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PwC has imposed restrictions on its UK companions flying enterprise class on work journeys, because the accounting agency makes an attempt to scale back its carbon footprint and lower prices.
PwC advised senior UK employees in October that solely folks travelling on long-haul evening flights or these flying for “business-critical” causes can be allowed to sit down in enterprise class, folks aware of the matter advised the Financial Times.
The new PwC UK steering applies to companions and administrators, and different employees who accompany them on journeys. The agency’s earlier coverage allowed senior employees to travel in enterprise class on flights that have been 5 hours or longer.
It comes because the Big Four accounting companies — Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — search to trim prices and as giant employers in the reduction of on travel to scale back their carbon emissions, relying extra on video calls to conduct conferences.
PwC has pledged to chop emissions from its operations to web zero by 2030. Business travel stays PwC UK’s single-largest supply of carbon air pollution, with flying accounting for greater than two-thirds of the agency’s emissions in 2022.
Business-class seats have a better carbon footprint than financial system ones as a result of they take up extra room and are extra regularly empty.
The new PwC steering says companions and administrators ought to sometimes travel in premium financial system class if a flight is 5 hours or extra, in response to folks briefed on the coverage.
Business class can nonetheless be used for employees travelling in a single day or if there’s a “business-critical” motive, akin to an worker having a company assembly on arrival, they added.
The transfer comes at a time when the Big Four companies are slicing prices amid a market slowdown. In the UK, PwC is axing as much as 600 jobs.
Partners at PwC UK secured a median payout of £906,000 within the 12 months to June, down £119,000 from the earlier yr, as income stagnated.
Marissa Thomas, managing associate at PwC UK, mentioned: “Flights account for almost all of our carbon emissions so we’re solely going to satisfy our web zero goal if our folks take a extremely considerate method to air travel.
“Given a business-class seat is roughly 50 per cent extra carbon-intensive than one in premium financial system, we’re asking companions and administrators to consider carefully about in the event that they want one.”
She added PwC was encouraging employees to benefit from enterprise journeys, partly by spending longer at a location to scale back a number of visits.
In August, the Financial Times reported that Europe’s three main airline teams — Air France-KLM, IAG and Lufthansa — had recorded a drop within the fee of restoration in company travel this yr due to rising costs and firms searching for to chop emissions.
