Shaping a 
sustainable 
future 
Accenture AB  |  Sustainability Report fiscal year 2021 
(September 1 2020-August 31 2021)

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Contents
Overview
A letter to our stakeholders
Goals & Progress at a glance
Our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals
Highest priority SDGs for Accenture in Sweden’s operations
Accenture’s Environmental, Social and Governance materiality matrix	
Case: SDG ambition accelerator program
Supply Chain: 
Securing responsible procurement
Our ethical procurement strategy
Human rights commitment
Social Impact: 
Creating social impact
Sparking innovation for society with our people and ecosystem
Societal response to COVID-19
Accenture Development Partnerships	
Case: Sara Kulturhus
People: 
Focusing on our people
Caring for our people
Investing in our people
Accelerating equality for all	
Case: Open Door Session
A look ahead
Path to net-zero: 
Working towards a path to net-zero
Accelerating our 1.5°C climate ambition in Sweden
Pillar 1: Accelerating the reduction of our own emissions
Pillar 2: Reducing our value chain emissions
Pillar 3: Integrating sustainability by design in our business strategy
	
Case: H&M Foundation Billion Dollar Collection
Pillar 4: Influencing climate action in our society and with our people	
Case: Telia—The Shift
Ethics and  
Governance: 
Living our core values
Integrity is always top of mind
	
Case: Spring Talkers
Digital responsibility

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As terrible as the COVID-19 pandemic 
has been over the past years, we are 
now seeing a world awakened to an 
incredible opportunity to reimagine and 
rebuild responsibly and sustainably and, 
in turn, transform our global economy 
into one that works for the benefit of all.
At Accenture, we like to think of this as shared 
success. Shared success will depend on the 
ability to understand all stakeholders; connect 
the power of technology, human ingenuity, and 
business value; and accelerate technology-led 
transformation. To realize this future, organizations 
across all sectors must embrace this moment 
of—and opportunity for—change. We must think 
differently, act boldly and reach new levels 
of collaboration—and we must do it now.
Our strategy at Accenture is to deliver 360-degree 
value. That means that we build into our own business 
a commitment to deliver the value our clients need, 
beyond the financial business case. We are embedding  
sustainability by design into our core business—  
into everything we do and for everyone we work 
with: our clients, people, shareholders, partners, 
and communities. We believe sustainability is 
the new digital—it is a truly powerful force of 
change; transforming how we live and work.  
As this report demonstrates, we continue to raise 
the bar for what we can accomplish—and the speed 
at which we act. Thanks to our incredible partners, 
and to our 1400 people in Sweden who continuously 
dedicate themselves to our clients and stakeholders. 
Through their personal commitments and passion, we 
are able to drive positive change and deliver on the 
promise of technology and human ingenuity every day.
Mattias Lewrén
Chief Executive Officer
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead
A letter to our 
stakeholders

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* Accenture-sponsored “Time & Skills Programs” comprise Accenture Development Partnerships, pro bono consulting and paid volunteering projects
**  Executives (Managers and above so CL7 – MDs) 
carbon emissions per  
employee in Sweden from 
air travel in fiscal 2021  
0,05 ton
in air travel per employee  
in Sweden from prior year
89% reduction 
rates for Accenture in Sweden on 
our ethics & compliance trainings  
in fiscal 2021
99%  completion 
from renewable sources  
in Sweden in fiscal 2021
99% electricity 
Goals & Progress 
at a glance
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead
Setting ambitious goals to achieve 
50/50 global gender balance by 2025
By the end of fiscal 2021 in the Swedish 
organization, women accounted for: 
43% of new hires
48% of our total workforce 
31% of our executives **
22% of our managing directors
19,000 
hours of participation in Accenture-   
sponsored Time & Skills program in 
Sweden 2021 *

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The health, economic and social 
crises of 2020 have set back progress 
against the Sustainable Development 
Goals (SDGs), with one comprehensive 
analysis suggesting the pandemic will 
drive a highly or moderately negative 
impact on 13 of the 17 SDGs.*
Now, more than ever, we are committed to playing 
our part in accelerating change. This year, Accenture 
has continued to partner with the United Nations—
alongside SAP and 3M—to launch SDG Ambition to 
challenge and support companies everywhere to raise 
the bar in driving progress on the SDGs. As part of the 
SDG Ambition Accelerator, we are helping to drive 
adoption among more than 600 companies across 
65 countries, including 31 Nordic companies, among 
which are 16 Swedish and 15 Finnish companies (see 
case story SDG Ambition Accelerator Program).
Shared action and collaboration remain crucial 
to our strategy. Increasingly, we use SDGs as a 
universal language to galvanize action with our 
clients, ecosystem partners, suppliers, and other 
stakeholders. For example, we use Accenture’s 
SDG prioritization to inform our clients and 
suppliers about our most important SDGs. 
Against this backdrop, we have continued to 
focus our efforts against our top-priority SDGs.
Globally, we have also refreshed our SDG analysis 
against our ESG materiality matrix in 2020 as part of 
our standard annual review, further strengthening 
the link between our ESG materiality matrix and 
the SDGs we are prioritizing. Our goal was to 
understand emerging issues—including the effects 
of the global pandemic—and potential changes to 
how we prioritize our ESG topics. In addition, we 
have set several important new goals relating to 
SDGs and ESG material issues, particularly around 
climate, waste, water, and inclusion and diversity. 
For more details on the materiality matrix and how 
the ESG Materiality topics match to the SDGs, see 
our global sustainability report United Nations Global 
Compact: Communication on Progress 2020.
We recognize that we can increase our impact by 
thinking about the ripple effect of outcomes we 
can generate. For example, we know that action 
on gender (SDG 5) helps reduce inequalities 
(SDG 10), and that strong, ethical institutions 
(SDG 16) foster the conditions for innovation 
to thrive (SDG 9), thereby enhancing work 
opportunities and economic growth (SDG 8).
* Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., Woelm, F. 2020. The Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19. Sustainable Development Report 2020. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Our commitment to the 
Sustainable Development Goals
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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Notes
•	
Topics not included on this matrix are not considered relevant for our non-financial disclosures. 
•	
For GRI purposes, the outlined sections of the above matrix contain the most material non-financial topics in scope for 
reporting with the GRI Standards that are included in our GRI Content Index. For each topic, our list of definitions of 
material topics references the specific Standards used as well as Management Approach information. This report has 
been prepared referencing the GRI Standards. For more information about these Standards, please visit the GRI website.
•	
To view the high priority SDGs mapped to Accenture’s ESG material issues, please see page 65, Global report “United 
Nations Global Compact: Communication on Progress 2020”.
Importance to stakeholders
Importance to business
MEDIUM
HIGH
VERY HIGH
MEDIUM
HIGH
VERY HIGH
•	 Community 
Giving
•	 Human Rights
•	 Responsible Buying 
•	 Societal Impact 
•	 Public Policy & 
Advocacy 
•	 Water 
•	 Waste, including 
e-waste
•	 Data Privacy & Cyber 
Security
•	 Ethics & Integrity
•	 Climate Change & 
Carbon Emissions
•	 Responsible Technology 
& Innovation
•	 Inclusion,  
Diversity & Equal 
Opportunity
•	 Enabling Clients’ 
Sustainability 
•	 Employee Well-being & 
Engagement
•	 Working Conditions 
•	 ESG Management 
•	 Talent Attraction, 
Retention &  
Development
•	 Nature, Biodiversity 
& Wildlife
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
We continue to capture the importance of our 
highest-priority ESG topics to our stakeholders and 
our business in our ESG materiality matrix. This 
serves as a consistent framework for articulating 
our priorities and engaging with our stakeholders 
about the journey we are taking. At the summary 
level, the process we undertook was:
Inputs to the stakeholder axis
We used specialist third-party software to conduct 
detailed benchmarking and analysis of recent and 
emerging ESG issues across peers, competitors 
and others. We also reviewed the latest insights on 
ESG materiality from relevant nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs), industry bodies and academics; 
new frameworks and good practices, such as the 
universal ESG metrics from the World Economic 
Forum; and the SDG Ambition benchmarks.  
We worked with our Investor Relations team to 
understand emerging investor requirements 
captured through our annual shareholder outreach 
process, and analyzed our clients’ ESG requests 
and emerging priorities using our client request 
tool, where we log and respond to clients’ 
requests for ESG information (e.g., as part of 
proposals or supplier compliance reviews). 
Inputs to the business axis 
We reviewed our business prioritization in light of 
Accenture’s new purpose and governance changes, 
our new ESG targets, our Enterprise Risk Management 
program, and other related impacts on our people 
and global operations. We also worked directly with 
a number of our senior leaders to identify possible 
changes to our issues or how we prioritize them.
Accenture’s Environmental, Social 
and Governance materiality matrix
A Look Ahead

