Sustainability

CEOs recognise the urgency. Nearly half of CEOs believe their companies won’t be viable in ten years unless they change course according to PwC’s 2024 Global CEO Survey. Climate change is a primary force driving business leaders’ need to reinvent their companies.

Business leaders must transform their firms to succeed in an economy that is transitioning toward net zero while also preparing to operate in a world that is already being hit by the accelerating impacts of climate change. Doing so helps to maintain the trust and support of investors, customers, regulators, employees, lenders, and other stakeholders who want business to support sustainability.

More and more, a rapidly evolving global regulatory landscape requires companies to disclose sustainability performance and planning. For example, this year the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) began to affect around 50,000 companies globally, requiring them to make detailed disclosures about sustainability issues and their strategic implications.

Investors too seek action. Three-quarters of investors in PwC’s Global Investor Survey said that how companies manage sustainability-related risks and opportunities is an important factor in their investment decision-making.

¹ _{Financial Times, ‘The world is warming faster than scientists expected,’ March 2024}

From obligation to opportunity

PwC’s 2024 Global CEO Survey shows that while over two-thirds of CEOs are acting to decarbonise their operations, only half are taking action to protect their workers and assets from the impacts of climate change. Less than half are incorporating climate risk into their financial planning or investing in solutions to protect nature.

Our experience with clients across the world shows that action on sustainability is not just an obligation to satisfy stakeholder demands. It is an opportunity to create a business that is successful now and in the long term. Investors are realising this. Ten years ago, when PwC first surveyed private equity firms on their approach to sustainability, risk management was their top concern. Today, however, over 70% said that one of their top three drivers for action on sustainability is value creation. PwC brings together the vast range of capabilities needed to help companies leverage the opportunities of supporting sustainability.

We are enabling progress toward sustainability at a societal level by collaborating with others across the public and private sectors including in forums like Davos, Climate Week, and COP28. We are enabling society’s transition by supporting the move to clean energy, encouraging reductions in energy demand, and helping to protect the natural world on which 55% of global GDP depends.

In this chapter, we share some of the ways we have helped our clients, and society more broadly, become more sustainable this year.

"Businesses face a vast range of sustainability-related impacts, risks and opportunities across their operations and supply chains. But this also gives organisations the opportunity to transform and reinvent themselves in order to ensure future growth and resilience."

Will Jackson-Moore
Global Sustainability Leader, PwC UK

“Our own business continues to evolve to respond to the twin challenges of decarbonisation and managing the risks of embedded climate change. We continue to focus on progressing our own Net Zero journey, we continue to identify and manage physical risks embedded in our value chain, and we continue to evolve our services to support our clients as they too transform their businesses. We remain committed to working with governments, policy makers and other stakeholders to help address the inevitable challenges which arise for all businesses during a transformation on this scale.”

Colm Kelly
Global Corporate Sustainability Leader, PwC Ireland

Highlights of our year

Global leader in sustainability PwC was recognised as a Global Leader in ESG and Sustainability in Verdantix’s 2024 Green Quadrant: ESG And Sustainability Consulting report, highlighting our ability to provide robust sustainability services to clients across all sectors.

Top 1% sustainability performance PwC US, PwC UK, PwC Netherlands, and PwC Germany were awarded a Platinum rating by EcoVadis, the business sustainability ratings provider, ranking us in the top 1% for sustainability performance in our industry.

Innovation award winner PwC's ESG Reporting Manager for CSRD offers an efficient way to meet sustainability reporting requirements and won the SAP Innovation Award 2024.

Climate disclosure score This year, PwC achieved an A- for its 2023 CDP climate disclosure, demonstrating our commitment to leading practice in climate strategy and action. CDP is a nonprofit organisation that manages a global environmental disclosures platform.

Progress on PwC’s own net zero commitments The PwC network continues to make progress towards our net zero commitments. We have reduced our scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 71% from a FY19 baseline, sourced 95% renewable electricity for the PwC network, and reduced our scope 3 business travel emissions by 43% from a FY19 baseline. Please see our 2024 Network Environment Report for more on our progress on our commitments.

