Supporting environmental sustainability and procurement

EY is committed to shaping the future with confidence — one that creates sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

We recognize that our responsibility to minimize the environmental impact of EY business operations extends to EY people and clients and to the wider communities in which we all live. Moreover, EY is a proud participant in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), and our environmental strategy has been designed in alignment with the UNGC environmental principles. 

We are acting on a global basis because we recognize the opportunities and challenges that environmental sustainability poses to the communities in which we operate. Across the world, EY and all EY people are committed to this environmental statement, which aligns with our purpose and our core values. 

At EY Luxembourg, we incorporate climate awareness into all our service lines, through a specific climate agenda and focus on dedicated ESG Services, and we recognized that these efforts need to be strengthened further.

Reducing our own impact

EY is proud to have become carbon negative globally in FY22. We aim to be net zero by 2025.  EY Luxembourg is strongly committed to playing an active role in this global ambition. EY’s net zero path has been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative in July 2021.

To reach this goal, EY will reduce, at global level, the absolute emissions by 40% across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by FY25, against a FY19 baseline, consistent with our 1.5°C Science Based Targets.  

As a service provider, employee travel is our main source of CO2 emissions. To reduce these, our transport policy enforces the use of trains for any journey of less than four hours. As Luxembourg’s Government provides free public transport to all the citizens and workers, EY Luxembourg encourages the use of public transportation or of bicycles, which we ensure are at the disposal of our employees.

As part of our sustainability efforts, EY also provides a personalized dashboard for our business travelers, offering insights into booking behaviors and the consequential impacts on cost, efficiency, well-being, and the environment.

Reducing travel also involves the roll-out of video-conferencing tools to support our business. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to adapt our way of doing business by engaging with our clients and employees through various digital tools and platforms, such as MS Teams. EY Luxembourg continues to enhance technology enablement to improve working conditions and reduce our environmental impact.

EY Luxembourg decided to implement the “Workplace of the future” in its new office building, inaugurated at the end of 2015. EY wants to create a trust based, flexible environment, enabling our people to deliver exceptional client service, individually and through high performing teams, whilst attracting and retaining talent. 

To this end, EY Luxembourg is constantly: 

• Developing a range of creative solutions to strengthen our culture and improve client service, employee engagement, productivity, and well-being.
• Ensuring our working environments support greater collaboration and improved engagement with our colleagues and our clients. Offices and workspaces are purposely not assigned with the intention of increasing ideas and the leave of collaboration. 
• Enabling people to work effectively anywhere using the best technology.
• Supporting our changing business mix by delivering greater flexibility in how we work and use office space.
• Improving our space utilization, reducing our occupancy costs and reinvesting the savings in our business.

In this context, our office has become “an” environment and not “the only” environment in which employees are expected to work.

To limit our digital footprint, technology is a mean by which we can support office mobility. We make use of new top of the range and certified products, and we make sure that our IT Devices have a second life. Our IT lessor is strongly committed toward circular economy, which is fully integrated in its and our business model. They have already remarketed more than 690,000 assets in the global secondary IT market. 

To reduce our carbon footprint, we use the highest energy efficiency class in Luxembourg (BBB energy efficiency category). Our building is fitted with an intelligent facade design that integrates high thermal insulation, low radiation intake and efficient window screens with intelligent control, so we can maximize the use of natural light and recycle the energy we produce. We installed intelligent artificial lighting and green roofs in parts of the building that improve the micro-climate in and around the building and increase rainwater retention. 

To supply heat and hot water to our employees, we use the community heating. Moreover, we limit the usage of hot water in the building to the kitchen areas.

Following the challenges posed by the pandemic, our business has undergone significant development, resulting in an increase in in-person trips and meetings, impacting Scope 1 (company vehicles) emissions, Scope 3 (business travel) emissions   and our overall travel and fleet data. This upsurge in emissions within these scopes can be attributed to this shift in our operational approach. However, our commitment to reducing unnecessary electricity usage has led to a slight decrease in Scope 2 emissions as we continue to prioritize sustainability measures in our electricity consumption practices.

