Last week Accenture announced three ambitious sustainability goals for 2025. Their primary objective is to achieve net-zero emissions, but they are also looking to move towards zero waste and plan for water risk and scarcity. To achieve this goal, Accenture offices will be moving to 100% renewable energy and any remaining carbon footprint will be offset by investing in carbon removal initiatives. Accenture will also work with suppliers to reduce their emissions.

Microsoft has announced that work from home will be a permanent option for employees going forward. Notably the news about Microsoft this past week has not been all positive. The company received some negative sentiment last week for repeated service outages on their cloud. Using our Safeguard ESG impact tracker we look through the news on both companies for notable events.

Accenture’s goals around waste focus on two areas. The first is to eliminate all e-waste and furniture waste from offices. The second goal is to curb all single use plastic at their office locations. Pertaining to water, Accenture aims to reduce water use and undertake risk management in areas that are prone to flooding and other physical climate risks. In December, Accenture also promoted Pete Lacy to the newly created position of Chief Responsibility Officer and Global Sustainability Services Lead. These newly announced goals along with the recently created role seem to be the first steps in building out long-term goals while first taking care of in house sustainability issues. While these are goals that take care of in house issues, Accenture could widen their impact by leaning into their consulting expertise to help materials heavy companies build circular economies and develop cross industry collaborations.

Microsoft's Collaboration, a Blueprint for Accenture

Microsoft’s recent partnership with BP and Royal Dutch Shell to help reduce emissions and move towards renewable energy serves as a blueprint for Accenture’s future collaborations.

Safeguard ESG Impact Tracker: Information Technology Sector Sentiment and Mentions, Past 7 Days

As many companies with power and influence have shown us recently, it is important to move beyond a “do no harm” mantra and embrace the steps required to become regenerative companies. These recent goals by Accenture seem to indicate the company is joining the ranks of peers that not only take care of in house issues, but contribute to cross industry collaboration and resiliency. We’ll continue to monitor the news about these companies to track their progress as they work to implement the solutions that will back up their commitments.

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About Amenity

Amenity Analytics is the industry leader in providing insights from unstructured text by using Natural Language Processing (NLP) assisted by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Amenity’s NLP system is a sector-agnostic, language-dependent tool for quantitative text analysis that is deployed across the financial services industry and beyond.

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This communication does not represent investment advice. Transcript text provided by FACTSET and S&P Global Market Intelligence.

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