Acquiring the U.S. operations of Sustainable Finance Limited (SFL), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) strengthens its ability to help clients mitigate investment risk and capitalize on opportunities in climate change and carbon markets, water usage, biodiversity impacts and the support of universal human rights.
SFL, an international advisory firm with operations based in the United Kingdom, the United States and Holland, is focused on environmental and social risk management in the financial sector. SFL was instrumental in developing the Carbon Principles – climate change guidelines for evaluating and addressing carbon risks in the financing of electric power projects in the United States.
SFL also helped develop the Equator Principles in 2003, the international industry standard for managing environmental and social risks in project management.
The acquisition follows a year in which PwC more than doubled its sustainability and climate change practice worldwide to 800 professionals.
PwC UK, which is acquiring the UK and European operations of SFL, will admit Johnson into the PwC UK partnership. Sustainable Finance will operate under its existing brand in the UK and Europe.
“We continue to strengthen our ability to deliver value to companies seeking to translate climate change and sustainability challenges into opportunity,” says Dennis Nally, chairman and senior partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, US. “This is particularly important as the new Obama administration, which has placed climate change on the top of its agenda, takes office.”
“Combining SFL’s distinctive suite of intellectual property and capabilities with PwC’s unmatched network of clients and professionals will help companies more effectively address one of the most important issues of today,” says Matt Arnold, who founded Sustainable Finance Limited with Leo Johnson in 2003.
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