How EY and Desjardins are advancing sustainability through alliances

From core business projects to function optimization programs: EY has supported Desjardins on a wide range of transformative client engagements for the last 13 years. What’s constant? A shared philosophy unleashing truly remarkable results requires EY and Desjardins teams to work collaboratively as one integrated, multidisciplinary team.

That spirit extends to how EY and Desjardins support the broader community. Through the EY Ripples corporate responsibility program, teams across the firm seek to make a larger, more positive difference by sharing skills and working with other organizations. In Desjardins, EY found a like-minded ally, equally keen to find new ways of addressing sustainability overall, and the climate crisis specifically.

Together, EY and Desjardins asked: how can we catalyze entrepreneurial progress to address the climate crisis now?

EY and Desjardins co-developed the Impact Alliance for Sustainability. This innovative program brings together early-stage cleantech and sustainability entrepreneurs focused on developing innovative ideas to solve the climate crisis. The goal? Spark additional progress by fostering an ecosystem in which these entrepreneurs can bolster resources, access fresh insight, make new connections and scale their impact.

Through the program, professionals from EY and Desjardins jointly host virtual and in-person workshops for entrepreneurs across Canada. Each session is geared to a specific cleantech, sustainability or entrepreneurship theme. For example, one workshop focused on illuminating trends and opportunities for impact entrepreneurs in Canada was led by government incentive and environmental, social and governance (ESG) professionals from EY’s tax advisory practice. Participants gained insight into opportunities, credits, funding and more resources to move their business forward.

In the first year, nearly 500 entrepreneurs registered for six EY-Desjardins workshops as part of this program. Together, they explored topics like design of innovative solutions in climate tech, business models for climate solutions, and market validation for climate tech solutions. In the second year, they pivoted to a cohort model and supported 12 entrepreneurs across sectors like energy, transportation, construction, and manufacturing through targeted workshops and curated ecosystem networking events. Entrepreneurs from are first two cohorts are now actively incorporating that learning and those relationships into their business model as they work to address the climate crisis through Canadian-made solutions.

Next up, EY and Desjardins are adapting to make even bigger ripples in year three. EY and Desjardins will continue to offer programming that aligns companies looking to implement climate tech solutions directly with climate tech entrepreneurs already focused on this area — all with a goal of making meaningful progress towards a more sustainable future.