EY Greater China FY22 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report

• Reduced a total of 309.24 tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to planting 17,180 trees through practising green management and energy saving in the office
  
• Total greenhouse gas emission reduced by 26.77%, water consumption reduced by 58.11%, achieved water-saving more than 7 million liters, and saved 1,550,759 sheets of A4 paper
• Total expenditure on employee training and development increased by 10.33% to RMB42.2 million
• Integrate and align with 17 sustainable development goals of United Nations
• Ranked number one in overall execution in “Top 10: Sustainability Services 2022” and recognized as an “excellent consulting leader in ESG and sustainability”

EY Greater China region recently announced the issuance of the EY Greater China FY22 ESG Report¹. 

Green and sustainable development has been highlighted at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The congress has defined the features and strength of Chinese-style modernization – providing new options for citizens to realize modernization and offering more opportunities for enterprises. The Central Economic Work Conference also pointed out that it is necessary to speed up the construction of a modern industrial system, accelerate the research and development and application of cutting-edge technologies such as new energy, artificial intelligence, bio-manufacturing, green and low-carbon, and quantum computing, vigorously develop the digital economy and improve the standard of governance. 

EY has been actively participating in advising governments and organizations, offering technical support to deepen reforms for various industries, and providing the best services that are in line with the concept of high-quality development, supports the grand blueprint and bright future of building a great modernized country.

Under the backdrop of national strategies in green transformation and sustainable development, EY has been actively deploying solutions to echo the climate change, implement the concept of sustainable development, accelerate the innovation of green products and services. EY teams work together with different parties to advocate green transformation, which fulfills social responsibilities and promotes global sustainable development. 

In 2022, EY reduced 73.62 tons of carbon emissions with green office and resource conservation initiatives. The amount is equivalent to planting 4,090 trees. Moreover, we have successfully reduced carbon emissions by 309.24 tons in the past four years, equivalent to planting 17,180 trees. Total greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 26.77% to 14,654 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, while greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 29.67% YOY to 0.64 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per person. Water consumption was reduced by 58.11%, saving more than 7 million liters of water. A total of 1,550,759 sheets of A4 paper have been saved through digitalization. In terms of low-carbon buildings, EY continues to promote green offices, and by 2025, all EY’s offices will be using 100% of renewable energy.

The total expenditure on training and development of full-time staff has increased by 10.33% to RMB42.2 million. EY ranked number one in overall execution in the “Top 10: Sustainability Services 2022” listing and was recognized as an “excellent consulting leader in ESG and sustainability”. Furthermore, Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP was the first batch of green certification organization authorized to practise in the country. EY teams also aligned with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and are dedicated to be the practitioner, the contributor and the leader of sustainability.

Jack Chan, EY China Chairman and EY Greater China Regional Managing Director says: “In line with national and local development strategies, EY teams continue to expand and improve its geographic presence in the Greater China region. The EY global organization achieved carbon neutral in 2020 and carbon negative in 2021, and pledged to reach the goal of net zero by 2025. While promoting green operations and green procurement to reduce our impact on the environment, EY teams demonstrate the best practices in sustainable operations and continue to provide diverse sustainability services to serve our clients and the society on their journey toward green development. On the National Low-carbon Day, EY signed a memorandum of cooperation with the China Emissions Exchange, in the hope of jointly promoting the development of carbon finance and green finance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and helping to internationalize China's carbon trading market.

Chan added that, the EY Greater China region closely follows the national strategy and helps clients seize opportunities brought by the dual carbon goals. The teams also actively support the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan and contribute to the economic and social development by supporting the state-owned enterprises (SOE) reform, regional development, and the Belt and Road initiative. EY teams support youth development, gender equality and charitable activities, we empower the social development and create societal value with actions and promote common prosperity for all.

Michael Bi, EY Greater China Markets Managing Partner says: “EY has integrated industry experience and talent in green finance, ESG and carbon neutrality. We also harnessed technology to offer a wide range of digital solutions, helping clients seize opportunities brought by the dual carbon goals and move toward a sustainable future through green transformation. We have established specific, regular and long-term communication channels and mechanisms with stakeholders. EY teams share experiences and perspectives with stakeholders, interact with them in a proactive manner to better understand their concerns and needs, and jointly discuss solutions to economic, social and environmental issues. This year, for the first time, we held the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) Forum and Sustainability Excellence Awards to help Chinese enterprises embark on the journey to an innovative, green and high-quality sustainable development. With a focus on major national development strategies such as green development, rural revitalization and common prosperity, the award program aims to recognize outstanding listed companies that are leading the sustainable development in China, and to achieve economic, environmental and social effectiveness.”

Judy Li, EY² Greater China Climate Change and Sustainability Services for Financial Service Partner, EY Greater China ESG Management Office Head shared the highlights of sustainable development of EY Greater China region in fiscal year 2022, and elaborated on the significant initiatives and ESG performances (Please refer to the appendix). She says: “EY is committed to building a better working world and making a lasting positive impact. We have noticed that the importance of ESG has been increasingly recognized by regulators, capital markets and business of all sizes. Following the release of the first ESG report last year, the FY22 ESG report sets out the values and missions of EY Greater China region and demonstrates our commitment in ESG implementation and showcases its outstanding performance. As the concept of sustainable development has become a global consensus, EY teams continue to help companies with solutions and technical support in the areas of ESG, green finance, and carbon neutrality, integrates ESG concepts into corporate development, and strive to build a mutually beneficial ecosystem with employees, customers and communities. EY adheres to the mission of empowering collaborative development across industries and creates long-term value for the society and clients. 

