CHICAGO and NEW YORK (May 3, 2022) – PwC, a professional services firm and an industry leader in a full range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) professional services, and Sphera, a leading global provider of ESG performance and risk management software, data and consulting services, today announced an alliance to rapidly scale implementation of Sphera’s market-leading ESG software platform and solutions.
The alliance seeks to build on Sphera’s history of successful ESG platform customer deployments and PwC’s proven technology and strategy consulting capabilities to help rapidly grow the Sphera customer base, expanding the use of Sphera platform’s suite of capabilities, and creating a stronger ESG digital ecosystem for our customers.
ESG addresses the non-financial factors that impact the performance of a company, and these issues are often material to a company’s strategy and long-term value creation. The markets and other stakeholders are increasingly asking for transparent, auditable ESG reporting, which has become a business imperative for companies. Climate change, social responsibility and corporate governance can impact the valuations of companies and the ability of institutions to invest in those companies. Broad sets of stakeholders—not just shareholders—hold companies accountable for their progress against ESG factors. Cost of capital, employee retention, shareholder trust and customer loyalty all hang in the balance of ESG performance metrics, with stakeholders ready to question ESG disclosures if they are not backed by robust evidence and reporting. To implement credible ESG reporting, which not only meets regulatory guidelines but also helps build trust with stakeholders, organizations should report their non-financial data alongside their financial information.
Spanning more than 3,000 customers in over 80 countries, Sphera supports businesses globally to manage and mitigate ESG risk through its software as a service solution (SaaS), consulting services, and proven, science-based environmental data. Sphera’s innovative software, information and expert-driven insights empower organizations to protect their people, assets and communities and to understand, help improve and communicate their product ESG performance while meeting their business ambitions. Sphera previously received the smart innovators badge for corporate ESG and sustainability software in the Verdantix “Smart Innovators: Corporate ESG & Sustainability Software” report and was recognized as a leader in EHS software in the Verdantix “Green Quadrant: EHS Software 2021” report.
PwC is a leader in ESG and sustainability consulting services. The firm has engaged with clients on sustainability and climate change for more than 20 years, with consulting on ESG and sustainability becoming a strategic priority for the PwC network in 2020 through the launch of The New Equation strategy. In recent years, PwC is helping companies with their decarbonization journey, including tracking emissions footprints and implementing carbon ledgers, and guiding clients across industries towards investor-grade ESG reporting. PwC was recently recognized for its market-leading ESG capabilities by Verdantix in its Green Quadrant for ESG and Sustainability Consulting 2022.
Neil Dhar, Vice Chairman & co-leader of PwC’s Consulting business, said, “PwC is excited to team with Sphera to bring its industry leading capabilities to market around the critical topic of sustainability, reflecting the firm’s values across a host of environmental, social and governance challenges. With increasing complexity surrounding regulatory requirements, such as SEC climate disclosures and the EU taxonomy system, there’s a clear need to supply verifiable data to the market.”
“With recent regulatory changes implemented and more to come, global companies need to be focused on actively managing and mitigating ESG risk,” said Paul Marushka, Sphera’s CEO and president. “Sphera’s vision is for all businesses to view ESG and sustainability strategies not just as a compliance exercise but as a tool for innovation, and we are excited to collaborate with PwC to help companies deliver on their ESG ambitions. Enabling our customers to make better-informed decisions is crucial to supporting our mission of creating a safer, more sustainable and productive world.”
Eli Nagler, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said, “Blackstone’s 2021 investment in Sphera, as well as its integration into our portfolio decarbonization program, illustrates our firmwide focus on the increasing importance of ESG issues to businesses globally—from both an investment and risk management perspective. The powerful combination of Sphera’s next generation digital ESG solutions and PwC’s robust consulting business will be a meaningful enabler for the countless organizations implementing and enhancing their ESG strategies.”
About PwC
At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. Across our global network of firms of more than 295,000 people in 156 countries, PwC provides professional services across two segments: Trust Solutions and Consulting Solutions. Find out more at The New Equation.
About Sphera
Sphera is the leading provider of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services focusing on Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S), Operational Risk Management and Product Stewardship. For more than 30 years, we have served over 3,000 customers and a million-plus users in 80 countries to help companies keep their people safe, their products sustainable and their operations productive.
Learn more about Sphera at www.sphera.com. Follow Sphera on LinkedIn.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $881 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
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