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SUSTAINABILITY

We believe every business must be a sustainable business

We help our clients advance their environmental, social and governance goals by connecting sustainability to their transformations; operate our business with a strong commitment to the environment, ethics and human rights; and work to create value in communities around the world.

100%

renewable electricity across our offices, achieving our goal

82%

of our key suppliers* have disclosed emissions targets

4.3M

people equipped with skills toward employment or entrepreneurship

Environment

We began to measure and disclose our environmental impact in 2007, and we continue to hold ourselves accountable to clear, measurable goals that are aligned with climate science.

In 2020, we signed the UN Global Compact Business Ambition for 1.5°C Pledge, joining leading companies in pledging to do our part to keep global warming below 1.5° Celsius, in alignment with the Paris Agreement and the criteria and recommendations of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

We are continuing to work toward our goal of net-zero emissions by 2025 by first focusing on reductions across our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and then removing any remaining emissions through nature-based carbon removal projects.

We are also establishing new goals to align with the SBTi’s criteria, guidance and recommendations for setting science-based net-zero targets.

New science-based target for 2030

  • In October 2023, we received approval from SBTi for our new, near-term target aligned to 2030, which we will begin reporting against next year. And, in fiscal 2024 we plan to set a new long-term science-based target.
  • Our new 2030 target is to:
    -     Reduce our absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80% from our fiscal year 2019 base year.
    -     Reduce our Scope 3 GHG emissions per unit of revenue 55% from our fiscal year 2019 base year.

Our environment goals span three areas:

Climate change mitigation

reduction and removal

Climate change adaptation

planning for water risk

Moving toward zero waste

e-waste, furniture and single-use plastics

Carbon reduction

We are focusing first on actual reductions across our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Our most significant aspects relate to indirect emissions from Scope 2 electricity usage in our locations and Scope 3 emissions from business travel and purchased goods and services.

Renewable electricity

  • We achieved our goal of 100% renewable electricity in 2023
  • We plan to maintain 100% renewable electricity for our offices on an annual basis through continued purchase of renewable electricity contracts
  • Continuing to drive energy efficiency by expanding our use of smart meters which provide benefits including increased speed of data collection and analytic insights to inform our energy management decisions

Responsible travel

  • We continue to use technology to facilitate more cost- and carbon-efficient delivery for our clients and our business
  • We have implemented an internal carbon price on travel to encourage climate-smart travel decisions
  • We are one of the largest enterprise users of Microsoft Teams in the world—using more than 19 billion minutes of audio and more than 2 billion minutes of video calls in fiscal 2023—hosted on Microsoft Azure Cloud and powered with renewable energy
  • We have developed analytics and reporting focused on our business travel emissions so that we can share emissions data with our clients as part of our delivery activities. When travel is necessary, we are equipping our people to make climate-smart travel decisions.

We use analytics and reporting to help travelers and business runners estimate future travel or use less carbon-intensive modes of travel. This includes measuring the carbon savings by switching from air to less carbon-intensive rail travel, where practical, and encouraging our people to do so.

Our climate-smart travel toolkit shares policies, resources, ideas and templates to support project teams in their carbon reduction journey.

An aviation carbon calculator highlights actual emissions differences between flights to inform booking decisions.

Enabling low carbon client delivery

  • Just as we engage with our key suppliers to understand how their actions affect our emissions, our clients engage with us to understand our impact on their emissions
  • We have developed detailed analytics focused on our business travel emissions. This enables us to share highly accurate emissions data with our clients

Responsible buying

  • Our suppliers contribute to our own Scope 3 emissions. We expect them to make sustainability a priority and provide updates on their environmental initiatives, goals and impact
  • Our goal is that 90% of our key suppliers* disclose their environmental targets and actions being taken to reduce emissions by 2025. 82% of our key suppliers have disclosed targets. 93% have disclosed actions to reduce emissions

*Key suppliers are defined as vendors that represent a significant portion of our 2019 Scope 3 emissions.

Green IT

  • Our global IT organization takes a cloud-first and sustainability-focused approach to the way we operate, develop new applications, and innovate to run our business
  • With our journey to cloud complete, we are focused on new, more sustainable capabilities from cloud providers while further embedding our Green IT practices into our operations
  • We created a CO2 calculator enabling us to manage energy consumption, lower energy usage, and estimate carbon emissions related to our public cloud energy consumption
View Data  

Carbon Emissions by Scope

 
 

Carbon Emissions by Source

carbon emissions by source table
  1. In fiscal 2023, we elected to present Fuel and Energy-related activities (FERA) as part of our reported carbon emissions and enhanced our methodology for calculating Scope 3 emissions to include well-to-tank emissions for personal car travel and taxi under Business Travel and Employee Commuting. Prior periods have been revised to reflect these changes. Emissions related to Office Electricity reflect a market-based accounting approach which includes the impact of renewable electricity contracts and residual mix factors. Accenture's carbon emissions for fiscal 2023 have been reviewed by an independent third-party accountant. Refer to the Independent Accountants' Review Report for more information.
  2. In fiscal 2023, we changed the presentation for Scope 3 emissions to separately report emissions from Capital Goods, which were previously included in Purchased Goods & Services. Prior periods have been revised to reflect this change.

Carbon Emissions by Region

carbon emissions by Region table

Office Energy by Source

 
 

Carbon removal

To address remaining emissions, we are investing in nature-based carbon removal solutions.

Our nature-based carbon removal solutions are generally expected to reforest land, improve biodiversity, make agriculture more sustainable, and help create green jobs—all while removing CO2 from the atmosphere.


