services

Ricardo are working with cities and local authorit...

Comprehensive Service