The world is facing serious challenges
- Climate change
- Excessive pollution of land, air and oceans
- Poverty and inequality
… to name but a few
It’s time to take action
Lawmakers und regulatory bodies are reacting by formulating goals like the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate goals, and by enacting measures to bring the world back onto a sustainable development path. And all while being backed by strong support from society.
Expectations towards companies are rising
As companies are the biggest contributor to the current challenges and at the same time the biggest enablers for change, expectations on how companies conduct business are rising. While the past two decades have been dominated by the expectation towards companies to be compliant with legal requirements and in control of all business-associated risks while earning positive economic returns, the expectations have recently shifted towards more comprehensive goals.
Stakeholders from all areas are now expecting companies to include ethical considerations, formalised as environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, for instance, into business conduct and decisions. They even expect companies to make a philanthropic contribution to society.
Required minimum or strategic positioning?
The new expectations set by society are being formalised through new regulations like the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance. Companies now have the unique chance to decide whether to solely implement the required minimum to remain compliant with the new regulations – or to take this situation as a chance to review their business strategy and reposition themselves as active enablers for sustainability.
The financial services sector has the unique chance to act as an enabler for change
By helping to redirect financial flows towards sustainable activities as a financial market player and by acting as a role model as an individual company, financial institutions are in a unique position as agents of change.
However, taking this chance involves seriously reviewing their own current strategic position and making potentially far-reaching changes. It means answering the following questions:
Positioning
Who are we as a company and what’s our company purpose?
Strategy
How does our company purpose translate into our company strategy?
Operational design
How do we reflect this in our products and services, in our processes and in our company culture?
How can we help?
At PwC Advisory Financial Services, we help you to discuss and find an answer to the above questions when comprehensively discussing sustainability.
Depending on your need, we support you in:
- Having a fundamental discussion of your company’s purpose in light of sustainability
- Helping you to identify the sustainability goals which are most closely aligned to your company purpose
- Reflecting these in your company’s vision and strategic pillars
- Reviewing and adapting your product and service offering
- Defining and implementing the necessary processes and organisational as well as cultural transformations to ensure successful execution, with a special focus on the portfolio management, investment, credit and risk management processes.
