Corporate Responsibility (CR) has been an important aspect of our business, and business in general, for around 15 years. But, in common with many large organisations, we have seen a step change in the scope and significance of both CR and sustainability issues in the last 12 to 18 months. During that period, public awareness of the challenges posed by climate change reached a tipping point. At the same time, governments, consumers and investors are putting increasing pressure on companies not just to report on their environmental and social performance, but to show demonstrable improvement in performance.
Our agenda
The issue of Corporate Responsibility has two quite distinct aspects. First, there is what we do inside the organisation to monitor and manage our own business. This includes our environmental performance and the way we operate our infrastructure, and also extends to our policies and practices as a fair and ethical employer. We have been making solid and systematic investments across the whole firm to improve our performance in each of these areas. This is important, and we give more detail about the issue below. However, as the leading professional services firm, we know that by far our biggest contribution to the sustainability agenda will come through our work in the marketplace.
Working with clients
We have always prided ourselves on providing solutions to the problems facing businesses and the capital markets. Today, there can be no greater or more wide-ranging challenges than those of sustainability and climate change.
We have been using our expertise and knowledge to assist clients to improve their management of social and environmental issues for nearly 15 years, helping them understand and prioritise the CR impacts most relevant to their businesses, and improve their performance overall. However, for some time we have discerned the beginnings of a major and fundamental new trend. The pace of change is accelerating, and many CR and sustainability issues now have a material cost attached to them, whether that takes the form of new taxation, new regulation, the physical impacts of climate change, or the fact that a more realistic price of carbon is being imposed through cap and trade schemes. Having spotted this shift in the market, we began investing 18 months ago in building our capability across the whole firm, so that we will be in a position to advise both public and private sector clients on how best to manage these complex new issues – issues that will increasingly affect every aspect of business.
Operations and infrastructure
We have achieved a good deal in this area, though there is still much more to be done. We became carbon neutral in 2007, with an ongoing priority to reduce emissions. This includes using heating and lighting more efficiently, conducting energy audits to identify problem areas and installing low-energy lighting. We want to improve the energy efficiency of the buildings we already use and will continue to insist on robust environmental credentials for those we occupy in future.
We buy carbon credits to offset the residual emissions we have not been able to avoid. As a result, there has been investment in two projects in Asia that will provide local communities with sustainable energy from wind turbines and biomass generators.
We are also trying to produce less waste and recycle more resources. In the past four years, we have significantly cut the amount of waste we send to landfill, partly by encouraging desk-top recycling boxes and local recycling facilities.
Working with our suppliers
All large organisations are now being held accountable for the activities and standards of companies in their supply chain. Organisations like PwC have enormous purchasing power, and we can use that power to make a tangible and positive difference. In fact, our clients and employees now expect us to do so.
There are two key principles we follow in this area. The first is to treat all our suppliers fairly and responsibly. That means providing fair terms of business and paying on time. The second is to understand and manage the social and environmental impacts of our procurement, which means demanding the highest possible ethical and professional standards from our suppliers, and working with them to achieve this.
In February, our supply chain processes were accredited with a Gold Standard by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.
Ethical standards
Our entire business depends on the reputation we have for being trustworthy and reliable, and on our integrity and good sense. These are values that permeate the whole organisation and give us our distinct culture and working environment. Clients expect the highest ethical standards from us. We, in turn, expect those same standards from our employees. In return, we are committed to being a fair, ethical and diverse employer, judging our people only by their talent, hard work and achievements, and giving them the scope and encouragement to develop their potential to the full.
Community affairs
Through our PwC in the Community programme, we recognise our broader responsibilities within society. The programme enables us to contribute our time, skills and resources while offering opportunities to everyone involved to gain new skills and personal fulfilment. It also helps us strengthen our business relationships and underpins our values of excellence, teamwork and leadership.
The programme enjoys strong support from staff. A recent in-house survey showed that 95% of our people agree that it is important for the firm to act responsibly and get involved in local communities.
Over the last year, we introduced several new initiatives, including a programme for mentoring students studying languages at 'A' level to help them gain an insight into how they could use their languages in their careers. We also began working in partnership with one of our suppliers, MITIE, supporting their apprentice scheme, which gives young people without formal training the chance to take a first step on the career ladder. In addition, we exceeded our three-year milestone target of recruiting and training 300 PwC reading volunteers, who are now helping primary school children in 10 towns and cities around the country.
The Business in the Community Awards for Excellence saw the firm receive a Jubilee Award in recognition of the long-term impact of our 15-year programme in Southwark and a Big Tick (commendation) for our work with the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre to help disadvantaged children from Manchester schools. We also achieved a 100% score in all Community categories of the BitC Corporate Responsibility Index. However, we believe that the truest mark of our programme’s success is the fact that over 3,800 of our people support their communities by volunteering during and outside office hours.
'As a business, our greatest environmental impact comes from the carbon emissions created by our energy use and business travel.
'Over the past three years, we have reduced our total carbon emissions by more than 40%. We have achieved this by buying 85% of our electricity from renewable sources, improving our space efficiency to reduce heat and light requirements, conducting energy audits to identify problem areas, installing low-energy lighting and, with help from our people, implementing local energy-saving initiatives.
'Business travel is a necessary part of the way we do business. Nonetheless, we can always challenge ourselves on the need for and frequency of travel, choose the most climate-friendly mode of transport and accept individual business travel targets.
'To reduce our air miles, we have made a substantial investment in phone and video-conferencing. We now have new or upgraded facilities in all our major offices.
'To encourage reduction in vehicle emissions, our Green Fleet Initiative provides advice on cleaner fuels and vehicle selection. We also provide interest-free season ticket loans, our Cycle to Work scheme and cycle and shower facilities in many of our offices. Where car usage is unavoidable, PwC and Masterlease have teamed up with the CarbonNeutral Company to provide our people with the opportunity to make their motoring carbon neutral.'
Experience counts
Two years ago, Kiran Shah volunteered to mentor GCSE students at the Harris Academy Bermondsey in Southwark.
'Having previously enjoyed taking part in another volunteering programme, I was keen to work with the Harris Academy. I wanted to share my experience more widely with other students. I'm really glad I did volunteer, because being a mentor is both challenging and very rewarding.
'Final-year school students need advice on far more than just passing exams. For example, there's the transition from school to a sixth-form college, where you have to be more self-reliant.
'The learning process is very much a two-way street. Mentoring has really broadened my understanding as well as my communication skills and, when the students think of PwC, they now know we're much more than just a load of suits!'
Ann Hudson, facilities manager for our offices in the north of England, is an enthusiastic supporter of PwC’s Community Affairs programme.
'The first time John came to our Manchester office, he was in a sorry state. He was 18 and living in the hostel that took him in after he left the care-home. We provided him with clothes and shoes, money for lunch and transport, and a placement in our post-room. He was with us every working day for 11 months, doing everything from sorting post to moving furniture – and he was completely reliable and never late.
'When John got himself a paid job with a major firm of solicitors in Manchester, I was absolutely thrilled. Today, I often bump into him around town in a suit, tie and proper shoes!'
The table above summarises a number of key performance indicators across the breadth of our CR agenda. Our independent auditors, Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP, have examined and verified the data and the underlying supporting information on which it has been prepared, by undertaking specific agreed procedures.
The table reveals growth in community contribution and hours volunteered, continuing positive results for our people and improved customer satisfaction. For the environment, the top level indicators have declined slightly this year. The majority of the change is due to our ongoing efforts to improve the quality of our waste and energy data.