PricewaterhouseCoopers Cuts Carbon Emissions by 10%

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PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has reduced its carbon footprint 10 percent in fiscal year 2008, decreasing its carbon emissions by more than 30,000 metric tons. The company is on track to achieve its four-year carbon emissions reduction goal of 20 percent by 2012.

PwC made the announcement at the Carbon Disclosure Project event that kicked off Climate Week in New York City.

The baseline for comparison is data from a fiscal year 2007 carbon footprint analysis, which showed PwC's greatest environmental impact stemmed from emissions created by travel, office workspace and partner and staff commuting.

As a result, investments and individual actions have helped reduce the company's travel emissions by 19,440 metric tons or 18 percent between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2008.

To further reduce its carbon footprint, 52 PwC offices will receive over the next 12 to 18 months energy-efficient, multi-functional printers that default to double-sided printing and enable toner cartridge recycling.  The offices will also transition to 30 percent recycled content paper.

In fiscal year 2009, PwC began construction of a new, state-of-the-art, Tier 3 data center that is targeting gold certification through the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

In addition, PwC's largest 29 offices or 84 percent of its total occupied square footage will undergo energy audits and remediation that will make the firm's rented properties more energy efficient and reduce their energy consumption by an estimated 18 percent. The firm has remediated its Houston office, which reduced energy consumption by an estimated 50 percent.

Environment + Energy Leader