EY announces an ambition to be carbon negative in 2021 by setting targets to significantly reduce its absolute emissions and removing and offsetting more carbon than it emits.
“EY’s goal to reduce its carbon footprint reflects our people and business partners’ expectations from us to play an active role in addressing climate change and building a sustainable future. On our journey, we will help our clients to act in the same manner and we will develop global solutions to speed up our actions and generate an even greater impact”, says Bogdan Ion, Country Managing Partner EY Romania & Moldova and Chief Operating Officer for EY South-East & Central Europe and Central Asia (CESA).
The EY commitment to sustainability is an integral part of its NextWave strategy and ambition to create long-term value for all stakeholders. Launched in FY20, the NextWave strategy supports the EY purpose of building a better working world.
This new ambition builds on the global organization’s achievement of carbon neutrality in December 2020 and underscores the EY commitment to the environment and to driving long-term, sustainable growth.Read more aboutEY becomes the first strategic professional services organization to receive Global UiPath Service Network (USN) certification read more
EY set out the seven key components of its plans to not only become carbon negative but to reduce total emissions by 40% – consistent with a science-based target – and achieve net zero in 2025.
Key elements of the ambition include:
Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global Chairman and CEO, says: “We believe that combatting climate change is a vital element of building a better working world. While this challenge is unique and different for each organization, we are inspired by those that are setting ambitious targets despite the difficulties they face. EY people are passionate about tackling big challenges and with the power of 300,000 of them, we will not only transform EY to become a leader in sustainability, but also help EY clients do the same.”
New sustainable solutions to help EY clients reach their goals
Alongside the work it is undertaking to become more sustainable, EY teams are developing a new set of global sustainability solutions for EY clients aimed at helping them on their own sustainability journeys. The solutions will be focused around value-led sustainability, helping EY clients capture the business opportunities from sustainability and decarbonization, while also protecting and creating value.
EY is continuing to invest in technology and transform its business, which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected that many of the changes that have been implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic will help EY achieve its sustainability ambitions by helping EY teams learn and implement new ways of working, and EY will continue to innovate and utilize the best of these. For example, during the pandemic EY teams worked with both clients and EY organizations to help implement workplace changes, including flexible working and increased use of remote working technologies, which are expected to contribute to reductions in business travel.
This announcement follows other actions EY has taken to reduce the organization’s environmental impact and drive sustainable growth. These include two recent initiatives in collaboration with HRH The Prince of Wales’s Sustainable Markets Initiative; The S30, a group of 30 of the world’s leading C-suite sustainability leaders focused on accelerating business action on sustainability and joining the “Terra Carta” – a charter that puts sustainability at the heart of the private sector. The EY organization is also playing a leading role in the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council, which has developed a core set of common metrics and disclosures on non-financial factors for investors and other stakeholders.
