The carbon impact of our technology
Technology has become an integral part of our daily lives and is crucial to how we deliver business outcomes. Alongside all of the benefits that tech brings, there’s also an environmental cost, which is not always obvious or front of mind. At PwC, as we take a deeper, more tech-powered approach to helping our clients solve their most important problems, it is critical for us to understand the true impact of our technology usage. At the same time, we are exploring ways in which our business, people, suppliers and clients can use technology more effectively and responsibly.
Delivering our Net Zero commitments
In September 2020, the PwC global network announced a worldwide science-based commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. To date, our primary focus on delivering this commitment has been on business travel, our offices and our supply chain. However, the way we use technology will also play a significant part in reaching net zero.
"As technology is increasingly embedded in how we work and collaborate, with each other and with our clients, we need to be conscious of how our technology decisions and behaviours impact the environment.
Adopting a responsible technology approach which maximises positive impacts whilst minimising negative ones is aligned with our purpose; to build trust in society and solve important problems."
Assessing the carbon impact of our technology
As a first step to develop a credible technology decarbonisation approach, we have conducted a systematic assessment of our technology carbon footprint, with the objectives of:
- Understanding the materiality of emissions of different elements of PwC UK’s tech estate, including carbon intensity factors across:
- Office hardwares
- Hosting platforms
- Applications / Software as a Service
- Communication tools
- Office hardwares
- Identifying interventions that can reduce emissions to inform our future Green Tech strategy. These will consider operational, behavioural and supply chain impact drivers.
- Developing a roadmap that can be used to drive change and be measured against on a regular basis.
- Building learnings to share with our clients and suppliers.
Read about our approach to assessing our digital footprint and the associated lessons learned, to gain insights as to how you could start your own journey.
