Sustainability and PwC

PwC is committed to demonstrating corporate responsibility. This commitment is reflected through our involvement, practices and actions for the environment, people, the community and ethical business, and is demonstrated in a number of different ways.

As business advisors we play a significant role in the operation of the world’s capital markets. We take pride in the fact that our services add value by helping improve transparency, trust and consistency of business processes. Our business is conducted within the framework of applicable professional standards, laws and regulations, together with internal PwC policies and standards. Included amongst these is PwC’s Code of Conduct and the underlying values of teamwork, excellence and leadership which support the type of behaviour that PwC expects from its employees.

PwC recognises the pillars of sustainability. The following are some examples of that commitment in practice.

As a services organisation, PwC is committed to enhancing the value of our people. We invest in teams and relationships and work hard to put ourselves in the shoes of others. Behaviours are reinforced by how we recruit, develop, assess and regard our people.

To complement our existing work on minimising our environmental impact, we have measured our carbon footprint over the last 2 years. PwC NZ’s footprint for the year ended 30 June 2008 was measured using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, ISO 14064-1 and the Ministry for the Environment's Voluntary Reporting Guidelines.

As a service-based organisation, PwC is strongly orientated towards ethical business practices. We have a range of strong risk management policies in place that guard firm and clients’ exposure to a variety of risks. Our client engagement and acceptance systems are rigorous in their analysis of new clients and, monthly, all engagement partners are required to confirm the credible business practices of their clients. We seek client feedback on the overall levels of service that PwC has provided during the year through our client feedback programme. And on an individual basis, all staff involved in client work are required to complete annual independence declarations.

PwC formed a foundation in 2004 to bring together PwC’s activities and involvement in the community. This helps to focus our efforts and enables us to build long-term relationships with different organisations and programmes relevant to our firm and people. We financially support a number of charities chosen by staff. All staff are also entitled to one day a year to work in a volunteer capacity for a charity of their choice. Our foundation work also aligns our efforts with the Firm’s overall strategy by taking into account existing relationships and obligations.

We strongly believe in contributing towards wider change of practices in New Zealand and therefore extensively commit our time to contribute to thought leadership initiatives. The leader of our sustainability and climate change team was a member of the New Zealand Government's Leadership Forum on climate change and is a special advisor to the Select Committee reviewing the Emissions Trading Scheme.

PwC was a founding member of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development and we strongly support and encourage sustainable business practices. We are a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and in 2008 our global CEO, Sam DiPiazza, was the global Chair of the WBCSD. PwC is also a signatory to the UN Global Compact.