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Sustainability is fundamental in everything we do
STAKEHOLDER FACING
Sustainability is business for us
BUSINESS FACING
In 2020, Accenture in Sweden updated our framework 
for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 
identifying the top prioritized SDGs and key targets for 
our business – those where we consider we can make the 
most significant contribution from our operations. The 
prioritized SDGs are a result of thorough analysis from 
a wide selection of input and perspectives: direct and 
indirect stakeholders, economic market development, 
technology factors, competitor analysis and civil society. 
The process included conducting market research of our top 20 clients 
in the Nordics. The results showed that our top three business-facing 
SDGs are within industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), and 
responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and climate action 
(SDG 13). SDG 13, climate action, responds to one of the most pressing 
issues of our time, and is a top priority among our stakeholders.
Although we have categorized the prioritized SDGs in business facing 
and stakeholder facing, there are overlaps—what is important to our 
business is also important to our stakeholders and vice versa.
Highest priority  
SDGs for Accenture in 
Sweden’s operations	
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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3.8 Achieve universal health coverage… access to quality 
essential healthcare services… 
5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal 
opportunities for leadership at all levels... 
5.b Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular 
information and communications technology, to promote the 
empowerment of women. 
8.2 Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through 
diversification, technological upgrading and innovation…
8.4 Improve progressively… global resource efficiency in 
consumption and production and endeavour to decouple 
economic growth from environmental degradation… 
8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent 
work for all women and men, including for young people and 
persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value. 
 
 
8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working 
environments for all workers…
9.2 Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 
2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross 
domestic product… 
9.5 Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological 
capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries… encouraging 
innovation… 
10.2 Empower and promote the social, economic and political 
inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, 
origin, religion or economic or other status.
12.2 By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient 
use of natural resources. 
12.5 By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through 
prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
 
 
12.6 Encourage companies, especially large and transnational 
companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate 
sustainability information into their reporting cycle. 
13.2 Incorporate measures to fight climate change into policies, 
strategies and planning.
13.3 Improve education, awareness-raising and human and 
institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, 
impact reduction and early warning.
16.5 Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms. 
16.6 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions 
at all levels.
17.16 Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, 
complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize 
and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial 
resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable 
development goals in all countries…
17
Most relevant SDG targets for 
Accenture in Sweden’s operations
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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SDG Ambition 
Accelerator program	  
In 2015, all United Nations’ member states accepted the 2030 
Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is a shared plan for 
current and future harmony and well-being for people and the 
planet. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are at the 
core of this agenda. Everyone must act together to reach the 
SDGs, however, the world, and especially the business community, 
is not progressing towards the goals at the pace and scale that 
is needed. According to recent research by Accenture and 
the United Nations Global Compact, only 21% of CEOs believe 
business is playing a critical role in contributing to SDGs.
SDG Ambition Accelerator seeks to change this. The initiative 
was launched in January 2020 by the UN Global Compact 
in partnership with Accenture and SAP, and joined by 3M 
as Patron Sponsor, as a practical response to an urgent 
call for action. SDG Ambition’s purpose is to challenge and 
support thousands of companies in more than 65 countries 
to accelerate their level of sustainable ambition to meet both 
the society’s and the planet’s needs by fully incorporating 
the SDGs into business strategy and operations. 
Following the SDG Ambition Accelerator launch, Accenture 
and SAP have released concrete guidance to help businesses 
accelerate action to achieve the SDGs. Accenture has led 
development of program materials which included insights 
from the CEO Study and Progress Report and, furthermore, 
the team has created in-country curriculum and workshop 
materials and assisted with in-country program delivery. 
CASE
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
“It has been an inspiration and privilege to be part 
of the UN SDG Ambition Accelerator program. The 
commitment and leadership shown by the companies 
that embed the SDGs into their business strategies and 
operations is impressive, and it is truly amazing to be 
a part of the journey to create a sustainable future for 
generations to come.” 
Daniel Hind 
Digital Transformation Senior Manager, Accenture
“The SDG Ambition Accelerator is one of our key 
initiatives to support companies in accelerating 
their progress towards the SDGs. However, the 
importance of Accenture’s role for the delivery 
of SDG Ambition cannot be stressed enough. 
Throughout the accelerator, participating 
companies were accompanied by  
a talented Accenture team of sustainability and 
technology specialists that provided hands-on 
guidance and support.”
Magnus Mellgren 
Operations and Network Manager, UN Global 
Compact Network Sweden
A Look Ahead