Photographic portrait of ANTHONY, Environment Marketplace Lead, London, England

Spotlight
"I have worked on our nature-based carbon removal projects for many years, and it was truly transformational to visit a couple of our locations in Scotland to see the real on-the-ground impact. We worked with the planting partners to monitor and measure tree growth and spoke with the landowner, who sees this as an intergenerational endeavor benefiting the planet."
— ANTHONY, Environment Marketplace Lead, London, England

To safeguard our people and operations, by the end of 2025 we are developing water resiliency action plans to reduce the impact of climate-related flooding, drought and water scarcity on our business and our people in high-risk areas. We proactively analyze our water risk using the World Resources Institute Aqueduct tool, and we also measure, monitor and report water use for locations in high-risk areas.

While we do not have water-intensive operations, we continue to minimize our use of water wherever feasible.

We have committed to:

  • Reuse or recycle 100% of our e-waste, such as computers and servers, as well as reusing or recycling all our office furniture, by the end of 2025.

    -     We expanded our digital asset tracking to include monitors, servers and uninterruptible power supply devices in addition to computers and workstations.

    -     We reused or recycled nearly 100% of our e-waste relating to these items.

  • Circular furniture. Our asset tracking system also includes our furniture assets. We made enhancements to the system and processes to improve tracking and reporting capabilities, allowing us to continue to refine our methods of landfill avoidance.
  • Eliminate single-use plastics in our locations. During fiscal 2023, we eliminated single-use plastics in our office locations by purchasing reusable and plastic-free items.

To unlock shared value for business and society, we are supporting the development of solutions that aim to help create a low-carbon future.

Direct air capture

  • We are helping support development of carbon dioxide removal technology using direct air capture (DAC) with Climeworks and 1PointFive.
  • We contributed to the design of the first-ever DAC plant, which Climeworks opened in Iceland in 2017.
  • We have also engaged Climeworks to explore how its innovative technology-based carbon dioxide removal solution may be used to help advance our environmental commitments.

Sustainable aviation fuel

To help facilitate the growth of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply and demand, we are collaborating with cross-industry ecosystem partners.

  • We are a signatory of the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow sustainable aviation fuel pledge, which includes an aviation industry goal of flying on 10% SAF by 2030.
  • We are a member of United Airlines’ Eco-Skies Alliance of corporate SAF buyers and are committed to purchasing SAF only from socially and ethically beneficial sources.
  • In collaboration with Shell, American Express Global Business Travel and the Energy Web Foundation, we launched Avelia, a leading blockchain-powered book-and-claim solution that securely allocates the environmental attributes of SAF. With Avelia, airlines and business customers can simultaneously reduce emissions while allowing transparency of attribute allocation to avoid issues such as double counting. At launch, the platform offered an estimated one million gallons of SAF—enough to power almost 15,000 individual business traveler flights from London to New York. We are also a customer of the Avelia platform.

Nature and biodiversity

We recognize the importance of nature and biodiversity restoration and remain committed to managing our impact. We have taken steps in our own operations and we are engaging with our clients, our suppliers, our people and our communities to take action.

Planting trees to celebrate our people

We are planting

674,000

trees—one to represent each person at Accenture at the time of our announcement in December 2021

Approximately

590,000

of our trees have been planted around the world

  • Reducing our environmental impact is built into our Code of Business Ethics (COBE) and our core values, specifically Stewardship. These inform our Environmental Responsibility Policy, which was established in 2007 and is reviewed annually.
  • In addition, industry-wide external certifications, such as ISO® 14001, demonstrate our commitment to running our business responsibly and sustainably, and to integrating environmental processes into our operations. Accenture’s Environment Management System is ISO® 14001 certified globally, with approximately 80 office locations in scope across our operations. Our ISO® 14001 certified locations are listed on Accenture’s ISO® 14001 certificate.

Ethics & governance

Our commitment to ethics, human rights and strong corporate governance is a key driver of our business strategy and is essential to safeguarding our people, clients, brand and financial performance. It is the foundation on which we build trust.

To help our people make ethical choices and consider the full impact of their decisions, we rely on our core values and our Code of Business Ethics (COBE) to inform our behavior

Accenture has been named to Ethisphere’s 2024 World’s Most Ethical Companies list for 17 consecutive years

Ethics & Compliance training

All our people, including part-time employees and contractors, are required to complete Ethics & Compliance training each year. This is fundamental to promoting a shared understanding of ethical conduct across our organization.

99%

of our people* completed Ethics & Compliance training, including our managing directors and Global Management Committee

*Excludes Avanade, a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft, Accenture Federal Services and recent acquisitions

Anticorruption policies and compliance

Our COBE and related anticorruption policies, which are both part of our global Ethics & Compliance program and human rights efforts, require our people, business partners and business intermediaries (and suppliers through our Supplier Standards of Conduct) to comply with anticorruption laws everywhere we do business.

Reporting concerns & transparency

We encourage and empower our people and third parties to speak up safely and confidently if they experience, see or become aware of any inappropriate behavior, including any form of disrespect, harassment, racism, discrimination or retaliation—or have any concerns about unethical, illegal behavior or breaches of human rights. And we have zero tolerance for retaliation.

We offer our people many ways to raise a concern—through our leaders, through any of our people in Human Resources or Legal, and anonymously through our Accenture Business Ethics Helpline—and once they do, we make it clear what to expect.

