Reset Connect 2024: How The World's Biggest Companies Are Investing In Sustainability

The tech giant Google aims to pursue net-zero emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030. This means having an ambitious clean energy goal to operate its data centres and office campuses on 24/7 carbon-free energy, such as solar and wind. For this, it had recently signed two new power purchase agreements in Belgium and the Netherlands to run on renewable energy and build accurate and effective greenhouse gas accounting as part of its commitment to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP).

Moreover, it has also shown commitment to protecting the biodiversity of nature in its local offices by taking part in conservation efforts such as supporting California's monarch butterflies, which are currently endangered. Google has also focused on water stewardship, aiming to replenish 120% of the freshwater volume it consumes, on average, across its offices and data centres.

For the tech giant Meta–which owns several social media giants like Facebook and WhatsApp–its sustainability initiative focuses on nature restoration, championing renewable energy and restoring water resources. Recently, it has teamed up with Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce to form the "Symbiosis Coalition" to facilitate an advance market commitment (AMC) of up to 20 million tons of nature-based carbon removal credits.

The tech giant has also teamed up with the World Resources Institute this year to launch a global map of tree canopy height at a 1-metre resolution. This allows the detection of single trees worldwide to advance open-source forest monitoring. Moreover, this solution also utilises advanced AI to map the Earth's forest systems and benefit the preservation of the Earth's forests.

For the e-commerce giant Amazon, its sustainability efforts are rooted in reducing waste from its logistics operation, protecting natural resources, and driving climate solutions. In terms of renewable energy usage, it has invested in more than 100 new solar and wind energy projects in 2023. This is expected to generate more than 77,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean energy annually.

It has also recently teamed up with the global shipping company Maersk to launch its first voyage, made by the first vessel that runs on methanol–the Laura Maersk. This maiden voyage carried Amazon shipping containers from Shanghai to Rotterdam, taking the company's efforts to decarbonize its transportation network to the seas. Amazon also finalised a 2023-2024 agreement with Maersk to transport 20,000 40-foot equivalent (FFE) containers using biofuel through Maersk's "ECO Delivery" ocean product offering.

For the global IT corporation Microsoft, its sustainability goals are aimed at aiding enterprises–big or small- to utilise the power of AI and technology to track their sustainability measures. In 2022, the company launched Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, a comprehensive suite of enterprise-grade sustainability management tools dedicated to enterprises to keep their sustainability initiatives in check. It also has the Climate Innovation Fund, aimed at accelerating global sustainability initiatives that aim to benefit every person and organisation.

It has also released a preview version of the Microsoft Planetary Computer to enable customers to measure, monitor, and subsequently manage ecosystems that may be affected by their operations and make important climate risk decisions.

The global financial giant HSBC has announced pledges to finance forward-thinking policies and organisations, which will help accelerate finance for the transition to a net zero global economy. These include the International Renewable Energy Agency's Energy Transition Accelerator Financing Platform and the independent think tank and research hub Global Climate Finance Centre. HSBC also pledged USD1 billion of financing to support early-stage climate tech companies worldwide.

Moreover, it has pledged to phase out thermal coal financing in the EU and OECD by 2030 and global phase-out by 2040. They also intend to reduce thermal coal financing exposure by at least 25% by 2025 and reduce financing exposure by 50% by 2030, using its 2020 Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) as its baseline.

As a global bank, Barclays' sustainability commitment revolves around strengthening its policies on fossil fuel financing and setting science-based Paris-aligned emission reduction targets for the highest emitting sectors they finance, including Energy and Power. Barclays has also mandated to invest up to £500 million of their own capital through Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital into climate tech companies by the end of 2027.

Barclays will also continue to support an energy sector in transition, focusing on the diversified energy companies investing in low carbon and with greater scrutiny on those developing new oil and gas projects. They have also set a target to facilitate $1 trillion of Sustainable and Transition Financing between 2023 and the end of 2030. Moreover, starting in 2025, energy clients expect to have a transition plan or decarbonisation strategy.

As the premiere banking destination for most Americans, Bank of America has committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their financing activities, operations and supply chain before 2050. Aiming to accelerate the shift to a low-carbon, sustainable economy, its Environmental Business Initiative also deployed and mobilised $1 trillion by 2030, which is part of a more enormous $1.5 trillion sustainable finance target that is in line with addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

In addition to said enormous intellectual capital, the bank's multi-year finance commitment provides financial capital for developing solutions to environmental concerns, including climate change. It addresses other significant issues like waste management, water conservation, land use, and concentrating on low-carbon energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable transportation.