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Working towards  
a path to net-zero
Path to Net-Zero
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The UN Global Compact has designated this the “decade 
to deliver” on the UN SDGs and the promise of a greener, 
more equitable future. Meaningful climate action requires 
collaboration between businesses, individuals, governments, 
and nongovernmental organizations. We are committed 
to enabling global cooperation among business leaders to 
achieve a low-carbon future. The calls for business action 
grew louder in 2020, as the world navigated unprecedented 
challenges, including the ongoing, intensifying climate crisis, 
as well as the global pandemic. 
At this unique moment when the world is reimagining how to 
work and live, we have an opportunity to change the business 
of business by incorporating sustainable practices into the 
design of operations.
Through our own actions and our work with clients and 
ecosystem partners, we are helping to transform the global 
economy into a more sustainable marketplace. In this context 
we announced three new industry-leading environmental goals 
in October 2020: achieve net-zero emissions by 2025, move to 
zero waste and plan for water risk. 
Our environmental strategy focuses on three areas: 
•	
Helping our clients achieve their goals, including 
transitioning to low-carbon energy, migrating to greener 
IT and responsible value chains. 
•	
Reducing our own footprint, including carbon emissions, 
waste generation and water impact.
•	
Engaging our people to innovate to address key 
environmental issues. 
Reducing our environmental impact is built into our Code 
of Business Ethics (COBE) and our core values, specifically 
Stewardship. These inform our  Environmental Responsibility 
Policy, which was established in 2007 and is reviewed annually 
by our Environment governance group.
Working towards 
a path to net-zero
High priority SDG targets 
relevant for this chapter:
8.4  	 Improve progressively… global resource efficiency in consumption 	
	
	
and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from 	
	
	
environmental degradation… 
9.2	
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization…
9.5 	
Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological 	
	
	
	
capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries… 	encouraging 	
	
	
innovation 
12.2	
By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of  
	
natural resources
12.5	
By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through 	
	
	
	
prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
12.6	
Encourage companies, especially large and transnational 	
	
	
	
companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate 	
	
	
	
sustainability information into their reporting cycle  
13.3	
Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional  
	
capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact 	
	
	
	
reduction and early warning
17.16	
Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, 		
	
	
complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize 	
	
	
and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial 	
	
	
	
resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable 	
	
	
	
development goals in all countries…
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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Accenture in Sweden is a member of the Exponential Roadmap 
Initiative. The initiative has developed the 1.5°C Business Playbook, a 
framework supporting companies to halve their CO2 emissions each 
decade to meet the 1.5°C climate ambition. It focuses on strategy and 
action to accelerate climate action results and is built upon the four 
pillars. At Accenture in the Nordics, we have a dedicated environment 
cross-functional core team who are working across all four pillars 
to reduce our CO2 emissions and achieve net-zero by 2025.
Accelerating our 1.5°C 
climate ambition in Sweden
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
Reduce 
your own 
emissions
Reduce 
your value 
chain 
emissions
Integrate 
climate in 
business 
strategy
Influence 
climate 
action in 
society
1
4
2
3
A Look Ahead

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Pillar 1  
Accelerating the reduction 
of our own emissions
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
Over the last decade, Accenture has continually set 
bigger and bolder environmental goals, innovating 
our approach to environmental sustainability, and 
making strategic investments. Our new, industry-
leading climate action goals take an ambitious 
approach to addressing energy, waste and water 
management. By 2025, we have committed to: 
Achieve net-zero emissions 
•	
We’ll focus first on actual reductions in 
our emissions by powering our offices 
with 100% renewable energy, engaging 
key suppliers to reduce their emissions 
and equipping our people to make 
climate-smart travel decisions.
•	
To address remaining emissions, we’ll invest 
in proprietary, nature-based carbon removal 
solutions, such as large-scale tree planting, 
that will directly remove carbon emissions 
from the atmosphere.  
•	
In addition, at Accenture in Sweden, we have 
committed to reduce our CO2 emissions 
from air travel with 50% per employee by 
2023, with fiscal year 2018 as the baseline.
Move to zero waste 
•	
We’ll reuse or recycle 100% of our 
e-waste, such as computers and servers, 
as well as all our office furniture. 
•	
We’re committed to eliminating single-
use plastics in our locations at the 
conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Plan for water risk 
•	
We’ll develop plans to reduce the impact of 
flooding, drought and water scarcity on our 
business and our people in high-risk areas. 
•	
We’ll also immediately begin to measure 
and reduce water use in these locations.
In alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement, 
we’ve also pledged to do our part to keep global 
warming below 1.5° Celsius by joining more than 
400 companies that have signed the UN Global 
Compact’s Business Ambition for 1.5° Pledge to date. 
Multiple industry-wide external certifications, such 
as ISO® 14001, demonstrate our commitment to 
running our business responsibly and sustainably 
and to integrating robust environmental practices 
into our operations. Accenture’s Environment 
Management System is ISO® 14001-certified 
globally—to see our ISO®-certified locations, 
locations that use smart metering and where 
we’re powering our offices with renewable 
energy, visit our Environmental Impact Map.
Emissions and energy
To reach our net-zero goal by 2025, we will reduce 
emissions by powering offices with 100%  
 
 
renewable electricity, engaging key suppliers to 
reduce their emissions and equipping Accenture’s 
people to make climate-smart travel decisions. 
Because we do not own our office buildings, our 
plans to increase renewable electricity are not 
heavily focused on on-site renewable generation. 
Rather, we are engaging market based renewable 
electricity purchase opportunities. In locations 
where Accenture owns electricity procurement 
decisions, we can move fast to make changes. In 
locations where energy is purchased on our behalf, 
we are collaborating with building management 
and others to improve our renewable electricity 
mix. In Sweden, 99% of our electricity consumption 
came from renewable sources in fiscal 2021. 
A Look Ahead

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Our absolute reductions
By 2025, Accenture globally aims to reduce our 
absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 11%, our scope* 
1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 65% and scope 
1, 2 and 3 emissions per unit of revenue intensity by 
40%. Our progress against those goals in 2020: 
•	
Total emissions—reflecting short-term 
impacts of the pandemic—decreased 
by 32% from our baseline, exceeding 
one aspect of our 2025 target. 
•	
Scope 1 and 2 were reduced by 39%. 
Emissions per unit of revenue were  
reduced by 45%. 
  
