The world, and by extension Malta, is facing significant challenges, be they related to climate change, water scarcity, inequality, diversity or broader governance issues. In the face of these challenges, it is our view that businesses and economies need to not just evolve but take up their responsibility and act to create a sustainable world fit for future generations.
In this respect, we believe the business community has a key role to play in society and we, as PwC, are determined to play our part. In line with our purpose, we have made a worldwide science-based commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 – building on our existing global environmental commitment.
Our validated target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in absolute terms from 2019 levels by 2030 in line with a 1.5 degree scenario. Importantly, these targets go beyond scope 1 & 2 emissions to include PwC’s largest indirect scope 3 emissions.
The New Equation
The climate targets are part of PwC’s new wider global strategy - The New Equation. Through ‘The New Equation’, PwC is committed to transforming its business model to decarbonise its value chain, increase transparency, and support the development of robust ESG reporting frameworks and standards. As PwC we are also engaging with our clients and suppliers to support them to tackle their climate impact.
PwC’s commitment involves four key areas:
- Operations
- Clients
- Suppliers
- Climate agenda
Operations
Reduce our emissions in line with a 1.5 degree climate scenario, including a 50% reduction in scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 50% absolute reduction in business travel emissions from a 2019 base by 2030.
In addition, we will accelerate our transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2025 and to mitigate our impacts today, we will continue to offset our emissions through high-quality carbon credits.
Clients
Work with our clients to support their efforts to make a net zero future a reality for all. This will involve building on existing client work in sustainability and net zero transformation.
Suppliers
Engage with key suppliers, encouraging and supporting them to achieve net zero. We commit that 50% of our global purchased goods and services suppliers by emissions will have set their own science-based targets to reduce their climate impact by 2025.
Climate agenda
Continue our long-standing programme of research and collaboration with business, policy makers, and NGOs to accelerate a net zero economy.
In line with our net zero ambition and vision for Malta, we have undertaken a number of initiatives to help reduce our carbon footprint in line with our overall target of being carbon neutral by 2030:
- We have installed our own PV system at our offices in Qormi which, in line with Malta’s Solar Farm Policy, was installed on the roof of PwC’s carpark. Made up of more than 300 panels, this system is capable of generating 91.45kWp of renewable energy.This initiative is expected to meet around 13% of our electricity demand and will help us reduce our CO2 emissions by an estimated 41.5 tonnes per year.
- We undertook a review of our A/C units in an effort to replace the legacy air conditioning systems that were in place. To this end, we have recently completed a major overhaul project that saw the replacement of 70 old A/C systems with new energy efficient A/C systems, further helping us to reduce energy consumption.
- As part of an effort to limit our carbon footprint, a new building management system is currently being installed. The new, firm-wide centralised controller will enable us to monitor and manage all heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) centrally. This additional energy saving measure is expected to reduce our energy consumption from the HVAC systems by 10-15%.
To further improve the energy efficiency of our offices, we have installed IR films on all windows in our reception area and on those on the 1st and 2nd floors of our office building. The IR films will reduce the amount of Infrared radiation and UV rays from entering the building and thus help reduce temperature losses in our offices.
In a bid to encourage the transition to e-mobility and eliminate scope 1 emissions, PwC had replaced its internal combustion engine delivery van to an all-electric, zero emission vehicle. As a result, today we continue to use a fully-electric vehicle as part of our daily firm operations.
We have more upcoming projects to further reduce our energy consumption and wastage, such as replacing more A/Cs, switching to LED lighting, replacing water faucets and installing aerators in the bathrooms.
- Paper consumption initiatives
- Water consumption initiatives
- Other initiatives
Paper consumption initiatives
Beyond electricity, we are aware that a considerable portion of our waste relates to paper and the habit of printing in the nature of our work. In an effort to embed a culture of restricted printing, we have provided our employees with a second monitor in a bid to eliminate the need to print documents, and we strongly encourage staff to make use of electronic documents rather than printed ones. To that end, we have reduced our paper consumption by 39% from the previous year.
Water consumption initiatives
We are acutely aware that water is a scarce resource for Malta, and while our water consumption may not be a material indicator, we aim to ensure we waste as little as possible. While some water faucets make use of first class water from Water Services Corporation, bathrooms and flushing make use of second class water that is stored in reservoirs beneath the premises. In this respect, we aim to use grey water wherever possible to reduce our impact on Malta’s water resources. In addition, following a water audit that PwC undertook in 2021, flow restrictors and pressure pumps were installed throughout the office.
Other initiatives
In December 2020, we contributed to environmentally oriented activities in collaboration with organisations including BirdLife, Majjistral Park and Wied Ghollieqa - Nature Trust, with 26 of our people contributing more than 100 hours to these environment-friendly activities. We worked with BirdLife to weed tree saplings and clean up at Salina Nature Reserve. We removed alien species, cleared undergrowth and helped in rebuilding the rubble walls at Majjistral Park. We worked together with Wied Ghollieqa - Nature Trust to remove alien species.
We have also introduced an initiative to collect and recycle plastic bottle caps and donate them to charity. In November 2020, this initiative resulted in 43kg of bottle caps being submitted to L-istrina.
We are encouraged by our continuous progress towards reducing our carbon footprint, in particular the gains and savings that we are seeing as a result of these efforts. Whilst we recognise that disruptions from COVID-19 have played a significant role in reducing our consumption at the office, we remain committed to sustain and reduce our consumption as we progress towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2030.
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