We help our clients connect sustainability to reinvention; operate our business with a strong commitment to the environment, ethics and human rights; and work to create value in communities around the world.
We began to measure and disclose our environmental impact in 2007. Our environment goals span three areas: carbon reduction and removal, planning for water risk and moving toward zero waste.
We remain committed to reducing our environmental impact in how we operate our business. In fiscal 2025, we achieved our 2025 carbon removal goal through the use of credits from our nature-based carbon removal projects, which were applied to remaining emissions after reductions across our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
We continue to work toward our SBTi-approved net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets, including near-term 2030 and long-term 2040 reduction targets, which are aligned with SBTi's Corporate Net-Zero Standard.
Our GHG emissions primarily result from business travel and purchased goods and services. In fiscal 2025, we maintained 100% renewable electricity in our facilities through the purchase of renewable electricity contracts equivalent to the amount of electricity we consume.
As of the end of fiscal 2025, our Scope 1 and 2 emissions decreased 91% from our fiscal 2019 base year against our 2030 target, primarily due to a mix of maintaining 100% renewable electricity in our facilities, as well as driving energy-efficient practices where possible. Our Scope 3 emissions per unit of revenue decreased by 61% against our 2030 target.
We continue to strive to reduce or mitigate increases in our Scope 3 emissions, by leveraging digital tools to meet client needs while minimizing travel where feasible; encouraging our people to make climate-smart travel decisions; working together with our suppliers to decarbonize business travel, set environmental targets and collaborate on their decarbonization journey; and focusing on sustainable AI and technology solutions.
While we plan to continue these actions, our ability to achieve our near- and long-term goals remains challenging. Our emissions may increase as our business grows and evolves to meet our clients' needs, including driving reinvention with AI, data and technology, and as we continue to collaborate with clients in their locations.
Additionally, our progress may be impacted by the availability and cost of low- or zero- carbon energy sources and technologies, and the ability of our suppliers to reduce their emissions and harness new technologies.
We are working with our suppliers to reduce our Scope 3 emissions. In fiscal 2025 we achieved our goal that 90% of our key suppliers* disclose their environmental targets and actions being taken to reduce emissions. Going forward we plan to continue engaging with our suppliers to gather more emissions data using our Sustainable Procurement Hub and work together with our suppliers to set environmental targets and collaborate on their decarbonization journey.
*Key suppliers for purposes of this goal were defined as vendors that represent a significant portion of our 2019 Scope 3 emissions.
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We are investing in nature-based carbon removal projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere. In fiscal 2025, we achieved our 2025 carbon removal goal through the use of credits from our nature-based carbon removal projects, which were applied to remaining emissions after reductions across our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Although Accenture is not a water-intensive company, to safeguard our people and operations we have developed water resiliency action plans for 100% of our facilities in high-risk areas to reduce the impact of climate-related flooding, drought and water scarcity on our business and our people. We proactively analyze our water risk using the World Resources Institute Aqueduct tool, and we also measure, monitor and report water use for our locations in high-risk areas.
We continue our efforts to minimize our operational use of water where feasible.
Our approach to moving toward zero waste in support of our goals includes:
E-waste and office furniture.
In fiscal 2025, we achieved our goal to reuse or recycle 100% of our electronic waste (e-waste)—such as computers and servers—as well as all our office furniture, and we will continue to focus on this going forward.*
Eliminated single use plastics in our facilities.
Since 2023, we have maintained the elimination of single-use plastics in our facilities (straws, plates/bowls, cutlery, cups, lids, stirrers, bottles and to-go containers) by purchasing reusable and plastic-free items.
* Excludes Avanade, a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft.
Accenture is one of the founding members of the Alliance for Clean Air, which was launched by the World Economic Forum and the Clean Air Fund at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26).
Air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) often come from the same sources, including the combustion of fuels. There is synergy between the actions needed to reduce GHG and air pollutant emissions.
Our most significant direct impact to air pollution relates to our company cars. These impacts are detailed in the following table. Historical and current environmental-related statements may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, and assumptions are subject to change in the future.
FY24 Disclosure
| Air Pollutant | Metric tons |
|---|---|
| Carbon monoxide (CO) | 230.94 |
| Non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) | 37.97 |
| Nitrogen oxides (NOx) | 31.58 |
| Ammonia (NH3) | 4.34 |
| Particulate matter (PM2.5) | 0.98 |
| Black carbon (BC) | 0.51 |
| Nitrous oxide (N2O) | 0.47 |
| Sulfur dioxide (SO2) | 0.05 |
We invest in our communities to help them thrive, and we continue making substantial impacts in the places around the world where we work and live. We do this by collaborating with our clients, ecosystem and nonprofit partners as well as empowering our approximately 786,000 people to make a difference.
To unlock this technology’s potential for helping improve children’s lives, Accenture supported UNICEF with exploring key applications of AI and building the foundations for successful AI usage as the organization developed a unified strategy for AI.
With our longstanding partner Save the Children, we launched a new program that aims to equip marginalized youth across seven countries with the critical, future-ready skills needed to succeed in a labor market increasingly shaped by human-machine collaboration. Through this more than $8.5M grant, we aim to support young people ages 15-29 on their journey to economic resilience by skilling more than 110,000 young people by 2029, and supporting a portion of these young people to get a job or start a business.
We are working with World Scouting to roll out a new Impact Innovators Challenge Badge in 12 countries. This six-stage learning journey aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and equips young people with innovation and creative problem-solving skills to help take meaningful action on sustainability challenges in their communities.
Since 2016, Accenture and Sky’s the Limit have partnered to support young entrepreneurs through a digital platform and skills-based mentoring, business milestone support and opportunities to apply for startup grants. Accenture people volunteer their time as mentors to support budding business owners. Sky's the Limit reported that in fiscal 2025 more than 10,000 entrepreneurs gained skills to help them launch or grow a business, of whom approximately 1,500 started or grew their business.
We have partnered with the NGO Instituto PRO-A in Brazil to help transform the lives of low-income youth by providing them with skills to enter the workforce. Instituto PRO-A aims to impact 300,000 young people by 2027, and we are supporting this goal by automating processes and applying artificial intelligence to make job placement more efficient.
Accenture has been recognized among the top-scoring companies on the CDP Climate Change A List for ten years. We have also been on the CDP Supplier Engagement Assessment A List for seven consecutive years for climate action across our value chain.