While we celebrate the temporary reductions in 
emissions seen in fiscal 2020/2021 and the important 
possibilities this represents, we remain committed to 
keeping our sights set on exceeding all the elements 
of our science-based target on a long-term basis 
following the end of the pandemic and its related 
impacts. This includes how we power our offices, 
taking a cloud-first approach to improve energy 
efficiency. In some offices around the globe, 
during the early stages of shelter-in-place due to 
the global pandemic, we saw energy reduction of 
more than 80%. We are able to track this because 
Accenture uses precision monitoring tools that 
automate energy measurement and feed into cloud-
based energy management systems, enabling us to 
rapidly consolidate and understand our energy use. 
As we return to our offices, we are committed to 
implementing more AI technology to capture data and 
continuously improve our energy efficiency. 
However, as a professional services company, the 
most significant aspects of our environmental 
footprint are the greenhouse gas emissions related 
to travel and electricity used in our locations. To help 
reduce carbon emissions from air travel, Accenture in 
Sweden has committed to reduce air travel by 50% per 
employee by 2023, with 2018 as the baseline. As the 
impacts of the pandemic led to travel restrictions for 
our people, Accenture in Sweden saw a drop of 96% 
per employee since 2018 and with 89% over the past 
year. Although the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic 
has significantly reduced our air travel impact in fiscal 
2021, we will continue to focus on reducing carbon 
emissions from air travel going forward.
Assessing and disclosing 
climate-related risks 
We agree with the industry-led Task Force on Climate-
related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) that enhanced 
disclosure of climate-related financial risks improve 
financial impact assessments and support the 
transition to a low-carbon economy. Beginning in 
2017, in accordance with TCFD guidelines, we updated 
our financial filings to strengthen our language on 
climate-related risks, and we include the financial 
impact in our annual CDP response. These include 
the increasing frequency and severity of adverse 
weather conditions, which may have a negative 
impact on our people, facilities and operations. 
Since 2007, Accenture has reported our 
environmental performance to CDP annually, 
including our environmental risks, opportunities 
and methodologies on climate change mitigation 
and adaptation. We are proud to be included in 
CDP’s Climate Change A List of top-performing 
global companies for the sixth time since 2014. More 
than 270 companies—less than 3% of the 9,600 
companies that disclosed—received an A grade.
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
*The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard classifies a company’s GHG emissions into three ‘scopes’. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. 
Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. Greenhouse Gas Protocol.  FAQ.pdf (ghgprotocol.org)
A Look Ahead

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At Accenture, we expect our suppliers to provide 
updates around their environmental initiatives, goals 
and impact. Since 2010, we have invited selected 
global suppliers to respond to CDP’s Supply Chain 
self-assessment questionnaire. Overall, our suppliers 
are collectively seeing more opportunities to use 
emission-reducing energy sources, minimize the 
footprint of their goods and services, and align with 
shifting customer preferences in their reporting. 
As a corporate member of CDP’s Supply Chain 
Program, we use CDP tools to promote engagement, 
transparency, and sustainable business practices 
with our suppliers. As part of our new global goal to 
reach net-zero emissions by 2025, we have set an 
ambitious target requiring 90% of our key suppliers, 
which account for 75% of our scope 3 emissions, 
to disclose their impact and actions being taken 
to reduce emissions through channels like CDP. 
As a company, this comprises three-quarters of 
our scope 3 emissions—an important and often 
overlooked metric in addressing climate change. 
At Accenture, we know that being a responsible 
business requires taking responsibility for 
all our supply chain touchpoints, which 
is why we developed this new goal. 
Out of the more than 8,000 companies that 
participated in CDP’s 2020 program, we earned an 
“A” rating. Of the 154 CDP supply chain member 
companies inviting suppliers to participate, we 
were recognized on the Supplier Engagement 
Leaderboard for the fourth consecutive year—an 
honor given to only the top 7% of the companies 
assessed. More information is available in CDP’s 
Global Supply Chain Report 2020,  “Transparency 
to Transformation: A Chain Reaction.”
To accelerate our global ambition in the Nordics, 
we rolled out a sustainability upskilling program 
to the Accenture Nordic Procurement team in 
fiscal 2021. The purpose of the program was to 
equip the team with deepened sustainability 
skills that enables meaningful conversations 
with Accenture’s suppliers in the Nordics.
Pillar 2  
Reducing our value 
chain emissions
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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At Accenture, we believe that sustainability is the new 
digital. Just as the digital revolution transformed how 
we live and work, so too will sustainability, driving 
new value and growth and permeating everything 
that we do. Accenture’s purpose is to deliver on the 
promise of technology and human ingenuity. And 
there are fewer things with greater promise than 
sustainability—it unlocks new opportunities for our 
clients, our partners, and our people, and for the 
places where we do business. We are determined to 
deliver on our promise to our clients by embedding 
a sustainability mindset into everything we do.
Sustainability by design
We have put sustainability at the heart of 
our business—building our capabilities and 
integrating sustainability into everything 
we do. Integrating sustainability means 
meaningfully redefining how we think, create 
and measure value and sustainability impact:
•	
We think differently about everything from 
evaluating risk to improving brand value.
•	
We collaborate with our network of 
partners to develop new ways to uncover 
and create value through revenue growth 
and cost reduction opportunities.
•	
Lastly, we help our clients measure every 
single component of the value and impact 
created on their sustainability agenda.
 
As an important step to integrate sustainability 
by design, Accenture in the Nordics is developing 
a capability to identify CO2 savings in our client 
projects; the climate business case.  
Going forward, this will be part of our proposals to 
give our clients guidance on the estimated carbon 
emissions for the proposed projects, together 
with guidance on how to reduce the emissions. 
 
