In 2020, PwC India joined PwC network firms in a commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. Our net zero commitment is underpinned by a science-based target to reduce our emissions to a 50% absolute reduction of our scope 1 and 2 emissions as well as a 50% absolute reduction in scope 3 business travel greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 as compared to our 2019 levels. Our commitment is aligned to a 1.5 degree scenario which is necessary to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
Climate change is no longer a challenge for tomorrow but a responsibility for today. We must leverage human ingenuity to create a more sustainable ecosystem – one in which we can not just coexist but thrive. While driving change of this magnitude starts with each one of us, what is crucial is that this must be tackled at speed and scale. Businesses, being the most trusted institutions in society, have a responsibility to lead the transition to a net zero economy – and we are committed to doing just that. As a reflection of our strategy, we are dedicated to meeting the urgency of this challenge with defined steps towards decarbonisation – we are taking steps towards a brighter tomorrow.
The urgency around sustainability is a leveler for all – telling us that a greener world needs everyone’s collective commitment and attention. The ownership lies with each one of us. We know that a commitment is only as good as the actions that follow, and so we are putting together a robust plan which will enable us to make the shift. This journey is essential and requires a behavior shift from each of us – but it’s also exciting because it gives us more opportunities to do the right thing.
India is primarily a coal based economy with more than 70% of electricity being generated from coal based power plants. Our conventional infrastructure systems hence continue to rely heavily on such non-renewable sources contributing to high carbon emissions.
As a professional services firm, our environmental impact is small compared with many other industries. But our clients, our people and other stakeholders still expect us to minimize our impact, and as a responsible business whose operations ultimately rely on natural resources, we want to do everything we can. So, becoming a low carbon and more circular business is an important element of our Purpose.
Our commitment to accelerate towards a Net Zero economy by 2030 would encompass reducing our absolute emissions and offsetting the growing emissions due to our growth in the next few years. This is a challenge we are willing to embrace and are taking concerted actions to decarbonise our value chain. Our approach is based on the carbon mitigation hierarchy:
Most of our operational impact comes from carbon emissions generated by business travel and the use of energy in our buildings. So, our carbon mitigation programme is central to our efforts, and we also offset our operational carbon emissions as reported each year.
As a professional services firm, our carbon emissions rely heavily on business travel and consumption of energy in our offices across locations. In order to mitigate the carbon impact and create a circular economy, we are collectively undertaking structural and behavioral shifts supported by design thinking principles to achieve our 2030 Net zero agenda. The sectors we are working across include :
As a services business, our operations require limited natural resources compared with businesses in many other sectors but we want to do what we can to reduce the impact of this consumption.
The PwC network has globally committed to have 50% of our purchased goods and services supply chain (by emissions) with suppliers that have set and validated their own science based targets.
In accordance with our global agenda, PwC India aims to make conscious choices and cultivate environmentally just and responsible procurement practices by encouraging our suppliers to mitigate their own carbon footprint and participate in accelerating this transition to a Net Zero economy.
As a part of this commitment, we plan to work with suppliers to get themselves registered on ‘science based targets.org’. As part of this initiative, we conducted our first Supplier Sustainability Meet on 6 July 2022 which saw participation from over 300 suppliers and respective stakeholders committing to keep this forum running to advance the Net Zero economy.
Together with our clients we aim to accelerate the transition to a sustainable circular economy. We assist our clients in their Net Zero transformation by helping them identify and adopt business or economic activities that add no incremental greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. We work with our clients to ensure they take informed decisions and integrate climate resilient practices by helping them in strategy development and adopting environment friendly business targets. Learn more about our offerings
Driving Behavioral Change:
In-house initiatives :
Commitment to Climate Change :
Broadly, ‘net zero’ refers to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (often referred to as carbon emissions) and then balancing what’s left by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere. Net zero can apply to a business or other organization, a country or the global economy. The terms ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ both refer to reducing net GHG emissions and climate impacts and so are often mistakenly interchanged. In the market the terminologies do have differences when referring to climate ambitions. Over time we have seen carbon targets evolve from mitigating carbon emissions through offsetting (including carbon neutral claims), essentially compensating for emissions through financing emissions reduction projects outside a company’s own value chain, to more ambitious commitments to reduce emissions within the value chain which are aligned with climate science.
Net zero, unlike carbon neutrality, is based on first and foremost reducing emissions, but typically goes beyond carbon neutrality in several areas:
Setting science-based targets to reduce emissions
The pandemic has impacted everyone, amplifying and accelerating some of the biggest challenges in our society, and demonstrating the urgent need for systemic change in areas like social inclusion, the need for reskilling, the broader agenda of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) in India and the pressing challenge of climate change. These are all symptoms of a deeper problem: our economies are not delivering sustainable, affordable, inclusive outcomes for society. It is clear that businesses - including PwC - need to transform and that is why we are focused on developing the capabilities needed to build trust and help solve these very important problems.
PwC's sustainability experts know your industry and the challenges it faces, and can help you find the right solutions on the path towards sustainability.
We assist organisations in understanding the impact and urgency of action on ESG regulations and help them make it an integral part of their corporate and business strategies. It unleashes the potential to not only retain their license to operate, but identify opportunities for growth, mitigate risks, improve performance, enhance reputation, ease access to finance and be competitive in talent acquisition.
We also assist in effective execution on the ambitions and targets set, reimagining the operating model - reflecting ESG in stakeholder engagement, business and people processes.
Progressive organisations are integrating insights about their people, intellectual capital, important relationships and social impacts, as well as about natural capital considerations such as climate.
Our services include
We support our clients in integrating environmentally and financially viable practices into the end-to-end supply chain and asset lifecycle. We also assist them in adopting a circular economic system aimed at minimising waste and the sustained use of resources - from product design and development, to material selection, (including raw material extraction or agricultural regeneration), manufacturing, packaging, transportation, warehousing, distribution, consumption, return and disposal.
Provide and evaluate investments made into companies, organisations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return.