EY Luxembourg has been proactively addressing waste management. During the fiscal year 2023, due to construction activities on the premises, there was an increase in construction, demolition, and electrical waste, leading to a rise in the overall waste quantity. It's worth highlighting that when we exclude this specific event, our broader strategy continues to prioritize sustainable waste management practice. EY Luxembourg is trying to reduce paper consumption. Since we moved into the new building, we have been working in a paperless environment. We have implemented a print release system using badges (the so-called “follow-me” printing) and all employees are provided comprehensive trainings on less paper use as part of their onboarding. Furthermore, our audit teams have already embraced electronic signatures for almost all audit reports, paving the way for the entire organization. In line with this initiative, the marketing and advertising departments are actively transitioning towards digital campaigns, eliminating the use of traditional paper-based methods. This strategic shift collectively contributes significantly to the substantial reduction of paper usage at the organizational level.

EY Luxembourg is gradually transitioning to a greener fleet. In fact, almost 50% (49.8%) of leased vehicles ordered by employees in FY24 are electric and hybrid, compared to 5% in 2019.

Sustainable procurement 

In order to fulfil our purpose, EY Luxembourg will continue to enhance the way we engage with our suppliers and encourage the continuous improvement of the way we, and our supplier base, address and manage important societal issues. 

We officially endorsed the EY Global Policy on Sustainable Procurement. Our minimum standards are the result of not only the increasing regulatory environment globally with respect to particular issues, but also the increasing expectations of our clients and the wider community. 

EY values our supplier relationships and is committed to working with, and supporting our suppliers in achieving mutual objectives. A supplier’s performance and adherence to high business standards is an important and integral part of the value chain for EY. 

EY promotes and expects the application of high legal, ethical, environmental, and employee-related standards within our own business and among our suppliers.

This Supplier Code of Conduct sets forth the minimum standards of business conduct that we expect from all our suppliers:

1. Compliance with laws: Suppliers shall comply fully with all laws and regulations applicable to them. 
2. Environmental sustainability: EY expects its suppliers to demonstrate a clear understanding of the environmental risks, impacts and responsibilities associated with the products and services they provide.
3. Human rights and social sustainability: Policies should be in place to confirm the supplier’s commitment to human rights and to the highest recognized social standards. Improvement programs should be in place where relevant. Suppliers shall define a minimum standard of human rights that applies across all jurisdictions and demonstrate how compliance to this is encouraged and observed. Such standards should refer to, at the very least, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
4. Diversity and inclusiveness: Our sourcing decisions, contracts and management of supplier relationships will reflect and promote the principles of the EY Diversity and Inclusiveness policy (incorporating equal opportunities) in that they will seek to ensure that suppliers do not victimize, harass or discriminate against any employee or party due to their sex, gender identity/expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, ethnicity or national origin, disability, religion, sexual orientation, age or part-time status.
   Suppliers are obliged to meet the requirements of any applicable discrimination legislation. Our suppliers are treated fairly and equally during the tendering and purchasing process. 
5. Ethics: The highest standard of integrity is expected in all our business dealings. Any and all forms of corruption, extortion, bribery (including facilitation payments), and embezzlement are strictly prohibited and may result in immediate termination and legal action.
6. Monitoring: EY may conduct annual compliance surveys to confirm compliance with this Supplier Code of Conduct. However, EY expects that suppliers will actively audit and monitor their day-to-day management processes with respect to the EY Code of Conduct and provide evidence to EY upon request.

Employee engagement in environmental initiatives

From FY22, our water coolers were definitively replaced by the drinkable water available in the EY kitchens to refill water bottles offered by EY Luxembourg to each employee. We also switched to our EY reusable cups, compatible with our coffee machines. They are simple, convenient, help reduce waste and keep the environment cleaner and healthier.