Climate change is one of the most pressing problems facing our world today. It affects everyone - from families worrying about their children’s futures, to pension funds deciding where to invest. The science is clear: to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, business, government and society need to work together to transition to a net zero economy by 2050.
At PwC, we believe the business community has a key role to make that happen. We’re committed to leading by example.
- We’ve made a worldwide science-based¹ commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by FY30. We’re decarbonising the way we operate and decoupling our business growth from our emissions.
- We’ve committed to the United Nations Race To Zero² campaign and Business Ambition for 1.5°C³, bringing business together to accelerate action to decarbonise the economy.
- We’re helping our clients and working with suppliers to tackle their climate impact.
- We’re continuing to offset our emissions through high-quality carbon credits – to reduce our climate impact immediately. See more details here.
- Our global strategy, The New Equation, commits us to also increase transparency, and help to develop robust ESG reporting frameworks and standards.
Our global reach means we can play an important role in driving the transition to a net zero economy.
1Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) 2022. Website
2United Nations Race To Zero 2022. Website
3Business Ambition for 1.5°C 2022. Website
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Our Global Chairman Bob Moritz shares more on PwC's net zero commitment and journey
Our commitment to Net Zero by 2030
50% absolute reduction of our scope 1 and 2 emissions as well as a 50% reduction in scope 3 business travel (incl. land-based travel, air travel and accommodation) greenhouse gas emissions by FY30 (compared to a FY19 base)
Drive energy efficiency improvements in all of our offices
Embed implications of climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into client work
Reshape our client service model to balance remote and on-site working
100% renewable electricity in all PwC firms worldwide in line with our RE100 membership
Advance thinking and debate about how PwC can help to reform the structures of the economy
From FY30 eliminate the remainder of our emissions through carbon removal projects
Commit that at least 50% of our purchased goods and services suppliers (by emissions) will have set science-based targets by FY25
Advance non-financial reporting so stakeholders understand the impacts of business on climate
Decarbonising our operations and supply chain
We’re supporting our clients and suppliers to transform their businesses to achieve net zero. We also recognise the importance of actively reducing the climate impact of our own operational footprint - including scope 3 emissions.”
This is how we’re reaching Net Zero by 2030:
- We’ve committed to a 50% absolute reduction of our scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across our network. We’ve also committed to a 50% absolute reduction in scope 3 business travel emissions - our largest source - by FY30. This - compared to a FY19 base. Our commitment is aligned to a 1.5 degree scenario to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Our targets have been independently validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)¹ which confirms our approach and timeline.
- We’ll switch to 100% renewable electricity in all territories by FY30. In FY22, we achieved our commitment to source 100% renewable electricity across our 21 largest territories. We now source over 90% of our electricity from renewable sources across our network. In 2018, we joined the RE100² - a global corporate renewable energy initiative, which brings together large businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
- We want to work with suppliers who have the same climate ambition as us. So at least 50% of our suppliers of goods and services - by emissions - will have set science-based targets to reduce their own climate impact by FY25.
- We’ll also counterbalance our emissions through high quality carbon offsetting projects - including natural climate solutions. From FY30, we’ll transition our portfolio to carbon removals. We’ll choose projects based on quality and verification of the carbon reduction impact, and for their economic and social benefits.
- We believe in transparency while we track this, and we’ll report our progress in our Global Annual Review.
1Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) 2022. Website
2RE100 2022. Website
Working with clients to accelerate net zero transformation
At PwC, we work across 152 countries and many industries. We also work across many client services – from reshaping strategy and transformation, to deals, reporting, audit, and tax. This gives us a huge opportunity to accelerate the transition to net zero.
We’re adapting our core services to embed consideration of climate change in many ways, from including climate risk in due diligence processes in deals, to considering green incentives and supply chain reengineering in our tax services.
We help organisations to develop and implement decarbonisation plans. This includes re-aligning corporate strategy, governance and accountability, operating models, innovation and research and development (R&D), tax strategy and reporting, enterprise and supply chain transformation. We also help with people and talent, partnerships and alliances, corporate affairs and regulatory engagement.
We’re adding science-led climate analysis into our client work.
For example:
- PwC Advisory is offering insights about climate risks and opportunities.
- PwC Assurance is developing high quality, aligned disclosure and measurement standards, and help clients embed these into their reporting and governance.
- PwC Tax and Legal is helping clients understand how net zero transformation will affect tax strategy, transparency and compliance obligations, subsidy and incentive opportunities, and revenue impacts for both public and private sector organisations.
You can also read more about our services in Climate and other areas of ESG here.
Helping shape and accelerate the global climate and policy agenda
Stakeholders are increasing their expectations. Organisations will need to report more on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts - and demonstrate progress. This means we now need consistent, comparable ESG standards that can help to create trust in businesses that can demonstrate good performance, as well as trust in society’s ability to do the right thing on the issues that matter.
At PwC, we’re continuing our advocacy and support for globally aligned sustainability reporting standards. Our leaders continue to support this development. It’s a critical step for business and capital markets to measure and understand progress towards net zero commitments.
We continue to make contributions across the wider climate policy agenda through our strategic global partnerships and alliances, for example, the World Economic Forum (WEF) World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Global Solutions Initiative (GSI).
We’re also contributing to a broader understanding of the importance of net zero and how to achieve it, including the following:
- PwC UK Net Zero Economy Index tracks the rate of decarbonisation in each G20 economy, highlighting what’s needed to achieve the Paris Agreement.
- We’ve worked with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to assess the impacts of international carbon pricing scenarios on economies and industries.
- We're part of the Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance1, uniting auditors and other financial service providers with the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero.
- Our work with the Global Solutions Initiative (GSI) and T20 continues to address long term global issues high on the G20 agenda, including climate action.
- PwC US has launched a practical guide, “Building Blocks for Net Zero Business Transformation”, to help companies move from net zero pledges to business transformation. This research was produced in association with Microsoft, who PwC UK advises on net zero transformation, as a contribution to the CEO-led Transform to Zero initiative2.
For more on how we’re helping to shape and accelerate the global policy agenda download our Network Climate-related disclosures report 2022.
1Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance 2022. Website
2Transform to Zero initiative 2022. Website
Our TCFD report
We’ve prepared our second set of disclosures in response to following the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) for the PwC network.
This TCFD report represents an important step as we execute our strategy to deliver trust and sustained outcomes, bringing our purpose to life and leading within the business community on climate-related challenges.
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