Delivering impact at global events PwC contributed insights at sustainability forums including COP28 in Dubai, the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Climate Week in New York, the Global Solutions Summit, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, and the World Energy Congress in Rotterdam.

Centre for Nature Positive Business We celebrated the one year anniversary of our Centre for Nature Positive Business which unites PwC nature specialists to accelerate the global transition to a nature positive and net zero future.

Doubling our number of nature practitioners The PwC network has doubled its number of nature practitioners from 500 to over 1,000, with specialisms including biodiversity, water, deforestation, marine resources and regenerative agriculture.

New Nature Strategy Handbook PwC UK collaborated with Business for Nature, a global coalition that brings together business and conservation organisations, to develop a new Nature Strategy Handbook, providing a step-by-step guide for businesses to establish their nature strategy.

Early adopter of Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures We are proud to be one of 320 organisations globally to commit to the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). TNFD offers guidance to businesses to assess, report and act on their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities. Our disclosures are publicly available in our Network Environment Report.

Developing nature standards and frameworks The PwC network has driven the development of frameworks, standards, and methodologies necessary for rapid system-wide progress on nature by leveraging existing partnerships with Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), TNFD, and other leading initiatives. Highlights included leading the largest private sector programme to pilot TNFD with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and working with the SBTN to help validate SBTN freshwater and land targets set by 17 pilot companies.

Empowering over 11 million young people Through our collaboration with UNICEF in support of Generation Unlimited, we participated in the launch of Green Rising at COP28 to empower 10 million youth with climate action knowledge and skills by 2026. Green Rising exceeded its ambition after less than a year and has to date worked with over 11 million young people.

Enabling a just transition The PwC network participated in Global Solutions Summit discussions with government, civil society, and business leaders and contributed thought leadership on building a just transition and sustainable society.

See all

"As the impacts of climate change become more frequent and intense, we urgently need to enhance adaptation and resilience for communities, sectors, economies, and ecosystems around the world. Business has a key role to play in helping the world adapt and much to gain from taking action on climate adaptation which is crucial to protect their organisation and help them thrive in the years ahead."

Emma Cox
Global Climate Leader, PwC UK

"Business and sustainability are interdependent; one cannot thrive without the other. To remain viable, businesses urgently need to move sustainability beyond strategy and commitment to transformation and impactful change, ensuring they, the environment, and society are fit for the future."

Ivy Kuo
Asia Pacific Sustainability Leader, PwC China

PwC perspectives on sustainability

This year, PwC shared a range of insights on sustainability and what it means for business:

Transforming Energy Demand

In partnership with the World Economic Forum, PwC found that companies can achieve a 31% reduction in energy demand — with huge accompanying savings in costs and carbon emissions — without loss of output. These gains are deliverable now, at attractive returns, and need no new technology. Our Energy Demand Experience helped clients explore the implications of energy use decisions.

Getting to grips with CSRD reporting

Almost two-thirds of companies are confident that they will be ready to report under the EU's new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, but many don't know how, finds PwC's inaugural 2024 Global CSRD Survey.

Climate technology investment

PwC finds that investors are expanding their search for growth potential and climate impact in its fourth annual State of Climate Tech report.

"If you think about the impact of climate change and all the things that need to be done to address this, it means that we need to change every business, every country and every community. Therefore we must collaborate as one."

Renate de Lange
Global Sustainability Markets Leader, PwC Netherlands

Hidden cost of carbon

PwC shows how businesses can anticipate, track, and manage the often-hidden costs of carbon pricing in their supply chains to help the company build competitiveness and profitability.

17.2% annual decarbonisation required

The world must achieve a daunting year-on-year decarbonisation rate of 17.2% from now until 2050 if we are to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, says PwC UK's Net Zero Economy Index.

Climate risks to essential commodities

Climate change-driven heat stress and drought increasingly threaten production of commodities we all rely on such as copper, iron, lithium, wheat, and rice.

How climate change adaptation can protect and grow companies

Companies that take proactive steps to identify and manage the effects of climate change can turn risk into opportunity.

Climate change is increasingly factored into company strategy

Nearly a third of global CEOs say that climate change will drive the way their companies create, deliver and capture value to a large or very large extent over the next three years, compared with 22% who said it drove company actions in the past five years, finds PwC's 27th Global CEO Survey.