100%

of concerns reported to HR, Legal or the Accenture Business Ethics Helpline are investigated and we seek to confirm the facts in a professional, methodical, thoughtful and balanced manner

Clear standards of behavior

The first fundamental behavior in our COBE is “Make Your Conduct Count.” It articulates five locally relevant yet globally applicable standards to guide how our people think and act across our unique and diverse culture. This framework creates a foundation for a positive, respectful and inclusive work environment.

We speak up about concerns, knowing Accenture never tolerates retaliation

We treat each other with respect

We are proud to be ambassadors of Accenture, and we act accordingly

We apply our principle of meritocracy when we make decisions about our people

We ensure our personal interests and relationships do not create conflicts for Accenture

Data privacy and information security

Safeguarding data is one of our most important responsibilities in building and maintaining trust, not only with our people but also with our clients and other stakeholders. The Audit Committee of our Board continues to have oversight of our information technology risk exposures, including cybersecurity, data privacy and data security.

Beyond adhering to specific regional legal requirements, we apply strict data privacy and security standards to all information, everywhere. All our people have a personal responsibility to practice effective and responsible data management in accordance with our policies, including our Data Privacy Policy and procedures, our Binding Corporate Rules, as well as new and changing global regulations and jurisprudence.

While many of our people have returned to working in our office spaces, others continue to work in remote and hybrid work environments. This complex work model, partnered with potential business risks associated with ongoing geopolitical tensions, reinforces the need for a proactive, cyber-resilient approach to keep data safe across our business, our people and our clients.

We adhere to the highest and strictest information protection and privacy standards for handling and protecting personal data, as evidenced by our global certifications for Information Security (ISO® 27001:2013) and Data Privacy (ISO® 27701:2019). We were the first global organization to be ISO 27701-certified by the British Standards Institution (BSI) globally, across both our Enterprise and Client Service Business.

Through our globally consistent data privacy and data protection programs, we work hard to uphold global data protection and privacy requirements, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and other data privacy laws in countries where we do business.

Our Enterprise and Client Data Protection programs define the stewardship of Accenture and client information. They define our management processes and controls, in accordance with relevant information protection and privacy laws. Accenture has been externally assessed as operating industry-leading cybersecurity systems at the Highest NIST Cyber Security Framework (CSF) Implementation Tier by BSI.

We take security seriously, with extensive training and learning assets. All Accenture people regularly participate in required and targeted data privacy training. Further, our global awareness campaign, Protecting Accenture: Live Smart to Stay Safe, equips our people with the latest best practice learnings and behaviors necessary to maintain safe data security hygiene. Beyond completing our required data security training, our people participate in our Information Security Advocate program, a self-paced training program designed to strengthen awareness and adoption of secure behaviors.

Our core values shape our culture and define our character. We live our core values through individual behaviors that guide how we act and make decisions.

Client value creation

Enabling clients to become high-performance businesses and creating long-term relationships by being responsive and relevant and by consistently delivering value

One global network

Leveraging the power of global insight, relationships, collaboration and learning to deliver exceptional service to clients wherever they do business

Respect for the individual

Valuing diversity and unique contributions, fostering a trusting, open and inclusive environment and treating each person in a manner that reflects Accenture’s values

Best people

Attracting, developing and retaining the best talent for our business, challenging our people, demonstrating a “can-do” attitude and fostering a collaborative and supportive environment

Integrity

Being ethically unyielding and honest and inspiring trust by saying what we mean, matching our behaviors to our words and taking responsibility for our actions

Stewardship

Fulfilling our obligation of building a better, stronger and more durable company for future generations, protecting the Accenture brand, meeting our commitment to stakeholders, acting with an owner mentality, developing our people and helping improve communities and the global environment

For any enterprise, Responsible AI means taking intentional actions to design, deploy and use AI to create value and build trust by protecting from the potential risks of AI. Responsible AI begins with a set of AI governing principles, which each enterprise adopts and then enforces.

Accenture’s Responsible AI principles

Human by Design
Understand the impact on humans every time you deploy AI and ensure that potential negative impacts are identified and managed consistent with our purpose and core values.

Fairness
All models should treat all groups equitably, and action must be taken to mitigate the potential for unwanted bias and other negative unintended consequences (e.g., unfair impact to gender, race, and ethnicity).

Transparency, Explainability & Accuracy
Disclose the use of AI where appropriate and all should be able to understand and appropriately evaluate AI outputs and decision-making processes. We will use relevant and high-quality data responsibly so that outputs are reliable.

Safety
Evaluate potential safety concerns and take action to mitigate harm (e.g., with respect to human life, health, property, and the environment) when deploying AI.

Accountability
Document enterprise-wide governance structures, with clear roles, policies, and responsibilities.

Compliance, Data Privacy & Cybersecurity
All use of AI will comply with relevant laws, we will secure data with appropriate privacy protection and secure AI from cyber-attack. Our respective compliance programs for data privacy and security will be integrated where relevant to ensure compliance with these AI governing principles.


Sustainability
Deploy AI taking into account the impact on the planet, with appropriate steps taken to mitigate negative impacts. Our sustainability program will be integrated where relevant to ensure compliance with these AI governing principles.

Accenture’s Responsible AI Compliance Program

Our Responsible AI Program is grounded in our Code of Business Ethics and core values, has CEO sponsorship and has been scaled to over 700,000 people worldwide.

