By Business & Finance 
As part of its ongoing multi-billion-dollar investment programme, KPMG will spend over US$1.5 billion over the next three years specifically to focus on the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) change agenda.
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 organisation and client solutions to drive measurable change.
The new global ESG strategy focuses on five priority areas:
Solutions
Five newly dedicated Hubs are to be established to provide world-class expertise and solutions on key ESG issues.
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 organisation 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.
Talent
ESG training will be provided to all of the KPMG organisation’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:
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.
Collaborations and Alliances
KPMG recognises that the world’s issues will not be solved by any one organisation alone, which is why the global organisation is building on its collaboration with external organisations 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.
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 programme 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 organisation; 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.”
Russell Smyth, Partner with Sustainable Futures, KPMG in Ireland added: “The sustainability agenda has progressed more in the past 18 months than during the previous 20 years. It has evolved from being an optional corporate social responsibility item to being the number one strategic priority for organisations globally. Embracing the ESG agenda isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s vital for business survival. That is why we have been investing heavily at KPMG Ireland in our Sustainable Futures practice, a dedicated cross-functional team of experts who are supporting corporates and public sector clients plan and execute programmes addressing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics, including decarbonisation and climate risk. KPMG’s global investment to accelerate ESG solutions will allow us to both enhance and develop our local offering and leverage the latest in Global thinking on this important topic.”
To find out more about how KPMG is bringing to life this investment for our clients and our people, visit our website home.kpmg