Workers are realising that climate change could affect their roles

37% of employees think that climate change will impact their job in the next three years, according to PwC's 2024 Hope and Fears Survey.

Resetting the value-creation agenda

PwC reveals how executives can use the European Union’s far-reaching Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive to bring sustainability into the heart of strategy — and uncover opportunities for value creation.

Generating upside from sustainability

Most private equity firms believe that action on sustainability can help create value, according to PwC's Global Private Equity Responsible Investment Survey 2023.

37%

of employees think that climate change will impact their job in the next three years

Source: PwC's 2024 Hopes and Fears Survey

Case studies

Joseph N.C. Huang
E.SUN’s chairman

Case study

E.SUN's journey to net zero using science-based targets

PwC Taiwan has helped E.SUN become the first bank in Taiwan — and the third in the world — to be validated by the UN-backed Science-Based Targets initiative which drives climate action.

E.SUN, one of Taiwan's leading commercial banks, now has a clearly defined, measurable pathway to reach its goals of achieving 100% use of renewable energy by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

In order to achieve its net zero goal, E.SUN needed to calculate the bank’s carbon emissions, set science-based targets, develop a carbon reduction strategy, and regularly review its progress. It began doing this at a time when no bank in Taiwan had completed the process of setting a net zero goal so it had to learn the latest methodologies and then create the best practices for E.SUN without having any examples to follow.

PwC Taiwan helped E.SUN achieve its ambitions by using technology to collect and analyse large volumes of corporate data to establish reliable calculation methods and rational benchmarks for financed emissions. These helped the bank to quickly identify erroneous information and correct it in a timely manner, while also contributing to creating a robust, stable platform for calculating E.SUN’s Scope 3 emissions from lending and investment banking.

To establish a solid foundation for net zero transformation, PwC Taiwan worked with E.SUN to put in place processes that broke down complex sustainability goals into smaller objectives.

PwC Taiwan also helped E.SUN to increase the level of sustainability literacy and knowledge within the organisation and build up in-house capabilities for the future by sharing expertise in key areas and creating upskilling opportunities at each net zero milestone. Working in this way gave E.SUN a clear understanding of why tasks should be approached in a certain way, raising standards and engagement with sustainability by passing on knowledge throughout the organisation.

“We are dedicated to combining climate action with finance to build a more resilient social system in Taiwan. Since our validation, we have been invited to share E.SUN’s Science-Based Targets experience in multiple external forums, encouraging more Taiwanese companies to join the initiative and help Taiwan’s progress towards a more sustainable future.”

Joseph N.C. HuangE.SUN’s chairman

David Linich
Principal, Sustainability,
PwC US

Case study

Equipping an energy giant with insights and tactics to support climate action

GE Vernova is a global energy leader whose technology helps to generate about 30% of the world's electricity. As such, the company recognises its responsibility to help drive the world’s energy transition and lead the global effort to meet ambitious and necessary climate goals.

As part of its climate commitment, GE Vernova approached PwC US to help it understand market mechanisms that implement carbon pricing (exchanges between entities that produce greenhouse gas emissions and those that remove or reduce them). Though they are an important component of the world’s multi-pronged net zero targets and goals, market mechanisms have suffered from a lack of credibility in many of their underlying projects. For example, one such mechanism, carbon offsets, should ideally be deployed to address residual emissions only once other decarbonisation levers have been exhausted — but this isn’t always the case.

GE Vernova knew it could address the core issue of trust in these markets with decarbonisation programmes that can be measured, verified, reported and exchanged reliably. But it needed to determine the appropriate path to achieve this.

PwC US assembled a global, multidisciplinary team from various firms within the PwC network that conducted extensive research and analysis on carbon markets, identifying the key factors that will influence GE Vernova’s approach and role in the market, such as a shift in buyer preferences to technology-based and engineered carbon market offerings. The team identified six new business opportunities centred around meeting corporate demand, scaling engineered solutions, localisation and exploring emerging technologies based on a careful analysis of market trends, optimal timing and financial implications.

As GE Vernova invests for 2050 and well beyond, the value of this initiative lies in providing a measure of certainty to guide an uncertain future.