To do this, we:

  • Set up the AI governance and raised senior leadership awareness, governance and principles.
  • Conducted AI risk assessment and made a detailed assessment of high risk AI.
  • Enabled a systematic RAI program and institutionalized our RAI approach into a compliance program.
  • Conduct ongoing monitoring and compliance of AI and develop monitoring and enforcement.

We are also helping clients implement their Responsible AI compliance programs.

Our approach to managing disruption is based on years of experience, preparation and adapting the way we manage and deliver services. Our business resilience strategy supports how we operate as a company, starting with our global client base, underpinned by internal functions and technology, and supported by the collaborations of our third-party ecosystem.

For more information, see our business continuity case study. As society continues moving to a digital-first reality, promoting human rights and setting industry standards are top of mind as we adapt our offerings to reflect this new collective consciousness.

We have a history of strong corporate governance and believe that good governance is critical to achieving long-term shareholder value. We are committed to governance practices and policies that serve the long-term interests of Accenture and our stakeholders.

Our practices and policies

Our corporate governance practices and policies include:

Annual election of directors

100% independent Board committees

10 of our 11 directors are independent

Shareholders holding 10% or more of our outstanding share capital have the right to convene a special meeting

Strong independent Lead Director, elected by the independent directors

Annual Board, committee and individual director evaluations and self-assessments

Active shareholder engagement

Proxy access right

No shareholder rights plan ("poison pill")

Regular executive sessions, where independent directors meet without management present

Policy on political contributions and lobbying

Board diversity policy to actively seek out women and underrepresented candidates

Board takes active role in Board succession planning and is committed to Board refreshment

Active Board oversight of strategy, risk management and environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters

Director policy limiting service to three other public company boards or two other public company boards if the director is a public company chief executive officer

Committee oversight of ESG performance, disclosure, strategies, goals, objectives, risks and opportunities, as well as strategies related to our people, including pay equity, inclusion and diversity, leadership succession and risks

Robust director selection process resulting in a diverse and international Board in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, experience, perspectives, skills and tenure

We believe strong independent leadership is essential for the Board to effectively perform its functions and to help ensure independent oversight of management. Currently, our Board leadership structure consists of an independent Lead Director, a chair (who is also our chief executive officer) and strong independent committee chairs.

 
 
 

Board committees chaired by women

50%

of committees

Board committees chaired by racially and ethnically diverse directors*

75%

of committees

Significant board refreshment

4

new directors over past 5 years

Age distribution

63

Average age of directors
Age range: 56-69

*Racial and ethnic diversity is based on self-reported EEO-1 categories.



Oversight of ESG

Our corporate governance practices and policies include:

At Accenture, responsibility for ESG matters starts at the top, with our Board actively overseeing our ESG strategies and progress in meeting our ESG-related commitments, and cascades throughout the business

As part of this, we have implemented a clear and comprehensive governance structure designed to help us achieve our goals and reflect our objectives throughout the organization while guiding our strategic approach

 

Human rights

We support and respect human rights around the world.

Our commitment

  • Accenture has been a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact since 2008.
  • We seek to align to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We therefore focus our human rights efforts on those areas that are on areas most relevant to our business and operations in terms of potential human rights impacts.
  • We continue to review our human rights efforts, as well as best practices in the marketplace, to understand how we can further strengthen our commitments. If it is unclear how to apply the law consistent with our human rights principles, we are guided by our core values and COBE to support and respect the principles of internationally recognized human rights.
  • We also adhere to relevant international instruments and documents, including the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, in addition to the UN Guiding Principles.

Our human rights governance

  • We recognize that support and respect for human rights is an integral part of our sustainability commitments.

    -     Our ESG steering committee, which is comprised of leaders across Accenture, has responsibility across all operational sustainability topics, including human rights governance. This committee is chaired by our Senior Managing Director and Executive Director—Corporate Services & Sustainability and Business Operations.

    -     We have also appointed select managing directors to act as named officers with accountability for compliance with human rights legislation including the UK Modern Slavery Act, the Australia Modern Slavery Act and the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act.

Our human rights priorities

We focus our human rights efforts on areas most relevant to our business and operations in terms of potential human rights impacts:

Diversity and equal opportunity

Health, safety and security

Employment conditions and working practices

Supply chain

Data privacy

Anticorruption

Because of the global scale and diversity of our business, we focus our supply chain due diligence efforts on areas that align with our human rights priorities; areas where we can appropriately makethe most impact; and areas of heightened concern or in higher-risk geographies.


Supplier Standards of Conduct

Sets out the standards and practices that Accenture suppliers are required to uphold in respect of human rights and reflects our core values, our ethical principles, and our commitment to human rights, and supplements our COBE.

Living Wage

Accenture is committed to paying a living wage and continues to drive the adoption of a living wage with our suppliers around the world. Our Supplier Standards of Conduct strongly encourages our suppliers to pay a living wage (or higher) to people who provide services directly to our company and/or our clients.

Sustainable Procurement Hub

We continue to invest in new technology and processes to help us have greater visibility into our suppliers' ESG performance, including human rights. The Hub, which is available in more than 50 countries, provides greater transparency from our direct suppliers about their own human rights policies, due diligence and inclusive practices.

As part of our commitment to transparency and human rights we assess our human rights risks and report on them.

Modern Slavery

  • Our long-standing commitment to human rights includes eliminating modern slavery, child labor and human trafficking.
  • Given the nature of our business and supply chains, and the risk assessments we have undertaken to date, we believe the risk of modern slavery, child labor and human trafficking in our business and supply chains is low. However, we are not complacent and frequently review how we can improve and evolve in response to changing circumstances and our evolving business.
  • Our Modern Slavery Transparency Statement provides more information about our efforts. While this statement is required by law in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, it also covers our commitment beyond these jurisdictions.

