When it comes to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, this past year made it clearer than ever that we all have a role to play. With that clarity, KPMG has committed to strengthening our global ESG offering — underpinned by recognition of our responsibility to help build a better future for all.
ESG will be the watermark running through our global organization; from empowering our people to become agents of positive change, to providing better approaches and services to our clients.
We understand the role we play when it comes to sustainability and our obligation to support the communities we serve — while helping to drive measurable change that has an impact.
ESG strategies are no longer a trend for businesses and organizations — they’re a path forward.
KPMG recognizes the need to be at the heart of these strategies to help overcome pressing challenges by working together. This year, we announced our new global ESG plan that includes a more than US$1.5 billion investment over the next three years to focus on our ESG change agenda — designed to support KPMG firms in making a positive difference, globally.
The new global ESG plan focuses on five priority areas:
This collective investment focuses on training and expanding KPMG’s global workforce, harnessing data, accelerating the development of new technologies and driving action through collaborations, alliances and advocacy. The key to the transformation will be embedding ESG in our organization and in client approaches to help drive measurable change that has an impact.
Delivering measurable impact
ESG issues will continue to dominate our world and increasingly our work.
KPMG recognizes our responsibility to improve our impact on the world, and to hold ourselves accountable for progress. In 2021, we launched our first ever KPMG: Our Impact Plan which represents the collective ESG commitments of KPMG firms across the globe.
KPMG IMPACT is the accelerator for KPMG’s global ESG strategy and the platform that supports and empowers KPMG professionals as they assist businesses and organizations in fulfilling their purpose, achieving their ESG goals and supporting the world’s attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It focuses on key areas of transformation such as ESG & Sustainability, Economic & Social Development, Sustainable Finance, Climate Change & Decarbonization, and Measurement, Assurance & Reporting — because how you grow matters.
Meeting the needs of the public interest
Preparing ourselves and organizations for inevitable change and the needs of society is crucial. With that change, comes the need for transparency and accountability.
There has been a shift in focus to the impact businesses have on the world around them — pushing the ESG agenda to the fore and highlighting the responsibility of companies to demonstrate measurable action.
The establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, is a watershed moment for sustainability reporting standards and an important step that will help harness our capital markets to secure a sustainable future.
All businesses are facing climate-related risks and opportunities and are making strategic decisions in response. KPMG created a Climate Change Resource Center with tools and insights that help clients understand the financial reporting impacts a transition to sustainability has on their business.
As tax policy developments around the world quickly evolve, it’s imperative that we offer our voice consistently in market to provide multinational organizations with a global view on the implications for their business — and the impact those choices have on society. KPMG delivers targeted approaches to help tax leaders embrace their role in ESG, through KPMG: Our Impact Plan — where we’ve developed a tax impact reporting methodology to help clients assess their existing tax governance, access relevant tax data and prepare transparency reports.
These changes have created a complex stakeholder environment, prompting KPMG to evolve our Responsible Tax practice to continue being a leading voice in the market. Through our Responsible Tax program, we provide a global forum that includes a diverse range of stakeholders to engage productively in the ongoing, multifaceted conversation about tax and its role in an increasingly globalized, digitalized, and often fragile, environment.
Client stories
Helping turn Bayer’s sustainability ambitions into reality
KPMG in Germany and the Netherlands led a global team to help Bayer, a leading company in health and nutrition, take its ambitious 2030 Sustainability Development Objectives from ambitions to reality.
Bayer was looking for deep sustainability experience and the ability to connect its bold climate and social commitments with its business strategy. It also wanted to work with a firm that approached sustainability goals with the same rigor as financial targets — our new ESG initiative, KPMG IMPACT checked all the boxes.
The KPMG team developed and validated a set of targeted KPIs relevant for the sustainability goals that were credible, achievable and audit-ready. The KPIs were inspired by industry best practices in impact reporting, and the objectives were stress-tested in light of current performance and envisioned strategic initiatives.
Bayer’s Crop Science division engaged the KPMG team to support its 100 million smallholder farmers program, conducting external key opinion leader roundtables and recommendations on partnerships for smallholder farmer engagement. Professionals from multiple KPMG firms assisted in strategy formulation and conducted training for Bayer to communicate its sustainability strategy to investors.
KPMG experts from Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and New Zealand helped deliver industry-leading practices, research and trusted client solutions. With the KPIs in place and the initiative up and running, Bayer is on its way to meeting its 2030 sustainability goals.
Shaping healthy aging policies across Asia with Sanofi
Sanofi, the EU-ASEAN Business Council and KPMG in Singapore recently launched the findings of research exploring healthy aging and life-course immunization for South-East Asia.
Entitled: ‘The Decade of Healthy Aging in ASEAN: Role of Life-course Immunization’, the report’s aim is to support governments across the region to make the best policy decisions to help ensure healthy aging, but is globally relevant as countries around the world are looking to mitigate the risks — and harness the expected benefits — of an aging demographic.
This project is the culmination of months of field research. KPMG in Singapore is now looking to translate those findings into action, facilitating a series of policy-shaping workshops to give governments the insights they need to transform and succeed.
Fostering a responsible tax environment
With ESG issues rising on leadership agendas globally, tax practices and corporate governance are becoming critical measures — with tax transparency increasingly being used as a key metric for demonstrating a responsible attitude towards tax.
AXA is ranked one of the world’s most responsible insurers, but that credential brings a higher level of scrutiny — from both investors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
AXA’s Deputy Group Tax Director, Olivier Tourtoulou, sits down with KPMG’s Global Head of Tax and Legal Services, David Linke, to discuss how AXA is responding to the challenges and opportunities of the current landscape and how it's evolving within a Responsible Tax framework.
Listen to the Future of Tax podcast to hear about the latest tax trends and why, for AXA, it was obvious that tax was becoming a key part of its global ESG policy, how it has successfully achieved buy-in with key stakeholders, and what’s next on AXA’s responsible tax journey.
As the world becomes more interconnected, KPMG is committed to fostering an environment that highlights the importance of a global tax conversation.
Corporate highlights
2021 Transparency Report & Our Impact Plan
Throughout this webpage, “we”, “KPMG”, “us” and “our” refers to the global organization or to one or more of the member firms of KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”), each of which is a separate legal entity.