Green 

EY Greater China reduced 73.62 tons of carbon emissions with green office and resource conservation initiatives. The amount is equivalent to planting 4,090 trees. Furthermore, we have reduced carbon emissions by 309.24 tons in the past four years, equivalent to planting 17,180 trees. 

EY prioritizes the application of digitalization, promotes low-carbon building and green office. We integrate sustainable development into supply chain management and require 75% of EY suppliers to formulate emission reduction targets based on science-based carbon targets no later than FY25. At the same time, we work with all suppliers to help them obtain the SBTi certification, facilitating the decarbonization process in the product sourcing and service process. By incentivizing and collaborating with our suppliers, we will further expand the impact of EY's net zero emissions goal.

EY Greater China region is committed to creating long-term value, leading high-quality sustainable development, and helping clients realize the opportunities and challenges brought by climate change. EY teams actively participate in national large-scale cooperation platforms such as the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), the China International Import Expo (CIIE), and the China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE).
During the expos, EY has launched a series of innovative and sustainable products such as the Green Transformation Maturity Evaluation Model and the ESG Intelligent Management System. 

EY has long been focusing on and serving local rural revitalization development, providing professional services for rural industrial development, grassroots governance, investment attraction and digital village construction.

Sharing

EY has been continuously exploring the areas of data processing and analysis technologies, introducing new information technology and concepts into audit, and promoting digital transformation in audit. With digital audits, EY provides clients with excellent global online audit platform, analytical tools, and cloud knowledge platform.

EY invests in our people and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusiveness (DE&I). EY respects and appreciates talents, capabilities, personalities, gender, and ages in every form and believe that they can bring innovation to business.

EY Greater China region celebrated International Women's Day by encouraging people to speak up for women and calling attention to women's development.

We also invited women from different background to talk about “Women’s power in ESG” to support the development of women's leadership in ESG.

On Earth Day, EY teams connected with college students from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong and encouraged them to engage and develop knowledge of green finance, biodiversity conservation and ESG.

Through EY Ripples, we integrate our regional corporate responsibility programs and our collaboration with clients, networks, employees and many others to positively impact one billion people worldwide under vision 2030, to help and influence the society. 

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, EY teams actively arranged charitable donation activities and donated supplies valued over HK$1.5 million through the EY Greater China Charity Foundation. EY teams will collaborate with our stakeholders to promote sustainable development to build a better working world.

Co-creation 

EY teams publish up-to-date research, actively participate in discussions regarding sustainability with various industries, and collaborate with policymakers, to make systemic changes and build a sustainable world by working together. During the reporting period, EY hosted and participated in over 20 large-scale conferences and seminars and published over 30 articles relating to sustainable development, to carry on dialogues with industry experts on sustainable development and share research findings.

Transformation

EY continues to incorporate ESG into daily operation and established an ESG governance structure to bolster communication with stakeholders, enhance employees' ESG awareness, and strengthen ESG information disclosure. At the same time, EY maintains its commitment to the UN Global Compact and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As the world is facing the challenges in the post-epidemic era, companies need to strengthen their own compliance management and enhance corporate integrity awareness to avoid adverse effects of unethical behavior on the company. EY’s emphasis on integrity, innovation and quality auditing service is to better serve our clients. We understand that continuous improvement of the firm's quality management system and optimization of the quality control system are the fundamental ways to effectively implement risk reduction and achieve quality results.

Future focused

The metaverse will create an even more profound influence on our society and the digital economic system. The metaverse connects the real world and the virtual world, it can dramatically reduce carbon emissions by replacing physical goods with digital goods, and interactions from the real world with the virtual world.

Digital twin will help us optimize the realities of each individual and the world, while the operation of the metaverse is accompanied by more energy consumption and carbon emissions. How to balance the energy demand of the metaverse and the need for sustainable development becomes a critical question for us all.

Combine the expertise with research and products, EY teams are able to develop comprehensively and lead in the age of technology, contributing our effort to digital economy. This year, EY held a seminar on “Business opportunities in the metaverse” in collaboration with other organization, where participants from different industries shared their key developments and practices in the metaverse. EY gave a keynote speech on the “Integration of metaverse technology and business world” at the EY booth at the CIFTIS. EY also discussed the definition of the metaverse concept, industry status, investment opportunities, technology-driven forces, innovation paths and other hot topics.

Against the backdrop of digitalization and the transition of green as the focus of global economic recovery, EY is devoted to supporting the economy’s green transition and exploring sustainability in the metaverse. EY released for the first time the 3060 Carbon Management System as a part of the EY ESG Investment Solutions Series, which explores how metaverse technology can empower green development.

2023 will mark the 55th year of EY professional services in the Greater China region. Going forward, EY will continue to focus on environmental, social and economic development in the new era, and provide intellectual support for high-quality development with innovative solutions; we will also continue to fulfill our commitments to the country, society and clients, adhere to our social responsibility, create long-term value, and become a contributor to China's high-quality development.

¹ The period of this report is 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022. Some content exceeds the time frame in order to ensure the continuity of information and data.
² Ernst & Young Hua Ming LLP

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Notes to Editors

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About the report

This Report has been compiled with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards and the World Economic Forum (WEF) International Business Council (IBC) Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics for sustainability reporting. It discloses EY Greater China Region’s contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).