A healthy environment is important to our people and to our business. Ernst & Young’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice helps our clients and our communities move to a low-carbon way of operating and lower their costs in the process. Because we believe that any commitment to a greener world has to start at home, we’re also challenging ourselves to work in an environmentally responsible manner and to find new ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
We have adopted five initiatives to improve our impact on the environment worldwide:
Leisha John talks to a leading industry publication about sustainability
Leisha John, Americas Director of Environmental Sustainability, spoke with Accounting Today about our strategy for making Ernst & Young environmentally responsible and her commitment to all things green. Read the article (pdf, 78.68 kb).
EcoCare
This network of 1,000+ passionate Ernst & Young volunteers constantly finds new ways to make us greener. In a survey, 85% of our people said that our commitment to the environment was important to them. Some examples of ways EcoCare is helping to mobilize our environmental commitment:
- In Los Angeles, EcoCare leaders invited people in the office to be part of a reforestation project in the Angeles National Forest, where forest fires and Bark Beetle infestation had diminished the tree population.
- In Chicago, the EcoCare team created a directory of all the public transportation modes in the region to provide our people with greener and less costly transportation options when they travel to other cities.
- In the Southwest, an EcoCare blog on Earth Day captured hundreds of ways that our people are becoming more environmentally responsible in their daily lives.
- Across the US, EcoCare led recycling drives and educational programs to help bring attention to environmental concerns and engage our people in making Ernst & Young greener.
Greening America’s schools
The US Green Buildings Council (USGBC) is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for the US through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. Ernst & Young is teaming with the organization on its Green Schools campaign, with the goal of greening all US schools within a generation.
Earthwatch® Institute
Through our relationship with this global environmental organization, professionals from our Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice and EcoCare group have opportunities to broaden their professional experience by participating in a volunteer sustainability project. On a recent expedition, volunteers gathered samples for research and provided skill-based volunteer services to one of Costa Rica’s leading coffee cooperatives. Their projects helped farmers in the Tarrazú region develop economically and environmentally sustainable farming practices and helped our communities reduce their impact on the environment.
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