We are delighted here at PwC Channel Islands to be recognised in the new “Sustainable at Heart” category, which honours businesses who put sustainability and the environment at the heart of everything they do.

Our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. As the leading professional services firm in Jersey, we take our responsibility seriously to lead by example and help shape business community debate on the issues that matter for the future sustainability of the island.

Playing our part in tackling the climate crisis is a key firmwide priority. We’re decoupling business growth from greenhouse gas emissions and influencing our clients, suppliers and wider society to take action. We still have a long way to go, but we want to share examples of our progress so far in the hope this helps others.

We have been carbon neutral across our Channel Islands’ operations and business travel since 2007, using high-quality verified carbon credits. We are a Jersey EcoActive Business Leader and hold the ISO 14001 environmental management standard.

In 2020, PwC announced a worldwide commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions with near-term science-based targets set for 2030, independently validated by the Science Based Targets initiative in 2021. This means that, here in the Channel Islands, and led by a dedicated on-island Net Zero Programme Manager, we’re working to:

  • Reduce scope 1 and 2 absolute emissions, and scope 3 absolute business travel emissions, by 50% from a 2019 base by 2030. So far, we are on track within our annual carbon budget, despite the challenges of significant business growth over this period. We are also a RE100 business and purchase 100% renewable electricity.
  • Ensure 50% of our purchased goods and services’ suppliers have set science-based targets to reduce their own climate impact by 2025. So far, 30% of our local suppliers have either set or are setting science-based targets, and we will look to support others.
  • Transition our carbon credit portfolio to 100% carbon removals by 2030.

Our employees tell us sustainability is important to them. We have an active CSR team and have made green changes across our business from catering to pensions. All staff have an annual performance objective to support our sustainability strategy and we provide mandatory training.

To reduce business travel emissions further, we’ve allocated carbon budgets for each line of service and built a dashboard to empower our employees to track their emissions. We’ve set individual carbon budgets for our top travellers.

We know our biggest impact is in the market. We challenge our audit clients on climate risk and the implications for their financial statements. We’ve also made our own TCFD-aligned disclosure this year and are working towards future nature risk disclosures. We support our clients with sustainability strategy, business transformation, reporting and assurance. We also take opportunities for ESG integration across all client engagements.

We’re passionate advocates for “Jersey for Good” and the responsibility Jersey has to finance the transition to a more sustainable future.