Pillar 3  
Integrating sustainability by 
design in our business strategy
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
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Creating a sustainable future with our clients
As stakeholders demand more environmental, social 
and governance (ESG) efforts, regulations tighten and 
consumers increasingly expect brands to take action, 
organizations must demonstrate that they are purposeful 
about sustainability, hold strong ethical standards 
and operate responsibly in everything they do.
Increasingly, companies and brands are turning to their 
partners— and to technology and innovation—to integrate 
sustainability and create meaningful change that’s good 
for their business, the society, and the planet. That is 
why our dedicated teams bring deep experience and 
industry expertise to develop and implement strategies, 
operating models, processes, and technologies to 
help businesses achieve their sustainability goals.
At Accenture, we make a difference for the environment 
and our societies through our work with clients, who are 
some of the world’s leading companies and governments. 
Accenture’s sustainability value promise: through technology 
and human ingenuity, we are making sustainability a force for 
change. We infuse sustainability into every aspect of what 
we do and design from the start with sustainability in mind.
By engaging our ecosystem partners, we develop 
innovative solutions to help our clients reach their goals. 
Our priority areas include industry transitions to low-
carbon energy; migrating to more sustainable IT, cloud 
and software; and driving responsible value chains. 
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
“In 2025, we’ll be talking about 
how every business  
is a sustainable business.” 
Julie Sweet 
CEO of Accenture
A Look Ahead

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Examples of recent sustainability projects that we 
have been driving at Accenture in Sweden include:
•	
We helped a global online retailer migrate their 
e-commerce solution to cloud, in an agile and 
sustainable way powered by green energy 
and reduced energy consumption. The client’s 
online e-commerce solution that is built and 
run by Accenture, was already running in the 
client’s own data centers and sourcing only 
green energy and now use wind power on 
Microsoft Azure cloud. Thanks to cloud  
transformation features such as autoscaling 
it will use even less energy—essentially, it’s a 
sustainable green cloud.
•	
We helped a retail client create their 
electrification strategy. Electrification is key 
to becoming more sustainable for many of 
our clients. Decarbonizing transportation and 
self-generating renewable energy to support 
society’s energy transition are some examples 
where Accenture supports our clients. A client 
within retail had identified electrification as a 
core activity to meet their sustainability targets. 
Accenture supported the client in creating 
an electrification strategy, fleet electrification 
roadmap as well as a business case to 
understand potential challenges, outline a way 
forward and set an ambitious target to facilitate 
the journey towards sustainability.
•	
We embedded sustainability principles within 
the software ecosystem of a leading access 
solutions provider in the Nordics. Accenture 
visualized a typical software architecture at 
the client showing the flow of information 
across software layer, infrastructure, cloud and 
end-user device and peripherals to identify 
key decisions that a software developer or 
a product designer takes. We drew upon 
extensive research conducted by Accenture 
to develop a set of customized sustainable 
software principles for the client and 
transformed the client’s existing hardware 
focused “sustainability compass” by embedding 
sustainable software principles to identify, 
measure and track the sustainability impact of 
software development practices.
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
Our suite of six services is designed to help our clients tackle their greatest sustainability 
challenges and realize the competitive advantage and impact that sustainability brings:
1. Net-zero industry 
transitions 
Net-zero carbon targets 
are no longer optional. The 
challenge is making them real 
and visible. Accenture can 
rapidly activate achievable 
progress towards those goals. 
We unleash the potential 
of digitization to transform 
business models for the better.
6. Sustainable brand, design 
and customer experience
Today’s consumers—and 
B2B customers - demand 
sustainability. This is not 
just lip service—it’s a refusal 
to compromise. Accenture 
combines deep insight and 
experience with technology 
to help clients deliver 
experiences that meet 
consumers where they are on 
their sustainability journeys.
3. Responsible, circular  
value chains
If organizations want to make 
an impact on the sustainability 
agenda, they need to rotate to 
responsible and circular value 
and supply chains. Accenture 
designs for impact by 
embedding sustainability into 
every phase to deliver trusted, 
net-zero and circular value 
chains. Read more.
5. Leadership development, 
talent & organization
Committing to sustainability 
is not just about one-off 
actions. It is about creating 
the mechanisms and cultures 
that bake sustainability into 
everything an organization 
does. Accenture uses the latest 
insights in organization design 
to transform the way people 
work with lasting impact.
2. Sustainable IT and 
technologies
Digital technology is a true 
enabler of sustainability—but 
its energy consumption and 
ecological footprint is vast. 
Accenture addresses a twofold 
imperative: to use technology 
more sustainably, and to use 
technology as a vehicle for 
being more sustainable.  
Read more.
4. Sustainable measurement, 
value creation and impact 
What an organization measures 
shapes what it does. Accenture 
provides the tools, technology, 
and methodologies to 
help businesses create the 
sustainability ledger alongside 
the financial ledger, from 
CEO and CFO dashboards to 
operational decisions. Read 
more.
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H&M Foundation  
Billion Dollar Collection  
More than ever, people are demanding sustainable fashion. 
However, many start-ups struggle to receive the required support 
to truly transform the fashion industry beyond capsule collections 
and pilots. It has been estimated that billions of dollars are needed 
to change the fashion industry and to highlight this issue, the non-
profit H&M Foundation launched ‘The Billion Dollar Collection’ in 
June this year.
Since 2015, the H&M Foundation, in collaboration with Accenture 
and KTH, has supported early-stage innovation through the Global 
Change Award, recognizing ideas that can make the fashion 
industry circular. ‘The Billion Dollar Collection’ presents 10 of the 
previous Global Change Award Winners with potential to create 
multi-dimensional value with the industry’s support. The selected 
sustainable innovation start-ups come from across the globe and 
encompass elements from materials to traceability, and each start-
up is showcased as a garment in a virtual fashion collection.
The collection has been exclusively created in computer-
generated imagery by Mackevision, part of Accenture Interactive. 
Accenture also brought its 360-degree value approach to the 
collection with the timeframe of 2030 in mind, as a reference to 
the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The model shows 
how each innovation could have a significant, positive impact for 
the planet. And we are talking no small gains—for instance, one 
of these companies is estimated to have the potential to achieve 
an annual net reduction of 720,000 metric tons carbon dioxide 
emissions by 2030. 
“There are many sustainable tech innovations out 
there with great potential to realize value in multiple 
dimensions. With this being the decade to deliver in 
order to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, it is 
essential that we do everything we can to support these 
innovations to fuel a sustainable shift.” 
Sara Rahiminejad 
Technology Strategy Consultant, Accenture
“With ‘The Billion Dollar Collection’ we wanted to highlight the 
impact in supporting, cooperating with, and adopting these and other 
game-changing solutions. Together we can create a shift in the fashion 
industry, where sustainability and innovation is implemented as 
default practices in time for 2030.”
Diana Amini 
Global Manager, H&M Foundation
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
CASE
A Look Ahead

