Social sustainability

In today's business landscape, the expectation for companies to contribute positively to society is paramount. This involves a comprehensive approach to social sustainability, encompassing all stakeholders — employees, supply chain workers, affected communities, and consumers. The focus is on enhancing human rights; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); ethical labor; and technology practices. This shift is propelled by market forces, financial incentives, and global regulations, emphasizing the most critical and vulnerable areas of social sustainability.

In our view, traditional social impact programs no longer suffice. Companies should demonstrate a continuous commitment to social sustainability. By focusing on social sustainability, companies can foster prosperity for both the impacted individuals and the business, which can result in reputational enhancement, investor incentives, stakeholder trust, innovation, employee retention, and supply chain risk mitigation. Those that fail to adapt may struggle to compete.

KPMG stands at the forefront of social sustainability, with a global network of specialists, leading tools, local and global alliances, and multidisciplinary skills. We offer over 20 thorough social sustainability services tailored to local market needs:

Human rights and modern slavery
Accessibility
Health equity
Social impact strategy and analytics
DEI
Indigenous engagement
Just transition
Social license to operate
Psychological safety
Embedding ESG in workforce
Mental health and well-being
Ethical/diverse supply chain
Social and economic development
Social valuation
Community and social impact
Social innovation
Safeguarding
Ethical AI use
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Digital equity
Sustainable finance
Occupational health and safety
Climate displacement

It's crucial to embed sustainability into the workforce and transform operations to help realize ESG goals. Therefore, KPMG social sustainability specialists provide leading people and change methods that can help advance ESG within companies utilizing strategic communications, cultural and behavioral change methods, organizational design, learning and development, and HR transformation services.