KPMG employees at a community clean-up event
Chosen as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for 2013:
By Richard Yerema and Julien Gagnier, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editors
(Apr 21, 2013)
Some of the reasons why KPMG LLP was selected as one of Canada's Greenest Employers (2013):
- across the firm, volunteer employees from the "National Sustainability Office Champion Network" meet monthly (via teleconference technology) to discuss programs and share local ideas and experiences and help to lead local green teams across the country -- thus far, employees have implemented recycling programs (including cellphones and eyeglasses), made the move to fair-trade coffee, replaced bottle water with filtered water and developed initiatives to collect and reuse gently used office supplies
- also maintains a "Sustainability Advisory Panel" that is comprised of employees representing different operational areas at the firm, from procurement to marketing to information technology -- these panel members are charged with the responsibility to find opportunities to improve their particular niche in support of the firm's broader sustainability goals
- around the world, KPMG's "Global Green Initiative" commits the firm to reduce its international carbon footprint by 25 percent (compared to the baseline year of 2007) through energy conservation and use of renewable energy -- in 2010 the firm had surpassed this goal by 4 percentage points for a total reduction of 29 percent per full-time employee (and has set an additional 15 percent target per full-time employee for 2015)
- in Canada, the firm established an Environmental Performance Initiative (EPI) back in 2007 that formalized its commitment to address its Canada-wide environmental performance and programs
- and in 2009, the firm continued its leadership with the launch of the "Community Leader Strategy" to encompass and ensure that environmental sustainability is a core consideration in the firm's overall business strategy and to ensure a more integrated approach to sustainability and the environment
- the firm's head office is located in a state-of-the-art head office in downtown Toronto that is built to the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED) Gold standard -- and after a recent audit it was determined that the building uses approximately 45 percent less energy than comparable buildings
- implemented a formal paper reduction strategy in 2007 which has resulted in significant paper savings through the increased use of electronic documents where possible and the implementation of a formal printing strategy that included a reduction in the number of printers by one-third as well as the elimination of personal printers -- the firm aims to reduce paper consumption by an additional five percent through the setting of reduction goals at the individual level and simply asking employees to print 50 fewer pages each month (impressively, overall paper consumption has been reduced by 42 percent since 2009)
- the firm has also has strict paper procurement strategies with the minimum recycled content for paper purchase currently set at 30 percent, as well as purchasing only paper made from Canadian fibre
- continues in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions resulting from business travel, encouraging employees to seek alternatives, primarily through increased utilization of video conferencing technology -- the head office features a state-of-the-art "Halo Room" that lets people from around the world communicate in real time in an almost life-like environment
- for employees who must travel, the firm works with its travel provider to create a unique travel indicator that identify the purpose of travel (helping to determine if travel is necessary) as well as helping employees identify the greenest hotels in which to book their accommodations
Background Information
Major Canadian hiring locations: Toronto ON, Calgary AB, Montréal QC, Vancouver BC.
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| ©2013 Mediacorp Canada Inc. All rights reserved. Used by Eluta with permission. For comments or questions on this employer review, please contact Mediacorp's editorial team.
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