Reducing our footprint

At KPMG, we are eager to pull our weight in the transition to a net-zero society and in addressing the challenges of climate change, water pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Our goal is to halve our total greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2019.

To this end, we aim to be a net-zero organization ourselves by 2050. To make this happen, we have committed to the scientific (SBTi) goal of halving our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. With that in mind, we must, of course, ensure that our own work processes are as sustainable as possible.

And we are well on our way: as KPMG, we have reduced our global greenhouse gas emissions by 22 percent since fiscal year 2019. And while we are seeing improvements in our direct emissions we remain vigilant about our indirect emissions.

The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our business appears to be our travel behavior. We therefore focus primarily on more sustainable travel and a flexible mobility policy, lowering the threshold for cycling, electric vehicles and the use of public transport. In addition, we use renewable energy wherever feasible and design our purchasing policies to be as sustainable as possible.

Within our organization, we use a so-called Internal Carbon Price (ICP). This means that we assign a financial value to the greenhouse gas emissions caused by our business activities. We then spend this amount on projects and measures that promote sustainability. Examples include facilitating electric charging stations, purchasing green energy and making our offices more sustainable. This CPI also helps making our people more aware of our footprint and encourages sustainable behavior.

Besides ‘practicing what we preach’, helping our clients reduce their environmental footprint is the most important contribution we at KPMG can make to a net-zero society. Our experts within ESG & Sustainability Services are forerunners in this field and put their experience to full use to achieve this ambition.