Corporate responsibility
Our strategy
At PwC our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. Our purpose drives PwC's need to be 'part of it': part of the global conversation and movement towards responsible business practices that create positive change in the world.
We have many capabilities that are relevant to CR – the same ones we use in our businesses every day – and we put these to use working with others to make a difference. We help organisations around the world strengthen their own CR agendas through the many services that we provide every day.
For example:
- We're managing our own impact, but we're also uniquely positioned as a network of professional services firms to help integrate and foster change around CR issues in ways that have more widespread effects.
- We review, advise and transform thousands of businesses around the globe every year.
- We offer services that enhance trust and transparency between government, business and society.
- We contribute to the development of the standards that underpin financial systems and industries.
- We’re developing new ways of measuring environmental, social and economic impacts as well as other services through our Sustainability and Climate Change practices.
However, we want to go further. Through our own CR agenda, we can be part of the solution to global challenges in two ways. We set out our strategic intent as:
Being a catalyst for change, which is about using our skills, voice, and relationships to work with others and influence activities that make a difference, create change and have a lasting impact on the world around us.
Doing the right thing, which means playing our part on responsible business issues that are central to our business – from the quality of our services and the diversity of our people, to our engagement with communities and our environmental footprint.
These aims form the core of our CR Strategy and across the PwC network, our firm support’s these goals. Our CR strategy is tailored to our specific strengths and opportunities, as a network of professional services firms. To align and structure our CR activities, we focus on four areas in which PwC people can play their part: responsible business, diversity and inclusion, community engagement, and environmental stewardship.
Our approach
At PwC we believe in being part of it: the global conversation and movement towards responsible business practices that create positive change in the world. We’re focusing on four areas where we can make relevant and significant contributions: Responsible business, Diversity & inclusion, Community engagement, and Environmental stewardship.
- Responsible business
- Diversity and inclusion
- Community engagement
- Environmental stewardship
Responsible business
We create value for business and our communities in the areas of ethics, integrity and trust, and by using our core skills to help address issues central to fostering a sustainable business.
We believe today’s biggest business opportunities lie in society’s biggest challenges – from the management of natural resources to making business more transparent, trusted and fair. We’re making responsibility part of our own core services, thinking about what it means across our businesses – so responsible business is understood inside PwC and built into the services we provide for others.
Diversity and inclusion
We create value for our people and our clients by promoting diversity, fostering a culture of inclusion, and supporting a healthy work-life balance.
We respect and value differences. We know that when people from different backgrounds and with different points of view work together, we create the most value – for our clients, our people and society.
Community engagement
We create value in our local communities by using our people’s time, skills and experience to make a lasting difference. We create socio-economic value by using our skills and experience to engage with and help local communities, measuring our impact and encouraging a network-wide focus on capacity-building and education.
Our approach to volunteering and community engagement tends to be local and considers local priorities and customs so that the activities have a positive impact on beneficiaries.
Environmental stewardship
We create value by reducing our environmental impact and helping our clients do the same. Through our expertise and leadership in sustainability, we contribute to a more sustainable future for business and society.
An overachieving ambition we have is to minimise our environmental impact and demonstrate our commitment externally through appropriate reporting. As a provider of professional services we have a relatively low environmental footprint but we believe good environmental stewardship is part of an organisation’s licence to operate.
We are managing our clients' environmental impact by understanding and then mitigating their greatest impacts such as carbon measurement and reporting, and many are putting in place behavioural change programmes.
Our greatest opportunity to make a positive environmental impact lies in the work we do with our clients.