Conflict Minerals

  • As our business evolves, we recognize the need to continuously adapt our human rights due diligence strategies. We work to be thoughtful and targeted in how we select and engage our suppliers, particularly in relation to higher-risk sectors and countries.
  • As part of our human rights strategy, we have established a multidisciplinary 3TG minerals (tin, tungsten, tantalum or gold) working group that works with a third-party specialist to implement our 3TG compliance strategy and prepare our annual Conflict Minerals Report by reviewing our supply chain for products that contain 3TG minerals.

German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act

  • We promote transparency, accountability and responsible business practices by conducting due diligence assessments on our own business and our supply chain to identify risks related to human rights.
  • We have published our first German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act Policy Statement (LkSG Grundsatzerklärung) and will report to the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle "BAFA") as required in early 2024.

We encourage our people, suppliers and subcontractors to raise ethical and legal concerns, including potential human rights issues, and we provide a range of secure channels for them to do so confidentially, and, where allowed by law, anonymously.

Whether internal or external, we treat all concerns seriously and in strict confidence. We protect anyone who raises, in good faith, a concern about a human rights issue or who assists us, or a law enforcement authority, by providing information to address such a concern

Concerns or violations can be reported (anonymously, where permitted by local law) via the web or through a country-specific number available on the Accenture Business Ethics Helpline

All queries are handled by an independent team confidentially—and, where allowed by law, anonymously

Supply chain

To drive our culture of responsible buying, we leverage our size and scale to advocate for supply chains that are more sustainable and inclusive.

Our overarching buying approach, Procurement Plus, informs every aspect of our supply chain, and helps us build stronger partnerships based in ethical behaviors, transparency, agility and inclusivity.

Our ethical procurement strategy

Payment certainty

  • We realize the economic certainty that prompt payments can provide a supplier, whether a Fortune 500 company or a small- or medium-sized enterprise.
  • In the United Kingdom, we are a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code, which requires a continual focus on ensuring that we pay our suppliers on time, within the payment terms agreed. We consistently make more than 95% of our U.K. payments within 60 days, as required by the code.

Our award-winning Supplier Inclusion & Sustainability (SI&S) Program guides how we work with suppliers to promote environmental sustainability, human rights and supplier inclusion & diversity. The program, which has a global scope of 22 countries, was developed to promote the inclusion of companies owned by people who have been historically excluded from the labor market.

Sustainable Procurement Hub

The Hub allows us to assess and track our suppliers’ performance in environmental sustainability, human rights, supplier inclusion & diversity and ethics and compliance.

50+

The Hub is available in more than 50 countries

~5,000

We conducted ~5,000 sustainability assessments

Promoting supplier engagement

We believe supporting our suppliers in their own sustainability journey is a key element of our responsibility buying culture and our responsibility towards our suppliers.

We are collaborating with the Supply Chain Decarbonization Suite team to pilot an end-to-end solution that enables our suppliers to accelerate and scale decarbonization and other sustainability efforts across their value chains.

Supplier Environmental Sustainability

Carbon disclosure

We expect our suppliers to prioritize environmental sustainability and provide updates on their initiatives, goals and impact.

Accenture Supplier Eco Summit

In May 2023, we brought together climate thought leaders, sustainability practitioners and suppliers to discuss how to transform value chains by setting goals and initiatives to reduce our collective environmental impact.

Watch Video

Suppliers' environmental targets

Our goal is that 90% of our key suppliers* disclose their environmental targets and actions being taken to reduce emissions by 2025. We are making strong progress—82% of our key suppliers have disclosed targets and 93% have disclosed actions to reduce their emissions.

*Key suppliers are defined as vendors that represent a significant portion of our 2019 Scope 3 emissions.

Sustainable Procurement Pledge

To further advance awareness of the positive impact procurement has on sustainability, we have joined forces with the Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP), a global nonprofit community of procurement professionals that aims to embed sustainability in their daily activities.

Human rights in our supply chain

Our commitment to human rights is an integral part of our sustainability commitments, and this informs our supply chain and supplier selection. We have dedicated resources to assessing human rights risks in our supply chains and carrying out due diligence processes.

Learn more in the Human Rights section

Supplier Inclusion & Diversity


Global Diverse Supplier Development Program

We recognize the opportunity that we have to encourage economic growth and social equity through inclusive procurement practices. By advocating for inclusive procurement practices, we can drive further impact throughout the supplier ecosystem.

Since 2006, we have hosted our global Diverse Supplier Development Program (DSDP), a formal 12-to 18-month training and mentoring program.

In fiscal 2021, we set a goal to graduate 250 diverse suppliers by the end of 2023 and as of November 2023, have reached 256 graduates of our Diverse Supplier Development Program.

DSDP was offered in Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, the United Kingdom & Ireland, and the United States.

Photographic portrait of HOWARD, Senior Manager - Strategy and Consulting, Charlotte, United States

Spotlight
"Our Diverse Supplier Development Program is woven into my heart and soul. As a DSDP mentor, I’ve had the privilege to help diverse entrepreneurs go beyond their plateaus of stagnant revenue, unleash captive cash flow, and open doors to strategic innovation. My role is just to facilitate the brilliance they already have by allowing them the time to focus on the future—which is a precious gift to be able to give."
— HOWARD, Senior Manager - Strategy & Consulting, Charlotte, United States

Diverse spend in key geographies

We monitor our diverse spend with suppliers to understand our progress throughout the year, and we are industry leaders in this space.

