Creating a more sustainable future together

Scientists warn that breaching the 1.5°C global temperature increase is all but inevitable, with worsening effects as temperatures rise further. 

We need to transition to a green economy as quickly and as fully as possible. This transition has been at the top of the climate agenda for years, but has not been materialising at the necessary scale and speed. 

As a result, climate conditions have deteriorated further and we also now urgently need to adapt and build resilience against the devastating impacts we are seeing more and more frequently. Though adapting will not stop the worst from happening, it will help us to limit the negative consequences on our societies.

We encourage all organisations to place an urgent focus on adapting and supporting acceleration in the transition. The 2024 PwC Network Environment Report provides an overview of our activities in that regard. It highlights our global environment strategy, including the key areas where we are transforming what we do and how we do it.

The report details how we are reducing our impacts on the environment and adapting our business to develop greater resilience to climate risks. 

It details how we are evolving our services and upskilling our people to deepen our impact with clients amidst a changing regulatory landscape, and our policy and stakeholder engagement efforts to accelerate global environmental action.

Some highlights from our report can be found below.

We have a worldwide commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions with near-term science-based 2030 goals. 

To enable the transition of PwC’s business in line with a 1.5°C climate scenario, we continue to drive a comprehensive strategy to decarbonise our operations and supply chain. 

In 2021, we validated our near-term 2030 targets with the Science Based Targets initiative. You can see how we are progressing towards our targets below.

Climate change is manifesting in various forms, with repercussions being felt globally. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods and wildfires are escalating, leading to a surge in physical risks. The associated financial impacts are complex and wide ranging, as organisations experience impacts across their full value chains. 

At PwC, we began assessing the physical impacts of climate change on our own business three years ago. Since then, we have taken a number of actions to adapt to climate change and reduce our exposure to physical risks. We also support our clients and communities to do the same. 

We’re using our voice to raise awareness of these issues, and collaborating with other organisations to develop a path forward to build a more resilient future.

We collaborated with the World Economic Forum and others to publish Taking Stock of Business Efforts to Adapt to Climate Change that was launched at COP28, and collaborated with the Climate Champions Team (which supports the United Nations Climate Change High-Level Champions) to produce Business Action for Adaptation and Resilience,¹ a report which supports businesses to deliver the Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda (SAA).

These resources aim to empower businesses to accelerate climate change adaptation efforts and help advance the policy agenda in this vital area. Read more about these initiatives and our other collaborations in our report.

_{¹ UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, Business Action for Adaptation and Resilience: Bridging gaps for businesses to deliver the Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, 2024}

Our clients look to us to help them navigate the myriad of challenges they face in understanding and adapting to a rapidly changing sustainability landscape. We believe a key aspect of building trust with our clients and demonstrating leadership in sustainability is through our ability to evolve our services to best meet our clients’ changing needs. 

We continue to adapt our core services to embed consideration of sustainability matters – whether that is supporting clients with deals, transforming business models, providing assurance or giving tax and legal advice. We also continue to develop new sustainability services, supporting businesses to better understand their climate risk profiles and develop resilience strategies, or manage their energy demand while reducing exposure to price volatility. Our nature specialists are also at hand to share their expertise with clients, enabling us to collectively accelerate the global transition to a nature-positive future.

We are also moving at pace to support clients in navigating the dynamic regulatory environment. We provide support to help our clients comply with reporting and other regulatory requirements, while also empowering them to move beyond compliance – to seize opportunities, optimise their business models, redesign their supply chains and construct business processes – to embed sustainability issues into the heart of their strategy.

Our report features examples of the ways in which we have supported our clients in tackling these challenges head on.