Much like Microsoft, IBM's sustainability efforts are focused on offering enterprise solutions to track sustainability-related factors. In IBM's case, the IBM Garage uses a collaborative, value-driven engagement paradigm to help derisk transformation while rapidly scaling. Combining the best of agile development, DevSecOps, and enterprise design thinking with generative AI tools from IBM and partners, IBM Garage also scales new ways of working. It aligns work to an enterprise's most significant drivers of value.

IBM also joined forces with the nonprofit Net Zero Atlantic through the IBM Sustainability Accelerator to help enable informed climate decision-making and empower participation in the clean energy transition for Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada.

For the South Korean tech giant, Samsung's sustainability efforts focus more on aiming to match their electric power needs with renewable energy at its Device Experience (DX) Division and all overseas sites by 2027. Its transition to 100% renewable energy is achieved at the DX Division's business sites in Korea, Vietnam, India, and Brazil. They have also signed partnership agreements for securing and expanding the use of renewable energy with Jeju Energy Corporation, Korea South-East Power, and Korea Southern Power in November 2022.

Samsung is also conducting R&D projects in high-efficiency carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technology and applying advanced fine dust removal and air purification systems at our business sites, bus terminals, and underground parking lots. Moreover, they also promoted the use of treated wastewater through an agreement with Korea's Ministry of Environment and relevant local governments in November 2022 (DS Division).

As part of its corporate sustainability policy, BlackRock aims to minimise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its activities while, whenever feasible, boosting operational efficiency. The company will keep concentrating on figuring out how to use low-carbon solutions, such as using sustainable aviation fuel where it can and renewable electricity to power its facilities.

BlackRock also employs a sustainability strategy in the operation of its own company that is concentrated on lowering greenhouse gas emissions related to its buildings, data centres, and upstream value chains. It also addresses emissions it cannot reduce by investing in market solutions like sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and carbon credits.

Accenture has continuously set ambitious targets in line with climate science since it started its environmental journey in 2007. For instance, with Climeworks and 1PointFive, Accenture supports the development of direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon dioxide. They have also been involved in designing the world's first DAC plant, Climeworks, which debuted in Iceland in 2017.

With Shell, American Express Global Business Travel, and the Energy Web Foundation, Accenture also introduced Avelia, a cutting-edge book-and-claim system powered by blockchain technology that safely distributes SAF's environmental characteristics. Airlines and business clients may cut emissions simultaneously by enabling attribute allocation transparency with Avelia, preventing problems like duplicate counting.

Integrated services from Deloitte can assist businesses in creating sustainable value for investors, clients, companies, governments, regulators, and communities and equip them to negotiate the complexity of climate change. For instance, they launched GreenSpace Tech, an industry-leading initiative to accelerate sustainability through climate technology ecosystems.

It also has the Global Sustainability & Climate Regulatory Center, which offers organisations comprehensive global regulatory insights and end-to-end technology-enabled solutions that will equip any organisation to lead the proper sustainability measures. The Deloitte Center for Sustainable Progress also provides bold and results-oriented thought leadership to effectively guide leaders and their organisations through decarbonization and sustainability evolution.

Goldman Sachs formalised its tradition of environmental stewardship in 2005 when it established the Environmental Policy Framework. The institution remains dedicated to its core tenet: committing its people, capital and ideas to develop market solutions that address environmental challenges. In 2019, the company launched the Sustainable Finance Group, with the goal of sustainable growth gaining greater attention from investors, organisations, and businesses worldwide; this group will collaborate with companies to better serve clients, spur innovation, and seize new sustainable possibilities.

They are also deploying $750 billion across investing, financing and advisory activities by 2030 and bringing their commercial expertise to help clients accelerate climate transition and advance inclusive growth. Moreover, they have also noted that the total issuance of sustainable debt, including green, social and sustainability bonds, has surpassed $1 trillion.

A critical sustainable initiative from Fujitsu revolves around Fujitsu Uvance, a solution meant to assist clients in expanding their enterprises and resolving social problems. The company is leveraging data to connect different processes across sectors by fusing its knowledge of several industries with its many years of experience with cutting-edge sustainable technologies.