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At Accenture in the Nordics, we are driving several initiatives to influence 
climate action, both in our society and with our people.
Digitalization consultants for a fossil free Sweden
At Accenture in Sweden, we support ‘A Fossil Free Sweden 2045 Roadmap’, established by 
the Swedish Digitalization Consultancy Industry. The roadmap highlights important steps that 
are crucial to becoming more carbon efficient and emphasizes how digitization can support 
industries to change to efficient low-carbon solutions. We are also an active member of the 
industry association the Digitalization Consultants, who is working to implement the roadmap 
and influence public policy towards a fossil-free future supported by digitalization.
Pillar 4  
Influencing climate action in  
our society and with our people
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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Telia—The Shift
Telia, a Swedish telecommunications company (telco), is 
aiming high with their new sustainability goal to achieve zero 
CO2 and waste by 2030. They want consumers, customers, 
telcos, suppliers, policymakers, and others to join their 
aspirations, and to understand the role a telco can play in 
a circular economy. Today, 91% of material inputs in the 
global economy are not cycled back. A shift to a circular 
economy is therefore a crucial part of a more sustainable 
society and essential in the fight against climate change.
To help, Accenture in Sweden provided Telia with concrete 
examples of how they could reach their objectives, by 
collaborating on a report describing the role of Telia and the 
telecommunications industry in the circular economy context. 
In the report, titled “The Shift: The role of Telcos in the Circular 
Economy”, Accenture defined five circular business models 
that can enable organizations to go from the current inefficient 
linear system to new circular business opportunities: Circular 
Inputs, Sharing Platforms, Products as a Service, Product Use 
Extension and Resource Recovery. By applying these circular 
business models, the global telecommunications industry 
can unlock substantial value through embedding circularity 
in operations, offering circular products and services and 
enabling a circular ecosystem. This in total amounts to a 
value of 45-80 billion US dollars annually by 2030. 
“Digitalization and connectivity play a central 
role in tackling many of today’s environmental 
challenges and can speed up the transformation 
from a linear to a circular economy. Traditional 
telcos, such as Telia, are evolving into digital 
players and are uniquely positioned in the 
ecosystem to enable circular solutions across 
industries and within its own value chain, to  
 
reduce consumption, waste and emissions while 
unlocking significant value. While the telco 
industry has started this journey, this report aims 
to inspire and accelerate efforts needed to make a 
sustainable shift.” 
Anna Töndevold 
Nordic Sustainability Services Lead, Accenture
“We can clearly see that the telco sector is part of the 
problem but also part of the solution. Telcos can, and 
must, influence the waste streams in our own value 
chain while we at the same time play an instrumental 
role in enabling other industries to tackle their 
environmental challenges and thereby speed up the 
transformation to a circular economy.”
Sara Gorton 
Head of Environmental Strategy, Telia Company
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
CASE
A Look Ahead

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Engaging our people
Accenture people are passionate about learning 
and applying their skills to help the environment. 
Our internal, global network of eco champions 
promotes emissions reduction, climate 
mitigation, circular economy and biodiversity 
through a mix of virtual and in-person events, 
challenges and volunteer opportunities. 
We’re also embedding a sustainability mindset 
across our business, by building the ‘Sustainability 
Quotient’ of all Accenture people across the 
globe, so that they always ask: How can this 
have a better, more sustainable outcome? How 
does this drive change to solve for the SDGs?
During 2021, we introduced an upskilling program 
for all our people in Accenture in the Nordics, 
a 30-day Sustainability Challenge, offering 
a new action every day for 30 days, with the 
aim to increase knowledge and application of 
sustainability in the daily work of our employees. 
We also launched the Nordic Sustainability week 
in June 2021, a full week of online events and a 
digital hub, where we enabled our employees to 
share their experiences, learn from experts, and 
get a better understanding of how to build a better 
future for all. As a part of the Sustainability Week, 
all employees were invited to calculate their own 
personal emissions, with guidance on what specific 
actions they can take to reduce their emissions.
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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Securing responsible 
procurement	
Supply Chain
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Securing responsible 
procurement
High priority SDG targets 
relevant for this chapter:
5.b 	
Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and 	 	
	
communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.
8.8  	
Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working 	
	
	
	
environments for all workers… 
9.2	
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, 	
	
	
significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross 	 	
	
	
domestic product…
10.2 	 Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion 	 	
	
of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, 	
	
	
religion or economic or other status.  
12.2	
Achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural 	
	
	
resources
13.2	
Incorporate measures to fight climate change into policies, 	
	
	
	
strategies and planning
16.5 	 Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms. 
16.6 	 Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at  
	
all levels.
17.16	 Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, 		
	
	
complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships…
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
One of our key objectives as a responsible business is to help build supply chains that are more sustainable 
and more inclusive. By encouraging a mindset of responsible buying both inside and outside Accenture, we are 
helping to generate long-term value for our clients, supplier partners and communities. 
Beyond transactional procurement with our partners and suppliers, Procurement Plus addresses four thematic 
pillars to advance responsible buying: the environment, human rights, supplier inclusion and sustainability, 
and the future of work. This approach informs every aspect of our supply chain, building stronger partnerships 
and making us more transparent, agile and ethical. Our buying program influences key initiatives such as 
our award-winning Global Supplier Inclusion & Sustainability program. Part of that initiative involves working 
within our ecosystem to identify, develop and work with small/diverse and adaptive suppliers. We also require 
suppliers to provide information and data on how they are improving their business performance to reduce their 
environmental impact, which, in turn, helps us improve our performance.
A Look Ahead

