KPMG:
Our Impact Plan

2022

KPMG’s first update of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments — holding us accountable for progress toward a more sustainable future.

A message from our Global Chairman and CEO

As the world faces one of the most significant periods of unrest for generations, KPMG is guided by its Purpose and Values that have, for more than 150 years, helped us build trust in capital markets, strengthen economies around the world and contribute to a sustainable society.

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Meeting our responsibility comes in many forms — in our work and in our daily lives, through the Values we share and the quality of work we provide. Now more than ever, I firmly believe that the business community has an opportunity and responsibility to help shape a more sustainable future. Which is why KPMG was among the first in our profession to catalog our environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments in one place and report our progress transparently against the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) International Business Council (IBC) metrics in KPMG: Our Impact Plan.

Our Impact Plan sets out the commitments we are making on our journey to become a better business and reaffirms our commitments to the United Nations (UN) Global Compact Principles and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

I’m proud that with the release of KPMG: Our Impact Plan 2022, we get to show you the progress we’ve made so far, and how we’re working shoulder to shoulder with clients to support them on their own ESG journeys, across four important categories: Planet, People, Prosperity and Governance. Some highlights include:

  • Planet:2 We’re implementing sustainable and equitable practices within our global organization by evaluating our supply chain and creating science-based transition plans so we can move to net zero in a fair and just way. As part of our commitment to be net zero by 2030, we set an Internal Carbon Price (ICPPPPP) that will help us measure and account for our carbon impact. From impact on biodiversity to the impact on social inequity, we’ve considered many dimensions of change and are confident we will make a significant difference.
  • People: We created and introduced KPMG’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) Collective Action Plan throughout the global organization. We’re taking important steps toward gender diversity with females representing 48.4 percent of our people, and it’s our intention for women to fill more than one-third of leadership roles by 2025. We’re also developing guidance for our member firms around the world to help ensure their processes meet our human rights commitments.
  • Prosperity: We announced last year a multi-billion-dollar investment to embed ESG into everything we do — enhancing our already robust tools and services to help accelerate our clients’ ESG journeys. Part of this investment will be used to build ESG hubs on multiple continents and create ESG accelerators to spur investment and innovation in emerging markets. We’re also training our more than 236,000 people to become agents of positive change and assisting clients on three pillars of opportunity: ESG transformation, ESG reporting and ESG assurance. And we continue to work alongside organizations to make significant contributions toward the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) — including our work with UNESCO to help economically empower 10 million disadvantaged young people between now and 2030.
  • Governance: Our work with the WEF, to set the IBC metrics for ESG reporting is one example of how we’re using our experience and knowledge to help shape the future of sustainable business. We’ve accepted roles at the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Taskforce for Nature-related Disclosures (TNFD). We will work alongside the profession to support the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board, announced by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation at COP26, as it develops and publishes ESG reporting standards and help our clients adapt as the nature of reporting evolves. This work is part of the wider role we believe we must play to support the development of consistent and credible information on sustainability matters.

It was a busy year, and there’s more progress to read throughout this 2022 update; and I am pleased that we achieved this while still working to deliver uncompromising quality to clients. Last year, we reported double digit revenue growth for the first time in many years — proof to us that purpose and prosperity are inextricably linked.

There is so much more to do, and we are determined to focus on where we can make the biggest difference in the world. Our Impact Plan is our roadmap, but it’s also an opportunity for you to learn more about us and how we hope to change for better and hold ourselves accountable to all of our stakeholders. Meaningful, lasting change doesn’t happen overnight, but we know we’ll be able to learn from our efforts and drive change throughout our global organization.

I thank you for taking the time to read Our Impact Plan and look forward to continuing our journey to be an even stronger, more sustainable business.

Our highlights at a glance

Planet

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People

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Prosperity

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Governance

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Footnote:

1: Headcount reported above based on Partners and staff employed as of 30 September 2021.

Understanding the material issues relevant to our business and our stakeholders

KPMG has a diverse group of stakeholders that includes our people, clients, local communities, governments, regulators, the wider public and those invested in the capital markets.

To understand what most concerns this group, we carried out extensive research, which included:

  • Surveying a range of external stakeholders, including the C-suite and the public in nine of our largest markets
  • KPMG employee engagement and employee trust data derived from our Global People Survey (GPS)
  • Insights from our Next Generation Council — a global group of young KPMG leaders
  • Understanding shifting stakeholder and business priorities arising from global and societal issues
  • Consideration of significant business risks included in our Enterprise Risk Management framework
  • Material issues identified by KPMG member firms

The result is a list of 12 issues that are considered most material to both our stakeholders and our organization in four priority areas: Planet, People, Prosperity and Governance. In Our Impact Plan, we set out commitments that respond to these material issues, reporting our progress transparently and revealing where we can make the greatest impact.

