Introduction
Our goal is to provide stakeholders with a sustainability statement that aligns with the first set of ESRS adopted by the EU, reporting transparently both on our current performance and on our future ambitions. Since the publication of our previous statement, the European Commission has proposed significant amendments to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) through its Omnibus package. These include a potential narrowing of the scope to only the largest companies, intended to simplify reporting and reduce administrative burdens. These amendments were still under negotiation and had not entered into force at the time of preparing this statement. Therefore, KPMG remains committed to voluntarily applying the first set of ESRS, in the belief that transparent sustainability reporting is essential to the success of our long-term strategy and impact management.
This year, we have therefore built on the foundations laid in last year’s integrated report, using the lessons learned from the preparation of our first sustainability statement. While the initial process brought challenges, it also provided valuable insights into our sustainability performance and reporting processes. In 2024/2025, we focused on improving the quality and management of key data, including by developing an ESG Dashboard to collect and interpret environmental data. At this stage, the dashboard includes only environmental indicators, but we plan to expand it in the near future to also incorporate social and governance data. Creating stronger and more automated connections with internal and external data sources, such as office and fleet management systems and supplier data, means we can better monitor and steer toward our targets.
About this statement
This sustainability statement encompasses all aspects of our organization, as well as our upstream and downstream value chain. It has been prepared on a consolidated basis, with the scope of consolidation the same as that of our financial statements (excluding KPMG Meijburg & Co. and KPMG International), ensuring consistency and transparency in our reporting.
In addition to the statutory audit of the financial statements, we have voluntarily engaged our auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V., to provide limited assurance on our sustainability statement. The independent auditor’s assurance report can be found here.
The statement explains how we manage the sustainability impacts, risks and opportunities (IROs) in our own operations and upstream and downstream value chain.
About our disclosures
For an overview of all our in-scope ESRS disclosure requirements, please see our ESRS-aligned content index.
We have included 21 entity-specific metrics in this sustainability statement, to help our stakeholders better understand our impact and performance on the related sustainability matters. Of these, 16 are related to (Audit) Quality, with the remaining 5 distributed among sub-topics within Own workforce, Data security, and Compliance with regulations.
In our disclosures, we define “key policies” and “key actions” as those that drive significant and material change in relation to the sustainability matters that are most material to our stakeholders.
Disclosures incorporated by reference
To streamline our sustainability reporting, we have incorporated certain information by reference to other sections of this integrated report. All the other references, including those to websites, are only meant to provide for more background, but not to incorporate the information by reference. The following list outlines the ESRS disclosure requirements and specific data points that appear in other parts of the Board of Management report or financial statements.
For the role of the administrative, management, and supervisory bodies, see section “Sustainability governance, Roles and responsibilities.”
For the composition and experience of KPMG’s Board of Management and Supervisory Board, see the management review sections “Board of Management” and “Members of the Supervisory Board.”
For an explanation of our business model and strategy and how our sustainability matters are included, see “Business model and strategy."
For information on how we embed adherence to strict compliance standards in our organization, see regulatory compliance, governance, policies and legal liability under enterprise risk as presented in the table “Overview of our financial, strategic, operational, and compliance risks.”
For details of engagement with stakeholders, see section “Overview of stakeholder engagement activities.”
Disclosures related to specific circumstances
For this reporting, our short-term horizon is set at 1 year, our medium-term horizon is set at 2 to 3 years, and our long-term horizon is set at 10 years. These definitions align with our strategic planning cycles and allow us to monitor and achieve our sustainability objectives effectively.
In preparing both qualitative and quantitative disclosures, we make judgments and apply estimates and assumptions in relation to the data we report. This inherently involves uncertainty, and actual outcomes may therefore differ from previous estimations. When disclosing forward-looking information – such as targets, ambitions, and objectives – we acknowledge the uncertainties and indicate that such information is subject to change. To provide context for and support understanding of our disclosures, we explain the assumptions and approximations applied in our definitions table in the appendices.
For quantitative disclosures on Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in particular, we primarily use secondary data from reputable sources and methodologies aligned with the GHG Protocol. While this enhances the accuracy of our reported emissions, this external data is subject to a level of uncertainty. We remain committed to further improving the accuracy of our Scope 3 emissions data by increasing engagement with our suppliers and advancing our data management practices through automation and monitoring systems.