United States

45%

In fiscal 2023, our U.S. diverse spend was 45%

Canada

27%

In fiscal 2023, our Canadian diverse spend was 27%

India

28%

Building on our launch of diverse spend reporting in India in fiscal 2022, our fiscal 2023 spend with diverse businesses including small and medium businesses was 28%.

In South Africa, we continue to lead the way on supplier inclusion, going above and beyond requirements of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act, maintaining our B-BBEE Level 1 recognition for the 6th consecutive year.

South Africa

75%

In fiscal 2023, our procurement spend with Black women-owned enterprises in South Africa increased to 75%, again exceeding the B-BBEE target of 12%

South Africa

95%

Our spend with Black-owned SMEs was 95%, against a target of 30%.

South Africa

98%

Our overall procurement spend in South Africa with Black-owned suppliers increased to 98% in fiscal 2023 from 61% in the previous year, surpassing the target of 50%.

Expanding our reporting on diverse spending

For the first time, we are also reporting diverse spend in Australia, Ireland, the Philippines and the United Kingdom. In fiscal 2023, our spend with diverse businesses was:

Australia

4%

Ireland

6%

Philippines

10%

United Kingdom

3%


  • Our Global Supplier Inclusion & Diversity (SI&D) offering helps our clients build and scale their SI&D programs, and increase the amount of dollars spent with diverse suppliers.
  • We help our clients improve the social performance within their ESG agendas by integrating small, medium and diverse suppliers into their supply chains through strategy, consulting, mentorship and technology.
  • Research cited in Supplier.io’s 2022 State of Supplier Diversity Report found that 61% of CEOs are engaged in SI&D, yet corporations are challenged to incorporate it into their supply chains. Our offering provides solutions and intelligence to address these challenges.
  • Our client offering has been shaped by our own disruptive, award-winning initiatives, such as our longstanding DSDP and strong leadership support, to drive organizational change.

Sustainability Services and Accenture Development Partnerships

We drive sustainable progress with our clients and partners.

To meet the changing needs of our clients and drive progress on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, we continue to expand and evolve our portfolio of Sustainability Services. We help our clients drive and report ESG performance, build next generation value chains, rotate to greener technology and decarbonize their extended enterprises. By leveraging the power of technology, we can unlock significant value and growth to support sustainable reinvention.


Working at the intersection of civil society, government and the private sector, we champion and support impactful cross-sector partnerships.

Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) helps clients—including leading NGOs, private foundations, public donor agencies and the private sector—address society’s most critical challenges.

For 20 years, ADP has led diverse work fostering partnerships, collective impact and social equity to progress the UN SDGs, improving lives around the world.

In fiscal 2023, ADP led 371 engagements in 42 countries across nine impact areas

Our Inclusive Business offering focuses on collaborating with private sector clients to drive sustainable impact at scale to support their environmental, social and governance goals.

 

Agriculture
We support clients in solving societal challenges around poverty, food security and livelihoods by improving the value chain to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. In collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance, we have developed a strategy that aims to improve livelihoods for small-holder farmers by providing enhanced market access and better prices for those adopting sustainable practices.​

 

Climate and Environment
Together with the World Wide Fund for Nature, we are developing policy recommendations to inform the UN Plastic Treaty negotiations. Based on insights from city-level policies and actions that aim to reduce plastic pollution in Asia, recommendations focus on supporting globally binding rules that will catalyse and scale city-level interventions to address waste challenges.​

 

Energy
By helping to unlock access to affordable and reliable renewable electricity, we are supporting an equitable energy transition. We collaborated with HSBC Bank Middle East, the World Green Economy Organization and the London School of Economics to produce research on enabling a “just transition” in emerging economies, so the benefits of transitioning to a low-carbon economy are equitably distributed across society.

 

Gender and Inclusion & Diversity
We leverage an expansive ecosystem to promote the inclusion and empowerment of women, people with disabilities, and communities left behind. In partnership with Sightsavers India, we developed a diagnostic framework to support equality and diversity by integrating gender mainstreaming across the organization, from corporate to programming. Leveraging our experiences in policy analysis and our network of subject matter experts, we developed recommendations for the organization to become a leader in supporting gender equality.

Global Health and Nutrition

Global Health and Nutrition
Together with our clients, we are contributing to advancing sustainable, equitable health and nutrition systems globally. We are working with Merck for Mothers (known as MSD for Mothers outside of the U.S. and Canada) and their $25M Strengthening Systems for Safer Childbirth initiative. We helped design and launch a maternal health Community of Practice to support collaboration and amplify collective impact for maternal health across six coalitions in Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and India.

 

Humanitarian and Refugees
We use our global reach and extensive capabilities to respond to critical human needs in times of emergencies and disasters. We partnered with The Human Aspect to redefine mental health care for refugees and beyond. Our partnership helped create a new platform that provides no- and low-cost digital mental health support.

 

Human Rights
Leveraging our Sustainable Value Chain offering, we helped a technology company to define its responsible procurement strategy with environmental and social priorities—encompassing human rights, emissions management, supplier diversity, equity and inclusion, and social impact—to support their corporate sustainability objectives and net-zero commitments.

 

Inclusive Finance
We work with our clients to expand the availability of useful, affordable, responsible and sustainable financial products and services, driving sustainable impact at scale. As part of the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation commitment to help rebuild Ukrainians' economic resilience, we partnered with Women’s World Banking to conduct an in-depth market assessment, designed user journey maps to better understand individuals' financial and other needs, and made recommendations for how financial service providers can support this vulnerable population to help advance economic and financial inclusion.