“PwC delivered one of the most effective experiences I’ve had working with a consulting advisor.”

Gagan PorwalChief Commercial and Strategy Leader, Energy Consulting Services, GE Vernova

"Delivering a decarbonisation solution at this scale requires understanding how all these pieces fit together. With our experience in complex ecosystems, we were able to bring together the right people and perspectives to drive real results."

David LinichPrincipal, Sustainability, PwC US

Alexandru Enea
Director, Management Consulting,
PwC Romania

Case study

Creating a National Hydrogen strategy for Romania

Hydrogen can be a clean energy source and an important tool in nations’ efforts to move toward renewable energy sources. The Minister of Energy of Romania needed technical support for the development of a national hydrogen strategy and action plan to establish concrete objectives and measures for hydrogen within the country, including financing instruments.

The country also needed to have the necessary primary and secondary legislation and regulations in place to make hydrogen projects possible, to improve the investment conditions for hydrogen technology, and to enable Romania to develop a value chain for hydrogen, particularly renewable hydrogen.

PwC Romania was asked by the European Commission through the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), which coordinates and provides tailor-made technical support to EU Member States in cooperation with the relevant Commission services, to assemble a global, multidisciplinary team from various firms within the PwC network who drew up a portfolio of existing hydrogen related projects being pursued in the European Union. The PwC team also drew on its own expertise from implementing more than 80 hydrogen-related projects for private companies.

The PwC team’s proposed methodology was highly targeted to the specific context and issues around creating a hydrogen strategy for Romania, including addressing the opportunities and barriers to hydrogen in Romania and suggesting relevant options for a hydrogen valley.

The draft of the strategy and its related action plan were submitted to the Ministry of Energy of Romania and the European Commission and as of September 2024, the strategy is undergoing a Strategic Environment Assessment by the Romanian Ministry of Environment, a process which every major public and private project undergoes to evaluate its impact on environment or on protected sites.

Once this process is finalised, the strategy will be sent to the Romanian government for approval and adoption. The PwC team is also creating four case studies that will support the strategy in the implementation period.

"Hydrogen has enormous potential as a source of renewable energy in the future. We are really pleased to be able to support the Romanian Government in the development of a national hydrogen strategy that will contribute to the long-term objectives of the country in terms of renewable energy consumption.”

Alexandru EneaDirector, Management Consulting, PwC Romania

Madhura Mitra
Executive Director, Climate Change and Sustainability,
PwC India

Case study

Helping to develop a robust carbon market for India

Carbon markets are a vital policy tool used by governments to incentivise businesses and energy users to transition to cleaner energy sources. By imposing a price on each ton of carbon emissions, these markets help to make the development and adoption of cleaner energy technologies economically viable compared to fossil fuels

India has set an ambitious target to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. The carbon market in India has been designed to mobilise capital flows and incentivise industries to adopt innovative technological solutions for decarbonisation. In this context, a team from PwC India was selected based on their robust approach and methodology to serve as the advisors to India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) on their carbon market implementation journey.

This engagement is now in its second year. During the first year, PwC India supported BEE in developing a regulatory and policy framework, drawing on extensive insights, assessments, and studies of policies implemented in other countries. Concurrently, work began on creating a central IT platform called the Registry. This platform will enable the registration of projects, provide access and portals for all market participants — including project developers, traders, verification agencies, and validators — and feature a trading platform for carbon credits.

The next phase involves assisting BEE in conducting stakeholder consultations with industry leaders, academia, and regional and state governments. BEE has been organising these consultations across key cities in India to discuss and shape policy frameworks and documents critical to establishing a practical carbon market in India. A standout feature of this engagement has been the leadership from the Prime Minister’s office which has brought together key ministries to work towards a common goal with measurable outcomes.

Through this engagement, we aim to help create a robust carbon market that will play a pivotal role in India's decarbonisation journey.

‘We are thrilled to collaborate with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in its groundbreaking initiative to introduce carbon markets in India. This engagement provides a crucial platform to engage with key stakeholders, facilitating the effective implementation of carbon trading mechanisms that are essential for India's decarbonisation journey."