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Pillars of Responsible Buying
•	
CO2 emission
•	
 e-waste 
•	
Water 
•	
RE100 
•	
Carbon strategy
Anticorruption, conflict of interest, ethical business, etc.
For supplier Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)                       
due diligence, reporting, collaboration and co-innovation for 
responsible buying and social impact
•	
Diverse supplier 
development 
•	
Advance equality 
of opportunity/
spend 
•	
Accessibility
•	
Labor conditions 
•	
Modern slavery 
•	
Child labor 
•	
Health & safety
•	
Consequences of 
digitalization & 
automation 
•	
Business resilience
Environment
Ethics & Integrity
Global Sustainable  
Procurement Hub
Human Rights
Future of Work
Supplier Inclusion 
and Sustainability
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
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Our ethical procurement strategy directs our key 
employee training, how we select our suppliers and 
the development of our high standards for conducting 
business with our suppliers. To continue encouraging 
broader transparency within our supply chains, we 
require all suppliers—regardless of category or size—
to adhere to our Supplier Standards of Conduct or 
to make an equivalent commitment. We bring this 
to life by frequently hosting open discussions with 
suppliers across the business and have a strong Global 
Diverse Supplier Development Program (DSDP).
As with our Code of Business Ethics (COBE), our 
Supplier Standards of Conduct reflect our core values 
and our commitment to the 10 Principles of the United 
Nations Global Compact (UNGC). As an active Global 
Compact LEAD participant and signatory to the 10 
Principles, we strive to lead by example in upholding 
its principles. At Accenture in Sweden, suppliers 
need to accept our Supplier Code of Conduct, 
which sets out the labor standards, human rights 
principles, and other legal and ethical standards 
we require our suppliers to meet. In the spirit of 
continuous improvement, we continue to evolve our 
global Supplier Standards of Conduct in line with our 
commitment to responsible business. Additionally, 
we annually review our supply chain strategy through 
the lens of our COBE and the UNGC Principles 
as part of our efforts to set industry standards 
for maintaining an ethical supply chain. This is 
particularly important as part of our continuing efforts 
to encourage our suppliers to pay a living wage.  
Our ethical  
procurement strategy
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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Human rights  
commitment
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
At Accenture, we have a long-standing commitment 
to supporting and respecting human rights, including 
the elimination of modern slavery, child labor and 
human trafficking in our supply chains and business 
operations. Given the nature of our business, and 
the risk assessments we have undertaken to date, 
we believe the risk of modern slavery, child labor 
and human trafficking in our business is low. But we 
are not complacent and frequently review how we 
can improve and evolve in response to changing 
circumstances such as COVID-19. Our intention 
always is to be thoughtful and targeted in how we 
select and engage our suppliers, particularly in 
relation to higher-risk sectors and countries. We do 
not compromise when it comes to doing business 
ethically and legally, and we leverage our global 
buying power to advance human and labor rights. 
We seek to encourage a culture of transparency 
within our supply chains and provide a mechanism 
to enable employees of our suppliers to speak up 
about legal or ethical concerns, including slavery 
and human trafficking. Employees of Accenture 
suppliers may report concerns or violations 
(anonymously where permitted by local law) 
through the Accenture Business Ethics Helpline. 
To promote a high quality of life for the communities 
we touch, Accenture continues to drive the adoption 
of a living wage. Through our Supplier Standards of 
Conduct, we strongly encourage all our suppliers 
to pay a living wage or higher to those who provide 
services directly to our company and/or our clients. 
This was particularly important in 2020/2021 as the  
pandemic exposed societal and financial inequities 
all over the world. Likewise, we have a robust regular 
review process in place to validate living wages 
in the local country context. We continue to take 
targeted actions and support advocacy in our supplier 
ecosystems to work toward the elimination of modern 
slavery as part of our commitment to maintaining an 
ethical supply chain that respects human rights. 
Our Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement 
provides more information about our efforts in 
this area. This statement is identified as higher 
risk for slavery and human required by law, but it 
describes our efforts beyond the United Kingdom, 
particularly in key geographies that we identified 
as higher risk for slavery and human trafficking. 
Given the significant growth in AI, respecting 
human rights across our supply chain also includes 
responsible use of this technology to grow our 
business the right way. We are building on our 
ethical procurement philosophy by adopting new 
AI tools to help simplify the contracting process, 
implement digital solutions, and identify and eliminate 
human rights risks within our supply chains. As 
part of our efforts, Accenture has invested in a new 
blockchain-enabled global Sustainable Procurement 
Hub. This Hub will help to better assess and drive 
transparency around our suppliers’ ESG performance, 
including in relation to slavery and trafficking.
A Look Ahead

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Creating  
social impact
Social Impact
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At Accenture, we use human ingenuity and the 
latest technology to help create a more inclusive 
society. Through the ingenuity of our people, clients, 
ecosystem partners and nonprofit partners, we 
develop and scale innovative solutions to help create 
a more inclusive society where everyone can thrive. 
Over the past year, these initiatives were tested like 
never before as the world faced new challenges and 
the exacerbation of existing challenges due to the 
global health, economic and social crises.
Innovating to help our clients and communities tackle 
societal issues has always been an important part of 
what we do as a responsible business. In 2020, this 
mindset informed our response to COVID-19, while 
we also continued to evolve and expand our social 
innovation program, our work through Accenture 
Development Partnerships and supporting our people 
to make a difference in our communities.
Creating  
social impact
High priority SDG targets 
relevant for this chapter:
5.5	
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal 	
	
	
opportunities for leadership at all levels...  
5.B	
Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular 	 	
	
	
information and communications technology, to promote the 		
	
empowerment of women.  
8.2	
Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through 	
	
	
diversification, technological upgrading and innovation… 
8.5 	
Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for 		
	
all women and men, including for young people and persons 		
	
with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
9.2	
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization… 
9.5 	
Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological 	
	
	
capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries…encouraging 	
	
innovation…  
10.2	
Empower and promote the social, economic and political 	
	
	
inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, 		
	
	
ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
16.6	
Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions  
	
at all levels.
17.16	 Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, 		
	
complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize…
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
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At Accenture, we believe that ideas can change the 
world—and that individuals can inspire a movement. 
The Social Innovators initiative is inspired by two 
fundamental beliefs: that anyone can be a social 
innovator if they are equipped with key skills and 
mindsets—and that tackling the complex challenges 
facing society can only be done in collaboration across 
businesses, sectors and industries. The program has 
three elements to spark and sustain social innovation 
with our people, clients and other ecosystem partners. 
At Accenture in Sweden, we are running a number 
of Social Innovation hackathons, innovation 
challenges and accelerators. As a part of the Social 
Innovation program, we are building critical skills 
like life-centered design, conscientious innovation, 
storytelling, cross-sector collaboration and 
measuring social impact. We are giving our people 
the opportunity to put these skills into practice 
taking their ideas to reality with clients, startups 
and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). 
Exponential changes in technology were 
already transforming the way we worked 
and lived before COVID-19. The pandemic 
accelerated these changes, as companies were 
forced to reimagine their role in society, and 
economies and industries needed to rebuild.
At Accenture in Sweden, we continued to unleash 
the social innovation power of our employees during 
2020, to help our clients, people and communities 
to navigate the challenges and knock-on effects 
of COVID-19. We gave our people the opportunity 
to ideate, pitch their ideas and create their own 
projects—often in partnership with our partners and 
clients—to develop real solutions. With our COVID-19 
Social Innovation program called “Good for Society”, 
we ensured that the role we play has a positive and 
lasting impact for society as a whole. At the same 
time, we were investing in our people by giving them 
the chance to contribute with meaningful work. 
Hence, the benefit of the program was twofold as we 
offered our people the opportunity to give back to 
society while building valuable skills for the future. 
Sparking innovation 
for society with 
our people and 
ecosystem
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
Societal response  
to COVID-19
A Look Ahead

