KPMG launches multi-year program to accelerate global solutions for Environmental, Social and Governance issues

As part of its ongoing multi-billion-dollar investment program, KPMG plans to spend more than US$1.5 billion over the next three years specifically to focus on the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) change agenda. The ESG strategy is designed to support KPMG firms’ clients in making a positive difference. Importantly, this strategy is underpinned by KPMG’s recognition of its responsibility to improve its impact on the world and the ESG commitments outlined in KPMG: Our Impact Plan.

The collective investment will focus on training and expanding KPMG’s global workforce, harnessing data, accelerating the development of new technologies, and driving action through partnerships, alliances and advocacy. The key to the transformation will be embedding ESG in the organization and client solutions to drive measurable change.

The new global ESG strategy focuses on five priority areas:

1. Solutions

Five newly dedicated Hubs are to be established to provide world-class expertise and solutions on key ESG issues, these will focus on:

• Global Decarbonization, helping large multinational businesses meet their net-zero commitments and plan their decarbonization journey, and

• Global ESG Advisory, backed by Advisory teams from KPMG firms, offering market-leading ESG expertise including leadership on societal issues and solutions.

• Three KPMG Regional ESG Hubs will also be established in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas to allow clients easy access to world-class insights and expertise across the ESG agenda.

KPMG will invest in its leading climate and ESG solutions and technologies, including Climate IQ, a digital tool that helps clients identify opportunities and risks arising from climate change. To complement the technological investments, the global organization will also expand its workforce, both for ESG advisory work and to provide assurance on ESG disclosures. Additionally, KPMG will develop its proprietary audit workflow technology to enable delivery of ESG assurance with the same quality and rigor that KPMG firms apply to financial audit work.

2. Talent

ESG training will be provided to all of the KPMG organization’s 227,000 people to ensure that everyone is empowered to be an agent of positive change. As part of this training, KPMG is working with two leading global academic institutions, University of Cambridge Judge Business School and [NYU Stern Executive Education]:

• The University of Cambridge Judge Business School partnership will build ESG skills including the development of a learning framework and solutions to be applied across the KPMG global organization, led by the business school faculty and other experts associated with the school, beginning with hundreds of business leaders and with the ambition to reach all KPMG people around the globe.

• The NYU Stern Executive Education collaboration will see the co-creation of a sustainability program for KPMG in the form of executive education.

3. Supporting developing nations

KPMG will launch KPMG Emerging Markets Accelerators for developing nations in the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The goal of these Emerging Markets Accelerators is to ensure areas of the world lacking expertise and resources will have a trusted advisor to support their economic and social development in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

4. Collaborations and Alliances

KPMG recognizes that the world’s issues will not be solved by any one organization alone, which is why the global organization is building on its collaboration with external organizations including UNESCO, Enactus and the Global Reporting Initiative.

Through alliances with Google Cloud, Microsoft and ServiceNow, KPMG is co-creating new tools and solutions that will provide critical insights based on data that clients can use to map their ESG journeys and implement vital changes to meet their commitments.

5. Listening and taking action

To help support the engagement pillar of its global ESG strategy, KPMG is also launching a new campaign called ‘Voices for a Sustainable Future’, offering a platform to amplify the views of established and new thinkers, giving voice to critical issues — from climate change to gender and race equality. The program will generate actionable insights to help accelerate the journey towards a more sustainable future.

Bill Thomas, KPMG’s Global Chairman and CEO said: “How you grow matters, and what worked for us and other businesses in the past will not work in the future. The world faces crises on multiple fronts, which is why we’re putting the Environmental, Social and Governance agenda at the heart of everything we do. ESG will be the watermark running through our global organization; from empowering our people to become agents of positive change, to the services with our clients and our partnerships with critical stakeholders. KPMG has the global scale, expertise, technology, and relationships that give us the ability and responsibility to use our position to provide solutions and services to overcome the challenges facing our planet and society.”

KPMG’s global ESG strategy comes less than a year after the organization launched KPMG: Our Impact Plan, which lays out the global organization’s commitments on ESG themes, with the ultimate goal of making an even greater positive impact on the world. KPMG was the first professional services organization to transparently report against the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Metrics. The plan sets out a range of science-based targets, including a pledge to become a net-zero carbon organization by 2030. The execution and acceleration of KPMG: Our Impact Plan is a key priority for the global organization as it delivers on its commitments to tackle issues — from the climate crisis to social mobility and community engagement.

KPMG’s in the Cayman Islands Managing Partner, Andrew Stepaniuk, commented: “Our ESG strategy will focus on making a positive change that will impact our communities, our people and our clients. It is our responsibility to make a difference in this world and help drive change for the betterment of our future. Our ESG strategy demonstrates our commitment and actions towards how we will make this change, which will support our overall mission and values of building a future together for better.”

To find out more about how KPMG is bringing to life this investment for our clients and our people, visit our website KPMG.com

About KPMG International: KPMG is a global organization of independent professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 146 countries and territories and in FY20 had close to 227,000 people working in member firms around the world. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.

KPMG International Limited is a private English company limited by guarantee. KPMG International Limited and its related entities do not provide services to clients.

About KPMG IMPACT: Launched in June 2020, KPMG IMPACT is the accelerator for KPMG’s global ESG strategy. It is the platform which supports and empowers KPMG professionals as they assist clients in fulfilling their purpose, achieving their ESG goals, and supporting the world’s attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It helps clients across ESG & Sustainability, Economic & Social Development, Sustainable Finance, Climate Change & Decarbonization, and Measurement, Assurance & Reporting.

About KPMG’s Our Impact Plan: KPMG’s Our Impact Plan is the organization’s first-ever global environmental, social and governance (ESG) plan, bringing together new and existing ESG commitments under one umbrella, focusing on four important categories: Planet, People, Prosperity and Governance.

The plan also catalogues current data across the global organization and reports against metrics outlined in a report created by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and drafted in consultation with its International Business Council (IBC), titled Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism (PDF 1.92 MB), which KPMG had a key role in shaping.

KPMG will continue to strengthen its commitments outlined in the plan and improve reporting on our progress in the months and years to come.

Follow https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2021/01/our-impact-plan.pdf to read KPMG: Our Impact Plan in full.