Sustainability at PwC: Corporate sustainability 

Acting responsibly
Our purpose "to build trust in society and solve important problems" obliges us to assume social responsibility. No matter whether you volunteer for a charitable organization, support trash collection campaigns, or organize fundraising drives, we are an employer which offers you the freedom to do so, even during working hours, recognizes your service to society, and supports the projects close to your heart. We don't just advance sustainability when auditing and advising our clients. We also strive every single day to make PwC Germany more sustainable in all dimensions.

More information can be found here. 

ESG@PwC: Environment

We as a network are committed to the goal of a net-zero future and have set ourselves short-term, science-based climate goals by 2030. Our Going Paperless and Going Plastic-free initiatives also play a role here. We are already offsetting the emissions we have not yet been able to reduce completely, e.g. from business travel, commuting, office use, and home offices. We exclusively use energy from renewable sources for our office buildings. In addition, we contribute to more biodiversity and an increasingly circular economy while supporting our employees in their conscious and sustainable handling of resources.
At PwC, environmental protection means more than climate neutrality. For instance, we are committed to encouraging biodiversity, as illustrated by the beehives located on the rooftops of two of our locations. Sustainability plays a decisive role when furnishing our offices. For example, we use carpets made of recycled fishing nets and upcycle old chairs and reuse them. You can also actively participate in our environmental commitment. We take part in World Clean-Up Day at various locations and regularly exchange ideas relating to environmental topics and measures with involved colleagues in our "Green Heroes" community.

ESG@PwC: Social
Our society is in upheaval – technological and demographic change and the challenges posed by globalization have led to tensions which endanger societal cohesion. Confronting these tensions is not just the responsibility of the state – companies must play their role. We aim to assume societal responsibility to act as a trustworthy and dedicated transformation partner in a society focused on sustainability. We are committed to pro bono projects and financial donations, among other activities. We establish partnerships with various non-profit organizations and social start-ups to master these challenges together. An extremely important cornerstone of our corporate commitment to our society is the PwC-Stiftung foundation established in 2002 to promote the education of children and young people. Traditionally, PwC's Chairperson of the Management Board also holds the role of Chairperson of the Board of our foundation. Corporate volunteering is also a priority at PwC. For example, we allow our employees to volunteer for social causes during their working hours and also recognize their private community involvement with our annual PwC Social Award. We are convinced that societal responsibility can be put into practice by supporting a wide variety of projects. Perhaps there is a project you would like to support on our community service platform. You can read more about PwC's social commitment here.

ESG@PwC: Governance

PwC's organizational structures and process must satisfy the highest statutory, professional, and ethical requirements. We verify this each year in a transparency report pursuant to Article 13 of the Regulation (EU) 537/2014 and in an externally audited sustainability report prepared in accordance with the reporting standards set forth by the Global Reporting Initiative. Furthermore, we have pledged to comply with a series of international ESG standards and established effective CS management:

  • We are a UN Global Compact participant and apply its Ten Principles to our own operations, as well as along our supply chain. We have avowed ourselves to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and align our climate and environmental strategy to the objectives and contents of the Paris Convention for climate protection. PwC is also committed to the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as to the five fundamental principles of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the associated eight core labor standards. 
  • Because of its significance for our corporate success, our Corporate Sustainability Officer (CSO) is a member of the Management Board. The CSO is supported by the CS Board, comprising experienced representatives from the three platforms, as well as internal departments. The CS Board generates innovation and impulses for services and products, as well as for our internal CS strategy. In turn, our CS team assists the CS Board in the operational realization of the sustainability measures it implements and organizes the standard operation of CS management.

The dedication of our Green Heroes

Our Green Heroes are an excellent opportunity for colleagues to personally dedicate themselves to more climate and environmental protection at PwC, weigh in with their own suggestions, and exchange ideas. I am impressed to see how more and more employees are participating! All employees need to be involved to achieve a true sustainable transformation at PwC.
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Anthony Keilwerth
Lead Green Heroes
Corporate Sustainability Team
We do what characterizes our professional activities at PwC on a daily basis. We listen to one another carefully, establish understanding, and create solutions together. Together with the other dedicated Green Heroes, I want to play a significant role in demonstrating that success and fairness belong together.
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Ilija Kankaras
Lead Community Heroes
Corporate Sustainability Team
I am happy that the Community Heroes program at PwC gives me the opportunity to exchange ideas about our community service with colleagues pursuing the same objectives. It is inspiring to hear about the fantastic projects my colleagues are supporting or sometimes even initiating.
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Juliane Werr
Community Hero
Working student

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
We have avowed ourselves to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. We make an especially important, quantifiable contribution to five of these goals with our business operations.

