Environmental

The Deloitte Better Buildings Toolkit is a customised set of internal guidelines and tools developed to establish globally applicable sustainability standards for Deloitte’s real estate assets in Southeast Asia regions, in alignment with our WorldClimate goals. The toolkit supports our net-zero objectives by helping us embed WorldClimate’s sustainability pillars. It also serves as an educational resource to empower our people and engage our major suppliers.

For example, during the relocation and renovation of our Brunei office, we achieved reduction in Scope 2 emissions by upgrading the LED lighting and installing motion sensors in meeting rooms and bathrooms, designed to decrease energy consumption. By utilising natural lighting and reusing furniture, we further minimised our environmental impact and contributed to both Scope 2 and 3 emissions reductions.

In addition to reducing emissions from our physical offices, we have been migrating local data storage to the cloud and encouraging our people to perform regular digital cleanups. These efforts aim to optimise our data usage and reduce digital clutter.

Other initiatives include reducing and replacing old printers with eco-friendly, energy-efficient machines while instituting a ‘no printing, digital as default’ policy for our working papers, event support materials and business cards. These changes demonstrate that our commitment to sustainability extends beyond our buildings to encompass the systems and processes that support our everyday operations.

The implementation of Green Lease encourages collaborations between Deloitte and our landlords to enhance the environmental performance of the properties in which we operate. It involves meeting with our landlords to exchange data on utilities consumption, waste management and recycling, while jointly exploring initiatives to make our spaces more sustainable. Green Leases have already been established in our Johor Bahru, Hanoi and Jakarta offices.

As a professional services firm, travel significantly contributes to Deloitte’s emissions – especially towards our Scope 3 emissions – which include indirect emissions generated through business travel. Recognising the critical role in-person interactions play in maintaining client relationships and fostering team collaboration, we have developed a sustainable travel policy to balance these needs with our broader commitment to climate action.

This policy encourages our teams to adopt more sustainable travel practices that reduce the frequency and environmental impact of business trips. When travel is necessary, we prioritise the use of more sustainable options such as train travel over flights for short distances and the default use of electric vehicles.

To accelerate our pathway to reaching Deloitte’s WorldClimate goals, we will start the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in FY25 to mitigate our annual travel emissions. Additionally, we are actively developing solutions for the SAF value chain in the APAC region. Our portfolio approach demonstrates our commitment to making proactive efforts to reduce emissions within Deloitte’s value chain and moving beyond retroactive carbon offsets.

By embedding these practices into our business culture, we aim to meaningfully reduce our carbon footprint while demonstrating that sustainability and business needs can go hand in hand.

Our Sustainable Events Guide supports our WorldClimate commitments by applying a ‘climate lens’ to all event-related decisions. Our goal is for all significant in-person meetings, whether onsite or offsite, to be zero waste by 2030. The guide outlines key focus areas, high-level considerations, and actionable checklists to encourage the successful implementation of sustainable practices. By integrating a sustainability perspective into every event decision, our people not only discuss sustainability but actively experience and practice it.

We are committed to actively assessing, managing, and reducing supply chain emissions, a crucial aspect of our sustainability strategy. We have intensified our efforts across Deloitte’s major purchasing categories, with key initiatives such as integrating sustainability-related questions into our requests for proposals and incorporating specific contract language that is aligned with our Suppliers Code of Conduct.

We also encourage suppliers to accurately measure and publicly report their carbon emissions, prioritising those that have set an approved science-based target and can demonstrate progress.

By 2025, we aim for at least 67 per cent of our global supply chain to have set 1.5°C-aligned, science-based carbon reduction targets. Additionally, Deloitte Global has established a dedicated Procurement Sustainability team focused on driving sustainability solutions across our operations. This ensures that our supply chain practices meet and exceed global sustainability standards.

‘Through our WorldClimate work, we embed sustainability in everything we do as a firm. We have a responsibility to lead by example and amplify the impact of climate action with our clients and stakeholders, sustainability is not something extra; it’s very much our core business,’ said Yvonne Zhang, Deloitte SEA WorldClimate Director.

In November 2023, Deloitte Brunei collaborated on a ‘Green Day’ event for local students with the organisation Curious Mind, which works to empower youth with life skills. Deloitte was the benefactor sponsor for the one-day event, which was also supported by Brunei’s Climate Change Secretariat and Ministry of Education. Eighty-five students from eight secondary schools and tertiary institutions participated in activities that raised awareness about climate change fundamentals, such as greenhouse gas emissions. Lively interactive sessions included group brainstorming on what it means to live a sustainable life, along with workshops on recycling and responsible consumption.

Deloitte Cambodia conducted a workshop on sustainable food-related practices. Run in collaboration with agricultural students and a professor from the Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture, the event provided our people with practical tips on composting kitchen scraps and yard waste to reduce food waste and create nutrient-rich fertilisers.

We also initiated a battery recycling drive in partnership with the managers of our office building in Phnom Penh. Battery recycling is crucial for resource conservation and environmental protection, so we encouraged our people to drop their used batteries into designated collection bins to prevent them from ending up in landfills and potentially contaminating the soil.