It also has the Fujitsu Technology and Service Vision (FT&SV). This evolving CSR story describes the future we people want to create with our customers and partners, how technology empowers people to realise an environmental-friendly vision and what actions we need to take now. Both business and society are being transformed by the rapid evolution of technology. While the rapid evolution of AI is at the heart of these technological advances, sustainability has become an increasingly critical challenge worldwide.

Citibank's dedication to advancing global climate change solutions to support the shift to a low-carbon economy drives its sustainable progress. As part of their commitment, they have outlined their Sustainable Progress Strategy, which is centred on the low-carbon transition, climate risk, and sustainable operations, in recognition of the urgent need for action. To achieve this, they are funding and enabling a broad range of climate solutions that hasten the shift to a sustainable, low-carbon economy through their $1 trillion commitment to sustainable finance.

Citi they are raising funds to support initiatives in the following fields: renewable energy, clean technology, energy efficiency, green buildings, circular economy, sustainable land use and agriculture, sustainable transportation, and water quality and conservation. Moreover, Citi's Net Zero Transition Principles serve as the company's roadmap, outlining their commitment to reducing emissions as quickly as possible while promoting a responsible and orderly transition that causes the least economic disruption possible.

J.P. Morgan's efforts aim to finance and facilitate more than $2.5 trillion over 10 years – from 2021 through the end of 2030 – to help advance long-term climate solutions and contribute to sustainable development. This includes $1 trillion for green initiatives and aligning essential parts of their financing portfolio with net zero emissions by 2050 in support of said goal.

They have also set several objectives to reduce the environmental effect of their operations and advance their sustainability goals. These targets include obtaining 100% of our electricity needs from renewable sources and reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to a baseline in 2017.

With environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting at the top of the organisational agenda, businesses need a comprehensive performance management solution that provides transparency to all stakeholders and regulators. With that, the company's Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) helps integrate financial and nonfinancial data so that you can fulfil more than just your reporting requirements; it also enables you to plan and manage your ESG practices—now and into the future.

Moreover, Oracle's enterprise sustainability management solution features a data model to handle diverse pre-transformed ESG activity data, such as energy use, fleet mileage, spending, and workforce data. Lastly, the account structure from Oracles is based on a combination of the IFRS, ESRS (CSRD), and GRI standards. It is separated by topic to align more easily with the various reporting requirements.

As the official flag carrier of the United Kingdom, British Airways is concerned about each flight's impact on the environment. Hence, they are pursuing swift action to achieve net zero emissions through a proven track record of controlling and lowering carbon emissions. They also have a well-defined plan with aggressive short-, medium--, and long-term efforts to help us reach their net zero carbon emissions targets by 2050.

As part of their sustainability commitment and the goal to lower emissions, they have modified how current planes fly. They are investing in new, modern aircraft up to 35% more efficient than the aircraft they replace. Additionally, they have partnered to advance carbon capture technology development, zero emissions hydrogen-powered aircraft, and sustainable aviation fuel—as recognised by the industry.

Every facet of Aviva's company operations and leadership decisions are impacted by sustainability concerns. To guarantee high standards across essential topics like promoting employee rights and welfare, protecting human rights, and ensuring their supply chain is sustainable and responsible, we have established clear policies and a robust governance structure. It actively advocates for reform to ensure the financial industry moves toward a sustainable future. Some of these initiatives include a partnership with the World Wide Fund (WWF) for sustainable research and development.

Moreover, Aviva also launched Sustainable Business Coach, a free-to-use digital tool designed to help brokers discover their business's impact on the environment and broader society. They have also reaffirmed their commitment to sustainability by extending their renewable energy insurance offering to the growing offshore wind market. Its portfolio in renewable energy encompasses onshore wind, solar power, EV charging points and battery energy storage systems (BESS),

As a firm committed to sustainability, PwC is prepared to support its consulting clients in realising their objectives, surpassing stakeholder expectations, and redefining their value proposition. For instance, its Green Taxes and Incentives Tracker provides organisations with a comprehensive understanding of the impact of green taxes and incentives on their overall corporate climate and business plans. With a global community of over 10,000 sustainability-focused problem solvers, PwC offers businesses end-to-end access to tech-enabled sustainability solutions, enabling them to create a significant and long-lasting difference for the company, its employees, and the environment.

Meanwhile, PwC's Sustainability Tech Suite can provide businesses with real-time, data-driven sustainability insights so that companies can embed sustainability into their decision-making processes, boosting efficiency, cutting costs, and accelerating the sustainability journey.