PwC expands sustainability focus with senior appointment

PwC has appointed Lynne Baber to lead an enlarged sustainability practice that merges the firm’s sustainability and climate change consulting business with its ESG risk advisory business.

PwC Sustainability brings together practitioners from a variety of skill sets and backgrounds, such as ESG regulation; strategy, transformation, integrated reporting; risk modelling; advanced analytics; supply chain, sustainable finance, governance, impact; and risk and controls.

Baber has 20 years’ experience in accountancy and risk and reporting and joined PwC in 2003. Before taking on the risk ESG brief, she focused on defence, as well as corporate reporting and finance transformation.

The new practice aims to work with clients on all aspects of their sustainability journey from defining its strategy through transformation, to stakeholder reporting and future direction. The team will develop different methods for approaching critical ESG challenges, invest in people and technology, and deliver propositions.

Reporting to Zubin Randeria, PwC UK’s head of ESG, Baber will be supported by Jon Williams, PwC sustainability chairman, and a leadership team of partners comprising Ian Milborrow, Dave Gandee, Dan Dowling, David Marriage, Tom Loukes, David Croker and Tom Beagent. Emma Cox remains PwC’s global head of climate.

The team of specialists will support PwC’s ESG ‘built-in’ strategy to help support clients across the entire business.

Baber said: “I’m delighted to be leading PwC Sustainability in a market where business leaders, investors and communities want to see action on climate change and broader sustainability issues and opportunities.

“I believe organisations should do the right thing for the right reasons, and that philosophy will run throughout the culture of our new team. I am delighted to be appointed to lead the team and can’t wait to begin to deliver on this huge opportunity. I’m incredibly excited about the future.”

Randeria added: “Our new PwC Sustainability practice combines the world-class capabilities of our Sustainability and Climate Change Team with the growing Risk ESG business to create a business with much greater scale. Lynne has been a great leader for our Risk ESG business and I’m delighted she is leading this new practice.

“The new team will be taking up some of the greatest challenges that UK businesses are currently facing. Looking forward, we know we don’t have all of the answers, but we will use our current skills and technologies, and invest to remain confident that we can find the solutions we will need tomorrow as this challenge accelerates.”