 

Livelihoods and Education
Junior Achievement Europe (JA Europe) is the continent's largest provider of youth education programs for entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy. To support JA Europe's ambitious goal of empowering 20 million learning experiences by 2050, Accenture Development Partnerships helped design the governance framework, business model and go-to-market strategy for a new initiative: a venture network and micro-fund to help alumni scale their entrepreneurial ventures.

We helped one of the world's largest human resources technology companies better understand the potential market size of occupational skilling and training ecosystems across four countries (India, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States) to position a new skills-based hiring product with the potential to serve millions of job seekers from underserved communities around the world.



Photographic portrait of PRAT, Director - Strategy, New York, United States

Spotlight
“I am part of the Accenture Development Partnerships team that brings Accenture’s global capabilities and experience to companies and NGOs around the world. Our work serves to empower marginalized and underserved communities. That’s just one way our people are helping to build a more inclusive and sustainable world.”
— PRAT, Director – Strategy, New York, United States

Community impact

Creating value in communities around the world—from developing skills to supporting refugees—is core to our belief in shared success.

Our Skills to Succeed initiative is about supporting and empowering people as they prepare for and navigate their career journeys.

Programs supported by Skills to Succeed reported that approximately 4.3 million people worldwide were equipped with skills toward employment or entrepreneurship.

Skills to Succeed Academy is a free, immersive online learning program to help young people build skills and confidence to succeed in the workplace.

The Academy skilled ~80,000 people globally, in collaboration with our partners

Preparing for employment

Global Opportunity Youth Network

In August 2023, we committed to invest $4.5 million over 41 months in support of the Aspen Institute’s Global Opportunity Youth Network. This program provides young people in Brazil, Colombia, India, Mexico and South Africa increased access to productive and dignified employment opportunities and skills to help them thrive at work.

JA Worldwide

We helped JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide skill more than 1.8 million young people across 18 countries, helping students gain the skills, experience and confidence to prepare for future job or entrepreneurship opportunities. Our support enabled JA to enhance the content and functionality of learning experiences and platforms that support youth, teachers, parents and allies around the world.

UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited Passport to Earning

We collaborate with Microsoft and other partners on UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited Passport to Earning (P2E) platform to help break down barriers to learning, such as lack of access to relevant skills and opportunities. Accenture's financial and in-kind contributions in collaboration with other partners are expected to help P2E equip millions of underserved youth in India and Brazil with future-relevant digital and employability skills over the coming years. As of October 2023, more than a million young people have been skilled in and received certifications for financial literacy and digital productivity.

Goodwill Clean Tech Accelerator

In October 2023, we announced a partnership with Goodwill Industries International to create the Goodwill Clean Tech Accelerator. Targeting under- and unemployed individuals in the United States, the accelerator will teach employability and technical skills for a range of in-demand roles in the energy sector, including solar and storage, electric vehicle charging, heat pumps and energy efficiency.


Supporting entrepreneurs

Youth Business International - Green and social entrepreneurship

As a partner to YBI, we support and skill young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds as they start, grow and sustain businesses—helping to unlock income streams, job creation and inclusive economic growth. Accenture worked with YBI to fund the development of a Green & Social Entrepreneurship Toolkit which brings together 18 tools for startups and existing businesses with a social or environmental purpose.

 

Sky's the Limit

Sky’s the Limit helps aspiring entrepreneurs chase their business dreams by connecting them with volunteer mentors. We matched ~400 entrepreneurs with Accenture mentors.

Building work experience

Internships

In the United States, our Skills to Succeed internship and Learning to Lead programs provide early career exposure and work experience to high school and college-aged individuals through summer and year-round internships. This year, ~850 high school and post-high school interns participated.

To help empower and inspire young people to address critical issues, we have created an action-oriented community impact program to equip them with the mindsets, skills and tools to build a more sustainable future.

Sustainability Innovation Challenge

Through partnerships with UNICEF Generation Unlimited's imaGen Ventures and JA Worldwide, the challenge invites teams to address some of the world's most critical environmental and social issues. This initiative reached approximately 28,000 young innovators across 12 countries in fiscal 2023.​

Sustainability Hour

We are collaborating with World’s Largest Lesson (an initiative of Project Everyone) to create Sustainability Hour. Available in more than 30 languages, this new volunteering offering enables our people—and employees of other organizations—to host interactive hour-long sessions using design thinking to inspire children to become change-makers for the Global Goals (UN SDGs).

We leverage existing and emerging technologies to address critical challenges facing society and the environment.

Huippula

This service, developed by Accenture and Save the Children Finland, teaches digital safety to children through engaging stories, questionnaires, tests and data analytics for teachers to track understanding and progress.

Casa Zero

This nonprofit in Brazil seeks to unite entrepreneurship, culture and education for social impact, offering libraries, studios and coworking spaces. We collaborated on a digital literacy skilling project and launched a Social Innovation Center that showcases emerging technologies and offers immersive and collaborative experiences to young people.

Humanitarian Aid in Israel and Gaza

As a company, we have donated $1.5 million to Magen David Adom and $1.5 million to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, for a total of $3 million for humanitarian relief. In addition, we are matching 100% of our people’s donations to selected charitable organizations providing relief in Israel and Gaza.

