Waterloo Region, June 14, 2010 – Sustainable Waterloo, a not-for-profit working to advance the environmental sustainability of organizations across Waterloo Region through collaboration, is pleased to announce two prominent members of the accounting industry – Deloitte and Ernst & Young – as the newest members of the Regional Carbon Initiative (RCI). The RCI facilitates voluntary target-setting and reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in member organizations across the Region. This announcement brings total RCI membership to 24 organizations.
Both Deloitte and Ernst & Young have joined as Bronze Pledging Partners, committing to a 20 percent absolute reduction in their GHG emissions across operations in Waterloo Region over the next 10 years. The commitments of both organizations will mean emission reductions in their Kitchener operations. Both organizations have agreed to incorporate a number of optional RCI Reduction Framework GHG emission sources, such as personal vehicle business travel, employee commuting, waste, and water. Ernst & Young’s commitment follows their previous support as a Founding Partner of Sustainable Waterloo.
Adam Burke, Southwestern Ontario Managing Partner at Deloitte, highlights that participation within the RCI is only one facet of Deloitte’s broader sustainability efforts. “Deloitte is proud to align our firm’s strategic objectives with those of Sustainable Waterloo and other organizations in the Region. Our commitment is consistent with Deloitte’s five-year national sustainability strategy. We believe that sustainability is sound business practice and helps us to improve our performance, our client’s businesses, and our commitment to the global environment,” he says.
Greg McCauley, Southwestern Ontario Managing Partner at Ernst & Young, advocates that having an environmental sustainability plan and working collaboratively with partners is a business imperative: “We at Ernst & Young are eager to begin this next phase of our collaboration with Sustainable Waterloo and to reach our reduction target. We are confident that, with Sustainable Waterloo’s tools and support, we will not only reduce our environmental impact but also reap the many benefits of fostering a proactive environmental business strategy. Ernst & Young is setting an important example for other firms within the industry to begin to understand that the environment and sustainability should be a top priority across the entire business community,” he says.
“It is encouraging to see the collaborative spirit of these two organizations in jointly signing on as Pledging Partners of the RCI,” says Mike Morrice, Sustainable Waterloo’s Executive Director. “Embracing measurable efforts towards improving the sustainability of their operations in Waterloo Region not only builds on the existing community of organizations working towards similar goals, but it also sends an important message: That organizations of all sizes and sectors across our Region are increasingly willing to hold themselves accountable to voluntary public GHG reduction goals, while working together and learning from one another to achieve them.”
This announcement coincides with the first anniversary of the launch of the RCI. Sustainable Waterloo will be holding its final event of the 2009-2010 event season, a technical workshop on Financial Incentive Programs, on June 16th at the Cambridge Hotel. For more information or to register, visit www.sustainablewaterloo.org/events.
About Sustainable Waterloo
Sustainable Waterloo is a not-for-profit that advances the environmental sustainability of organizations across Waterloo Region through collaboration. The current work of Sustainable Waterloo is focused on the Regional Carbon Initiative For a list of all 24 members of the Regional Carbon Initiative, please visit www.sustainablewaterloo.org/members.
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Media Contact
Jennifer Carreiro
Public Relations Coordinator, Sustainable Waterloo
519-807-5507
jenn.carreiro@sustainablewaterloo.org