What does a net zero roadmap cost when nobody in-house does sustainability?

Sources last checked 2026-09-30 · next check 2027-06-30, in case anything has quietly stopped being true

For a single-site organisation of under fifty people, a roadmap is about a week of work: a baseline footprint, a costed list of reduction measures with dates and owners, and a way of checking progress each year. Cost rises with sites, suppliers to engage, and any external verification.

What a roadmap actually contains

Four things, and an organisation that has all four has a roadmap whatever it calls the document:

A baseline footprint for a stated year, with its method written down.
A target: how much reduction, by when, against that baseline.
A list of measures, each with an owner, a date, an expected saving in tonnes, and a cost.
A way of remeasuring next year that produces a comparable number.

It could contain a lot more, but to be taken seriously, it's best to avoid what many companies have done and not go with pictures of palm-lined beaches and a pledge to become sustainability leaders.

Where the week goes

Stage	Effort	What decides it
Baseline footprint	1 to 3 days	Whether energy, travel and purchase data are already in one place
Options and costing	1 to 2 days	How many measures are genuinely available: a tenant cannot replace the boiler
Written roadmap and board paper	1 to 2 days	Whether trustees or a board have to approve it

If no baseline exists, that first stage is the whole cost driver, and it is the same work described in working out a footprint without buying software.

What makes it cost more

Multiple sites or vehicles. Each one is another set of meters, bills and assumptions.
Supplier engagement. Asking suppliers for their own emissions turns a desk exercise into a correspondence project, and it runs at their pace.
External validation. Committing to a target through a scheme such as the Science Based Targets initiative adds a defined route, a fee, and a submission to prepare.
An immovable deadline. A funder's date usually means paying to gather the data you could otherwise have put together at your own pace.

What makes it cost less

Twelve months of energy bills, a mileage or expenses export, and a purchase ledger already grouped by category. Handing those over at the start removes most of the first stage. So does accepting a rough number in year one: precision can be added later, and a roadmap built on an approximate baseline is still a roadmap.

The mistake that wastes the money

Buying offsets before doing the reductions. Offsets do not change any of the four things above, they cost every year, and they are the first thing everybody questions. Reduce first, ask us about alternative approaches which make more sense such as carbon labelling of your products or services. Only offset if you are on the wrong end of a Kill-o-Zap gun wielded by a Magrathean security guard.

How it is priced

By the job, after a look at what data exists, so the quote reflects the days actually needed rather than a package. The look itself is free.

Send me twelve months of energy bills and I will tell you whether your baseline is a one-day job or a three-day one, before you commit to anything.

adam.hardy@cyberspaceroad.com