SDG 4: High-quality education

At PwC, we embrace a working and team culture which offers everyone the opportunity to fully develop their own potential and seize all their development opportunities. For this purpose, we have initiated numerous measures to offer equal-opportunity and high-quality education to people of all ages within and outside our company and offer a comprehensive continuing education program with professional and language trainings as well as leadership and soft-skill seminars. By means of the charitable PwC Foundation, we also promote aesthetic cultural education, value-oriented economic education, and the digital education of students in all types of schools.
Auditing and audit-related advisory services are exposed to a wide variety of risks because of its business operations and the associated regulatory environment. In the field of Assurance Risk & Quality, you will support your colleagues in practice and assist the leadership team in detecting existing risks, analyzing them, and taking or refining suitable risk-mitigating measures.
Additionally, you will be responsible for quality assurance, e.g. as part of engagement-specific quality assurance and the active supervision of various regulatory topics.

SDG 5: Gender equality
We embrace diversity and an inclusive working and team culture which offers everyone the opportunity to fully develop their own potential and seize all their development opportunities. We have established company-wide target figures and department-specific measures in order to increase the percentage of women in leadership roles. We use our internal and external women's networks to support the personal and professional continuing education of ambitious high performers.
Furthermore, PwC supports the United Nations HeForShe initiative, which calls on men in particular to advocate for gender equality.
As an employer, PwC is also required to implement the provisions set forth in the General Act on Equal Treatment (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz – AGG). Therefore, we train all our employees regularly on this legislation. Sensitization relating to the topic of discrimination is a further key cornerstone, both for achieving and maintaining a work culture free of discrimination, and for a non-discriminatory society overall. We use targeted trainings to provide our employees with tools to help them break through their unconscious biases and thus increase equal opportunities for all.

SDG 8: Humane working conditions and economic growth

We support customers of all sizes and across all industries from their strategy through execution, thus making significant contributions to value, economic growth, and high-quality jobs – within planetary boundaries. We pool the associated activities within an overarching approach, uniting experiences and resources.
We provide strategic, operational, and technological consulting throughout the entire lifecycle. For example, we support companies in proactively defining and maximizing the value contribution of digitalization for the sustainable, sound development of the economy and society. At the same time, this allows us to promote the responsible advancement of digitalization along the value chain.
We consider innovations, agility, and disruptive thought to be the engine of our own growth – both as part of our customer projects and in our own everyday work.

SDG 12: Sustainable consumption and production 

PwC Germany doesn't want its customers, the public, and its own employees to perceive it only in terms of its high-quality products and reliable services, but also consider it an "attorney" for the ecological, technological, and social transformation within the meaning of the PwC purpose of "building trust in society and solving important problems".
We want to handle resources responsibly in order to preserve a world in which future generations can live. This includes the responsible handling of resources. Accordingly, we pursue the objectives of Going Circular, Going Paperless, and Going Plastic-free. A circular economy is becoming more and more important, which is why we also support our customers in realizing relevant approaches.

SDG 13: Environmental protection measures

We want to hold a forward-looking position in society:
Our applicants, employees, and customers expect us to protect the climate and the environment. We aim to forge ahead as pioneers here. Our quantifiable, proven sustainability performance builds up confidence in the public perception and promotes open and purposeful dialog.
We as a network assume responsibility for the climate and are committed to the goal of a net-zero future and have set ourselves short-term, science-based climate goals by 2030. We pursue intensive environmental management in order to achieve these targets. We also use our services (e.g. with our Climate Excellent Tool) to help develop and execute climate protection strategies and activities for our customers. We also consult public authorities in (further) developing climate protection programs. In addition, we contribute to more biodiversity and an increasingly circular economy while supporting our employees in their conscious and sustainable handling of resources.