EY announces ambition to be net zero by 2025

EY has announced it aims to be net zero by 2025.

The new commitment to sustainability is an integral aspect of its NextWave strategy, to create long-term value for all stakeholders. This new ambition builds upon the organisation’s achievement of carbon neutrality in December 2020.

Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global Chairman and CEO, said: “We believe that combatting climate change is a vital element of  building a better working world. While this challenge is unique and different for each organisation, we are inspired by those that are setting ambitious targets despite the difficulties they face.”

EY has also set a target to significantly reduce emissions by removing and offsetting more carbon than it emits to be carbon negative in 2021, whilst also helping clients create value from sustainability solutions.

EY have set out seven key components of its plan to reduce total emissions by 40% and achieve net zero by 2025, highlighting its commitment to the environment and sustainable growth. Key elements include:

• To reduce business travel emission by 35% by FY25, against a FY19 baseline.
• To reduce office electricity usage and use 100% renewable energy for remaining EY needs – earning a membership to RE100, a group of influential organisations committed to renewable power, by FY25.
• Through virtual power purchase agreements, structure electricity supply contracts to introduce more electricity then EY consumes into national grids.
• Provide EY teams with tools enabling them to calculate, and work to reduce the carbon emitted when carrying out EY client work.
• Use nature-based solutions and carbon-reduction technologies to remove more carbon from the atmosphere and offset more carbon than EY emits.
• Help EY clients profitably decarbonise their businesses and provide solutions to sustainability challenges and opportunities.
• Require 75% of EY suppliers to set science-based targets by no later than FY25.

EY teams are also committed to developing sustainability solutions for EY clients, to help them on their own sustainability journey.  These sustainability solutions will be value-led, ensuring EY clients capture the business opportunities from decarbonisation and sustainability, to simultaneously increase sustainability and create value.

Steve Varley, EY Global Vice Chair – Sustainability, says “We realise that these challenges are different and more difficult in certain industries. That is why there are also investments in new solutions and services to help EY clients protect and create value from becoming more sustainable too.”

This announcements follows other actions EY have taken to drive sustainable growth. This includes joining the “Terra Carta” – a charter that puts sustainability at the heart of the private sector, and also an initiative in collaboration with HRH The Prince of Wales’s Sustainable Markets Initiative; The S30, a group of the world’s sustainability leaders focusing on accelerating business action on sustainability.