Corporate responsibility
Our approach
Through Corporate Responsibility we're on a journey to make every decision, every day, count—towards a sustainable future. Through the United Nations, the world has agreed to a set of sustainable development goals—to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Businesses need to be part of the solution—including ours.
At PwC Canada, we understand the importance of having a deep commitment to sustainable and responsible business practices and believe our firm has a unique opportunity to use our skills, voice and relationships to act as a catalyst for change in the world around us. We embrace this commitment and will continue to play a leading role in helping others do the same.
Our commitment to closing the digital divide
With 30% of jobs at risk of automation by 2030, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that one of Canada’s most pressing challenges is the growing mismatch between the skills people have and those needed for the digital word.
The societal ramifications of this are profound including job loss, social fracturing, and widening inequality.
Some groups are especially at risk. Women, older workers, and those living in rural areas are given less opportunity to learn new skills, but the biggest barrier is someone’s level of education.
That’s why we’re committing $150 million over the next three years to upskill our 7,850 people to be future ready and to share their knowledge to support clients and communities. In doing so, our goal is to reach 1 million people and NPOs across Canada.
Without urgent attention, many more people risk being left behind and society will become more divided.
People with access to technology and training benefit very quickly, while those that don’t fall further behind. It becomes a vicious cycle.
Everyone should be able to live, learn, work and participate in the digital world
Engaging with all our stakeholders is essential for us to understand their needs and to create the value they’re looking for. So we’re listening and responding to their views on responsible business.
Because there are so many possible priorities for our corporate responsibility programs, we focus on the important issues to our business—the things that matter most.
Within Canada we’ve chosen to focus on four quadrants where we feel we can achieve the most significant outcomes: responsible business; people, diversity and having an inclusive environment; community engagement; and environmental stewardship.
— James Temple, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, PwC Canada
Our focus
Our goals are to continue encouraging our people to engage in meaningful community experiences that build capabilities; recognizing our people for their community work; developing relationships across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, especially through the development of thought leadership and evaluating our current programs to encourage innovation.
We’re building awareness of our environmental footprint and taking measurable steps to reduce it through our daily practices.
PwC Canada’s renewed environmental policy outlines our commitment to reducing the environmental impacts of our operations and activities. You can find a link to the policy on our website. We continue to engage our employees in a dialogue about environmental stewardship and make progress towards measuring and monitoring our footprint.
At PwC Canada, we’re all responsible for helping sustain an inclusive work environment so we can unlock everyone’s potential. Diverse teams are innovative because each member has a distinct point of view and can offer a broad range of ideas. To solve important societal issues, we build trusting relationships, work to find common ground and identify areas for collaboration within the firm, across our industry and in our communities.
At PwC, we play a significant role in the world’s capital markets. We take pride that our people and services help improve the credibility, transparency and reliability of financial statements and information that help guide investors and stakeholders to make informed decisions.
We believe we have a responsibility to uphold and embody ethics, transparency and integrity in all aspects of our work. Our people are leaders who can promote trust in business and use their skills and relationships to promote more ethical and responsible behaviour in the marketplace. By exemplifying responsible leadership and showcasing how sustainability is a core component of strong governance and organizational accountability, we know we can make a significant difference in the success of our people, clients and communities.
Sponsorships
At PwC, we recognize the importance of sponsoring initiatives that reflect the core values we feel are essential for responsible businesses. On a national level, we support and promote a wide range of diverse initiatives from Canadian business, sports and culture.