Planet

  1. Environmental sustainability

    Human activity has changed the Earth’s natural capabilities — pushing planetary boundaries and threatening humanity’s very existence. Addressing climate change, water pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss is a key to enabling responsible growth. We’re committed to driving a culture of sustainable practices within our global organization, supply chain and beyond to help ensure a healthy planet for generations to come.

People

  1. Talent attraction, development and retention

    By fostering an environment that values continuous learning and development, we empower our people with tools to help them succeed and make their mark. We’re focused on growth and upskilling our talent with leading technologies and future-proof skills.

  1. Purpose, culture and values

    We’re led by our Purpose — to inspire confidence and empower change — and driven by our Values in creating a caring and inclusive culture that provides our people with opportunities to make an impact, solve challenges and tap into their passion for doing work that matters.

  1. Inclusion, diversity and equity (IDE)

    Unique experiences and perspectives enhance KPMG and help create the drive for a fairer, more equitable society that includes everyone. We’re committed to embedding and improving IDE across our global organization — encouraging people to come as they are.

  1. Health, well-being, workload and job security

    To create opportunities for themselves and others, our people need to be at their best, both physically and mentally. Our responsibility is to help ensure our people are healthy, secure and supported through the challenges in their personal and professional lives — enabling them to thrive.

Prosperity

  1. Relevant, quality services in the public interest

    We have a fundamental commitment to serve the public interest and build trust. We do this by leading in audit quality, driving responsible tax practices, and advising clients on ways in which they can transform their business to help create sustainable value — embedding ESG into client services.

  1. Technology and innovation

    Our continual investment in technology and innovation helps ensure we’re keeping up with the accelerating pace of technological change, positioning us for future success so we can meet stakeholder expectations and growth objectives.

  1. Impactful community initiatives

    We’re committed to having a positive impact on the communities we serve and we’re increasing our investment in a wide range of social initiatives with an emphasis on education for youth and underrepresented populations.

Governance

  1. Financial and brand resilience

    Through strong and agile processes and practices, we’re well positioned to remain resilient in increasingly complex and volatile environments — promoting wider economic growth and prosperity.

  1. Information protection

    We have policies, processes and controls on information security, personal information and data privacy. We provide annual training on confidentiality, information protection and data privacy requirements to all of our people. Our clients and stakeholders entrust us with sensitive information, and we’re committed to observing all relevant regulations and investing in leading systems to help keep them safe and secure.

  1. Transparency and accountability

    All our member firms are committed to our shared Purpose and Values, standards and service quality expectations. Our clear governance and practice management standards help ensure we’re driving consistency and accountability across our entire global organization.

  1. Ethics, integrity and independence

    We’re committed to the highest standards of personal and professional behavior in everything we do. Ethics and integrity are core to who we are and why everyone at KPMG is responsible and accountable for their conduct.

Our approach to identifying risk

KPMG International has an Enterprise Risk Management program led by our Global Management Team (GMT) and overseen by the Global Board Quality, Risk Management and Reputation Committee. The program uses our proprietary Dynamic Risk Assessment methodology to identify, connect and visualize risks across four dimensions: likelihood, impact, velocity and connectivity. It helps us better understand the risks we should focus on.

Every KPMG firm is required to identify and manage its risks through a formal risk assessment process for which each KPMG firm’s leadership takes responsibility.

Our global client and engagement acceptance and continuance processes and policies help us identify and evaluate potential risks, ethics or compliance issues prior to accepting or continuing a client relationship or performing a specific engagement. KPMG firms are required to evaluate whether to accept or continue a client relationship or perform a specific engagement. Where client or engagement acceptance or continuance decisions pose significant risks, additional approvals are required. You can read more in our Global Transparency Report 2021.

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Planet

Reducing our impact on the environment to build a more sustainable and resilient future.

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People

Creating a caring, inclusive, Purpose-led and Values-driven culture for our people.

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Prosperity

Driving purposeful business practices and good corporate citizenship.

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Governance

Our Purpose and Values lie at the heart of the way we do things. To do the right thing, the right way, always.

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KPMG: Our Impact Plan 2022

Contact us

Jane Lawrie

Global Head of Corporate Affairs

KPMG International

Richard Threlfall

Global Head of KPMG IMPACT and
Global Head of Infrastructure

KPMG International

Eliza Albronda

Global Head of Our Impact Plan

KPMG International