Partnerships
Partnerships, both internal and external, are essential to making progress on CR programs. In addition to the partnerships the CR team has with our internal teams in PwC Real Estate, Procurement, Information Technology, Human Resources, and Sustainable Business Solutions (SBS), we also partner with many government agencies and non-governmental organizations. These partnerships are created in order to share knowledge, encourage action, and amplify the results of our own efforts.
A few of our key environmental partnerships and collaborations in FY11 were:
National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) – We supported NEEF's Business Sustainability Education Roundtable and are working with NEEF to develop an innovative e-learning series to provide financial management assistance to community-based groups working with public lands across the country through NEEF’s Public Lands Program. Also, in the Washington, DC region, PwC is providing financial assistance to NEEF’s local water conservation education program, Be Water Wise DC, while also engaging employees from local PwC Green Teams in supporting the schools participating in this program.
United Nations Global Compact CEO Water Mandate – PwC is a signatory to this mandate to advance water sustainability solutions. In addition, PwC is supporting more than 80 corporate signatories to the Water Mandate in a project designed to unify the field of voluntary corporate water disclosure. We are working with the UN and a wide range of stakeholders – including the Carbon Disclosure Project, Global Reporting Initiative, and World Resources Institute – to develop global guidelines for corporate water disclosure that bring together existing initiatives and ultimately reduce the disclosure burden on companies. Draft guidelines will be launched in August 2012 at World Water Week in Stockholm.
Arbor Day Foundation – PwC is working with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees in our nation’s forests, totaling 29,000 trees since FY10. Through an innovative new initiative we will help plant 110,000 additional trees in FY12. The trees we plant will provide cleaner air and water, much-needed habitat for wildlife, serve as carbon sinks, and offer natural beauty for generations to enjoy.
Please see the Marketplace section for information on additional partnerships, including our work with the Carbon Disclosure Project.
Partnering to reduce energy
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), together with Net Impact, created an innovative program that seeks out highly qualified MBA students and pairs them with companies interested in saving energy. The goal of the program is for the students, called Climate Corps Fellows, to spend their summer working with the company to identify energy savings opportunities. Our Tysons Corner, Virginia office has participated in the program. To date, EDF Climate Corps Fellows have identified savings opportunities of 1.6 billion kWh of electricity use and 27 million therms of natural gas annually, equivalent to the annual energy use of 88,000 homes.