Environmental impact Low
Employer/employee ranking 10/46
Staff numbers 16,000
Energy reduction 16%
Recycling 1%

There is more to protecting the planet than recycling paper as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) knows. As a leading professional services business, the company has been using its expertise to assist clients in matters green for nearly 15 years, and this philosophy extends to the way it manages the working environment for its 16,000 staff.

About 400 employees worldwide take part in a company sustainability forum. The workforce agrees that the firm does a lot for the environment, giving it a 68% green score. Staff also believe bosses are open to suggestions for improvements (69%) and that the organisation’s eco commitments are serious (74%).

In the past three years PwC has reduced its carbon emissions by 45%, achieving this by buying 90% of its energy from renewable sources. It has also improved office space efficiency in order to reduce heating and lighting, and it conducts energy audits.

To reduce air miles, PwC has invested in phone and video-conferencing and was able to save on 1.1m miles of jet travel last year. An in-house green fleet initiative provides employees with advice on cleaner fuels and vehicle selection in order to cut private car miles too. Interest-free season ticket loans, a bike-to-work scheme and shower facilities in many offices are further measures to encourage the workforce to leave their cars at home.

When the company recently relocated its Uxbridge office to another building in the same area, instead of scrapping workstations it had them dismantled and reshaped for reuse. Furniture was recycled through Green-Works, a community-based organisation which renovates such items for use by small local businesses and not-for-profit organisations.

Today PwC recycles 60% of its waste, up from 30% in 2002-03. Employees say they know where to put the recycling items and believe that environmental initiatives are not a waste of money (with a green score of 86% for both statements).

The company has made a commitment to offset its greenhouse emissions by sourcing carbon credits from Climate Care. These include financing projects in India and southeast Asia that provide communities with sustainable energy from wind turbines and biomass generators.