Madhura MitraExecutive Director, Climate Change and Sustainability, PwC India

Esiri Agbeyi
Partner
PwC Nigeria

Case study

Addressing single-use plastics engagement in Nigeria

Nigeria faces significant environmental degradation due to plastic waste, exacerbated by inadequate recycling infrastructure, high consumption of single-use plastics and lack of incentives to companies who invest in recycling infrastructure. In an attempt to resolve this problem, the Nigerian government introduced a single-use plastic tax aimed at discouraging the use of single use plastics. Following push back by the industry, the tax was suspended with the aim of reexamining the most efficient methods of achieving plastics circularity.

PwC Nigeria was asked by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to develop a response to this initiative on behalf of its members who supply the non-alcoholic drink sector.

The team began by holding conversations with sustainability drivers and key stakeholders in the relevant manufacturing companies, building on established relationships within the industry. They then brought together expertise from PwC Nigeria’s Strategy&, ESG, tax and regulatory business solution units to create a framework for the industry's advocacy engagement, using relevant data to tell the industry's story.

From this the team helped MAN prepare an industry roadmap for tracking waste generation, collection, recycling single-use plastics and reuse of recycled products, including a plan for phase down and phase out of certain single-use plastics over a couple of years. They also assisted in developing a report evaluating the value chain, identifying aspects with significant bottlenecks and developing win-win proposals to present to the government.

As a result, PwC Nigeria was able to suggest a phased industry commitment to the government's proposals through an implementation roadmap, while also highlighting the industry's ongoing impact in terms of jobs, taxes and their self regulation initiative as responsible producers.

"Addressing single-use plastics is a key environmental concern for Nigeria, as it is for the rest of the world, so it is important that key stakeholders are part of the conversation for creating and delivering a workable solution. PwC Nigeria is pleased to be able to provide its expertise in such an important area."

Esiri AgbeyiPartner PwC Nigeria

Ismael Aznar Cano
Partner, Tax and Legal,
PwC Spain

Case study

Addressing the challenge of decarbonising aviation

Spanish airline Iberia and its sister airline Vueling have committed to using 10% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in their aircraft by 2030 as part of their drive to achieve net zero by 2050. Iberia wanted to find out whether Spain would be able to produce enough SAF to enable it to meet these commitments.

The European Union's ReFuelEU Aviation regulation is encouraging aviation fuel suppliers to switch from kerosene to SAF by requiring them to blend a minimum of 2% SAF with kerosene in 2025, rising to 70% by 2050. However, the International Energy Agency expects planned production capacity worldwide to provide only between 1% and 2% of SAF demand by 2027, leaving airlines facing a major challenge of how to access the SAF they require.

Iberia engaged PwC Spain to analyse whether Spain's SAF producers have the potential to make enough for Spain’s own needs and also potentially for export. SAF is currently made from used cooking oil, farm or forestry waste. Iberia asked PwC Spain to look at both the availability in Spain of biowaste for generating SAF in the short term, and also at the potential for creating synthetic fuel from green hydrogen in the future, a process which is in the very early stage of development.

The airline also wanted to understand the size of the investment needed to build up production capacity in Spain, and to consider how carbon pricing would affect the future cost of SAF which is currently three to five times more expensive than kerosene. The final part of the project was to conduct an economic impact assessment of the potential to create good quality jobs in a new SAF industry.

PwC Spain found that Spain has the potential to not only meet the national demand for SAF by 2050, but also become an exporter, dependent on the availability of agricultural waste and the potential to expand renewable energy production. Building and running the 30-40 production plants required to produce the 5 million tonnes of SAF needed a year could also generate €56 billion for the Spanish economy by 2050 and create 270,000 jobs. An added social impact would be that many of the sites, and therefore jobs, could be created in more sparsely populated rural areas where there is access to bio-waste from farming and food production.

Iberia is now working with fuel producers on ways to accelerate the development of SAF to increase production and bring down the price.

"The report showed the opportunity for the airlines and also the industrial opportunity for the country. It had a big impact in terms of press coverage and is currently a key reference in the business press when aviation and sustainability are discussed."

Ismael Aznar CanoPartner, Tax and Legal, PwC Spain