Supporting refugees

We are helping welcome refugees in the communities where we work and live, and we recognize how they enrich our communities through their courage, strength and talent.

Welcome.US

Accenture is partnering with Welcome.US to help lead the movement of mobilizing private sector and community support for refugee resettlement and welcoming newcomers in the United States.

  • Our Chair and CEO, Julie Sweet co-chairs the Welcome.US CEO Council along with Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. A network of 38 CEOs, the Welcome.US CEO Council works to accelerate and scale private sector support for people seeking refuge to meet immediate needs for resettlement including housing and home goods, job and training opportunities, and accessible legal assistance for newcomers.
  • To date, the group has contributed more than $179 million in pro bono, in-kind and financial support.

Refugee Talent Hub

Founded by our people in the Netherlands, Refugee Talent Hub empowers refugees to grow their network, advance skills and find employment. The Refugee Talent Hub skilled approximately 900 refugees in fiscal 2023, which led to more than 290 employment opportunities.

Ukrainian Refugees

We are continuing to help to meet the medium- and longer-term needs of Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people, including learning, skills development and transition into employment.

  • As a member of the Tent Partnership for Refugees, Accenture is supporting hiring and skilling of refugees, including Ukrainian refugee women, across Europe. In fiscal 2023, we committed to partner with organizations to help skill and support an estimated 16,000 refugee job seekers and migrants—and to hire 100 refugees—in Europe over the next three years.
  • We are helping Upwardly Global to support the economic resilience of 1,000 displaced Ukrainian refugees with job coaching, job readiness, language and technical skills training. Over the course of the program, Upwardly Global will empower local partners to help place Ukrainian refugees into skill-aligned jobs.


Photographic portrait of  MARIA, Director - Legal, Chicago, United States

Spotlight
“I consider my immigration pro bono work to be the most meaningful legal work that I've ever done. It can be challenging, emotional work at times, but it's absolutely worth it. As one example, a refugee client from Afghanistan was recently granted asylum, and he can now start the process of reuniting with his wife and children, including a one-year-old that he has never met.”
— MARIA, Director - Legal, Chicago, United States

We offer many ways for our people to act for social and environmental impact, including a wide range of local and global volunteering opportunities.

Global volunteering

Our global volunteering efforts enable our people to make a difference at scale—often working virtually alongside colleagues from around the world.

Mapping for International Women’s Day

In March 2023, ~1,000 volunteers in 33 countries contributed 1,300+ hours to mapping areas of rural Tanzania where girls often walk long distances to school.

Every Name Counts

We continue to support the Arolsen Archives’ Every Name Counts initiative to accelerate the indexing of the world’s largest archives dedicated to the victims of Nazi persecution. Over the course of a 24-hour event on Holocaust Remembrance Day in January 2023, ~700 volunteers from 31 countries contributed to the Every Name Counts project, using an AI-based tool we developed to accelerate archive indexing.

Local volunteering

We also recognize that our people want to respond to needs in their local communities and support them in providing opportunities to create a positive impact.

Mentoring by Accenture people

Our volunteers around the world share their skills, knowledge and experience with others.

For example, we are participating in the Japanese Women's Leadership Initiative to help women students from 20 universities in Japan prepare for leadership roles in a global environment through overseas internships. Nearly 80 Accenture women volunteered with the program as trainers, instructors and mentors.

Eco Action

Eco Action initiative

Our commitment to environmental stewardship includes our ongoing Eco Action initiative, which encourages our people to nurture their passion for environmental sustainability and act for impact at home, at work and in their communities.

186,000+

of our people participated in Eco Action.

Measuring personal impact

We offer personal environmental footprint tools to help our people measure their impact. In doing so, we are contributing to the Count Us In movement, which activates citizens to take action against climate change.


Our people as innovators

Innovation is at the heart of how we serve our clients, and how we engage our people on sustainability issues. More than 5,000 of our people participated in our Social Innovators initiative, which includes:

Sustainability Innovation Challenge

Our annual Sustainability Innovation Challenge engaged more than 4,400 Accenture people, who produced almost 900 ideas on the key themes of Nature & Biodiversity, Sustainable Systems & Industries, and Equity & Human Wellbeing.

We engaged Accenture clients including Marriott, Microsoft, Walgreens, L'Oréal, National Grid Plc and AXA XL, together with 32 innovation partners including nonprofit, environmental and health-focused social enterprises.

Social Innovators Accelerator

With two open calls to our people to apply, the Social Innovators Accelerator provides funding and coaching for projects that are novel and have the potential to deliver clear social and environmental impact. 45 projects received funding to progress innovative projects with a positive environmental or social objective.

Social innovation learning

Our social innovation learning activities skilled ~550 of our people. We also launched the Social Innovation Leadership Immersion program for Accenture leadership.



Photographic portrait of CARA, Analyst - Technology, Cloud First, Berlin, Germany

Spotlight
“The Sustainability Innovation Challenge was an exhilarating and motivating experience. The innovation partners shared pointers about their industries and recommended projects where our solution might fit and make an impact. All resources made available to us were exceptional, from roundtable discussions to coaching and skill enhancing workshops. Every moment was perfectly blended with productivity and enjoyment. The experience encouraged me to further focus on sustainability in my career.”
— CARA, Analyst - Technology, Cloud First, Berlin, Germany

Accenture Contributions by Type

 
 

1Accenture Foundations refers to independent charitable organizations that bear the Accenture name.

$150,103
(in thousands)

Total Accenture and Accenture Foundations Contributions in fiscal 2023

Accenture Contributions by Region