At Deloitte Indonesia, Earth Month saw us invite three prominent local environmental organisations to shed some light on the trends driving the sustainability conversation.

Ninety people attended to hear insights from Dietplastik Indonesia which advocates for policies to reduce single-use plastic bags, and Bicara Udara and Nafas Indonesia, which both focus on reducing air pollution. The organisations presented pioneering solutions for the environmental challenges they are tackling, enriching our team’s understanding and empowering them to make positive climate choices.

Earth Month also saw us hold a ‘Green Innovation’ event where master chefs from an eco-friendly local bakery and restaurant, Kerotian (by Roti Eneng), conducted a plant-based cooking demonstration. In a lively interactive session, the chefs emphasised how incorporating mindful food choices into our daily routines can significantly impact environmental sustainability. They also shared tips for creating delicious and sustainable recipes.

Deloitte Malaysia is fostering a green workplace culture by implementing a ‘no paper cups’ policy at office coffee machines to encourage our people to bring reusable mugs.

More than 42,000 paper cups have been saved from becoming waste since the policy was implemented in December 2023.

Since 2012, Deloitte Philippines has partnered with the Philippine Business for Social Progress on a reforestation project in Barangay San Jose, Antipolo, Rizal. In August 2023, 150 Deloitte volunteers planted 1,875 seedlings, comprising fruit-bearing and native trees, as an Impact Month contribution to the project. Deloitte’s efforts have contributed to restoring local biodiversity and mitigating climate change.

Deloitte Singapore implemented a recycling and repurposing initiative during Earth Month to encourage sustainable practices at the workplace. This included placing a designated box on each floor where our people could donate used stationery items. We then worked with an office stationery supplier to give these materials a second life by refurbishing and refilling them.

Our people also participated in an eco-learning activity organised by Edible Garden City, a local urban farm. This took the form of a ‘Pot-A-Plant’ workshop, which saw our people gain hands-on experience and knowledge about cultivating edible gardens at home, empowering them for individual action to tackle food scarcity risks and climate change adaptation.

Deloitte Thailand partnered with Scholars of Sustenance Thailand (SOS Thailand), a foundation dedicated to combating food waste and hunger, to make an impact during Earth Month 2024.

SOS Thailand shared with our people the environmental ramifications of food waste and the steps the foundation is taking to address this issue. Inspired by the sharing, our people ran a ‘Healthy School Meal Programme’ at the Masjid Mahanak Childcare Centre in Bangkok. During this programme, we prepared over 800 nutritious meals using surplus ingredients, supporting preschool children and nearby communities while diverting food waste from landfills.

Our people also launched a recycling initiative as part of our collective action to reduce plastic waste. We set up a plastic drop-off point in Deloitte Thailand’s staff lounge and encourage our people to collect and recycle their clean plastic coffee cups and lids. The recycled plastic is then sent to Send Plastic Home, a local collection point where post-consumer plastics are given a second life.

In 2020, the United Kingdom’s Royal Foundation launched the Earthshot Prize. This global environmental award recognises efforts that find and promote innovative solutions for repairing and restoring the planet.

Deloitte SEA supported the 2023 Earthshot Prize, which was held in Singapore for the first time that year. Deloitte experts from our Sustainability & Climate practice worked closely with the Earthshot Prize Council to screen award nominations, identifying outstanding solutions that have the potential to make a meaningful impact on communities and the natural world. Deloitte has also provided mentorship, resources, and networks to previous winners, helping them scale their innovations globally and drive lasting change.

Deloitte, DBS and Enterprise Singapore collaborated in December 2023 to host a business forum for Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) undertaking sustainability journeys. Entitled ‘Gear Up for the Green Economy’, the forum highlighted the robust support network available for companies navigating transitional challenges. It also saw the launch of Spurring Businesses Towards Sustainability Transformation, a new playbook jointly developed by Deloitte and DBS. The playbook aims to equip companies with the necessary tools, knowledge and strategies to embed sustainable practices into their operations and achieve long-term success.

With the support of Enterprise Singapore, Deloitte launched an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Essentials course to help Singapore companies and individuals kickstart their ESG journeys. This course is part of Enterprise Singapore’s broader Enterprise Sustainability Programme, which helps local businesses and entrepreneurs launch sustainability initiatives and capture new opportunities in the green economy.

Temasek Trust launched the Amplifier Mentoring Programme in 2023. This one-year programme equips selected climate tech startups with the tools and skillsets needed to deliver positive change at scale. Deloitte is the delivery partner for the programme’s inaugural cohort, with Deloitte Center for the Edge Southeast Asia coordinating our involvement and our internal sustainability subject matter experts contributing to the selection and upskilling of the startups involved.

Deloitte is also the amplifying partner for The Liveability Challenge (TLC), launched by Temasek Trust. TLC is a global call for viable, groundbreaking solutions to some of the most significant ‘liveability’ problems facing cities in the tropics.

Deloitte supported Google in producing a global review of public policy changes needed to enable climate impact. This collaboration saw us contribute content for discussions at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) and support Google's launch of digital commons for public use. This included the Data Commons, the world's biggest open-sourced AI-powered data platform designed to make publicly available data more accessible and useful for climate interventions.