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Aligned with the human rights agenda, Accenture in 
Sweden is committed to work against discrimination 
in our communities. We believe that all citizens should 
have the same opportunities to a decent livelihood, 
that is why we partner with Save the Children Sweden.
Their program, On Equal Terms is a program that 
extends across sectors—business, civil society, 
academia, and government—to strengthen the 
commitment, participation, and influence of 
children and young people in Sweden’s socially 
and economically marginalized areas. The 
collective impact partnership aims to establish 
long-term structural societal change to reduce the 
discrimination of children and to strengthen their 
influence over issues that affect their well-being, by 
providing the children with the platforms, tools and 
support that empowers them to be part of creating 
a long-term positive change in their communities. 
Democracy and influence are key focus areas of On 
Equal Terms, and through the program, the youth are 
empowered to exercise their rights and take an active 
part in the journey toward a more inclusive society.
All partners in the On Equal Terms program bring 
their unique set of skills to the partnership. Over 
the years, Accenture in Sweden has contributed 
with our expertise in digitalization, strategy & 
organization, impact measurement, and more.
To share our key learnings from working with 
a collective impact partnership approach, 
Accenture in Sweden, Save the Children Sweden 
and Stockholm School of Economics have 
launched a Collective Impact playbook site.
Human rights in  
our communities
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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Accenture Development Partnerships delivers the power of Accenture’s global capabilities 
and experience to address complex social, economic and environmental issues in the 
developing world. We are working Workplace teams led across areas such as health, 
gender, livelihoods and education, financial inclusion, humanitarian response, agriculture, 
water and environment. Accenture Development Partnerships directly contributes to 
SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals), one of Accenture’s high priority SDGs, as well as 
generating impact across other goals such as SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 10 
(reduced inequalities). In fiscal 2021, Accenture in the Nordics delivered 15 Accenture 
Development Partnerships projects, with 8 clients in international development.
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
Accenture  
Development Partnerships
A Look Ahead

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Sara  
Kulturhus
Sara Kulturhus is a community building in Skellefteå that hosts 
hotel, conference, as well as theatre facilities. Accessibility 
and inclusion are at the heart of this building and for this 
purpose, Accenture in Sweden has built an app that guides 
people in the building with XR experience in their phones. 
The building is one of the world’s tallest green buildings made 
from locally sourced wood with efficient energy use. With 
the app, Accenture has made the utilization of Sara Kulturhus 
sustainable by guiding its visitors to a more sustainable path, 
inspiring them to choose the stairs instead of the elevators 
and reduce stress of finding the way to a specific place. 
Accenture focused on user-centricity and its social innovation 
mindset to be able to provide an equal experience for all. 
The team at Accenture specifically focused on making the 
app accessible for people who have a sight disability. 
The purpose was to make sure that everyone would be able to 
navigate the menu using the screen reader which provides access 
to all content inside of the application menu. By creating a sound 
for the place in the path that the visitor needs to go next the app 
allows the visitor to follow the path even though they do not see it.
Everybody should feel welcome at Sara Kulturhus. By designing 
a dependable, personalized companion that provides relevant 
contextual information to support and anticipate the visitor’s 
needs, Accenture has created an equal experience for everyone.
“We noticed quite quickly that accessibility and inclusion 
was at the core of what the building was all about. 
It helped us set a strong vision and mission for the 
project—that the Sara Kulturhus app should never be just 
about technology; it should be about providing an equal 
experience for everyone.” 
Dan Gemvall 
Application Development Specialist, Accenture
“Whilst working on Sara Kulturhus the goal has been to 
make the building available and safe for everyone, no matter 
what abilities you have in life. With the help of technology, 
we can make people more independent and as a result make 
it easier to engage with culture.”
Carina Norman 
Business Developer, Skellefteå Kommun
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
CASE
A Look Ahead

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Focusing on  
our people
People
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Throughout Accenture’s history, our people have embraced 
constant change. Fiscal 2021 was no different. Facing multiple 
crises, our top priorities were the overall safety, health and 
well-being—both physical and psychological—of our people 
and their families. One of our primary goals is to lead with 
compassion and humanity—to help our people be their best 
professionally and personally—and this took on a deeper 
meaning and sense of urgency this past year.
We supported our people personally with new virtual tools 
and initiatives to ensure they were seen, heard, connected 
and productive, as well as to help cope with the demands and 
stresses of the compounding crises and to strengthen their 
mental resilience. We continued to make progress toward 
becoming a more inclusive and diverse organization and set 
important new goals to further accelerate these changes.
At the same time, we remain focused on supporting our 
people professionally, equipping them with leading-edge 
technologies, continuous learning and a supportive global 
community to enable them to seize opportunities and 
resources to successfully manage their careers—and to help 
themselves, our clients, our communities and one another as 
we look ahead to a new reality beyond Covid-19.
Focusing on  
our people
High priority SDG targets 
relevant for this chapter:
3.8  	
Achieve universal health coverage… access to quality essential  
	
healthcare services…
5.5	
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal 	
	
	
opportunities for leadership…  
5.B	
Enhance the use of enabling technology… to promote the 	
	
	
empowerment of women  
8.2	
Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through 	
	
	
diversification, technological upgrading and innovation… 
8.5	
By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent 	
	
work for all women and men… 
8.8	
Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working 	
	
	
environments for all workers…
10.2	
By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and 	
	
	
political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, 	
	
ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
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As a talent-led organization, the ingenuity and 
unique strengths of our people are our most 
important source of competitive differentiation. 
To grow our business, we must support our 
people with deep compassion and care. 
After the pandemic was declared, we worked 
to ensure their safety and well-being. Our 
commitment to helping our people be their best 
both professionally and personally has never been 
stronger than in this time of crisis and disruption.
Supporting our people’s  
resiliency and well-being 
Our commitment to fostering a “Truly Human” 
environment took on greater meaning in fiscal 2021, 
providing a road map and principles for helping 
our people to become even more resilient and 
to maintain and enhance their physical energy, 
mental focus, value and sense of purpose.
We have demonstrated compassion and shown 
our people just how deeply we care for them 
with new or expanded services tailored to the 
needs of their local markets. In addition to 
existing programs such as shared best practices 
for working from home; and extended our 
benefits where possible, e.g WFH allowance 
and extended occupational injury insurance.
With most of our people working remotely, human and 
social connections became even more essential. In 
response, we created a “home” for our people online, 
called #moretogethernow. Even though Accenture was 
uniquely positioned to adapt in virtual environments, 
it was important that our people had somewhere to 
turn that addressed their new concerns and fears, 
supported their entire selves, and helped them
to stay safe, seen, connected and enabled.
The Accenture #moretogethernow site offers tools 
and support for everything from working remotely 
to mental health to specific topics like parenting 
and juggling the demands of new “co- workers” (i.e., 
children). Since launch, the site has been continually 
refined and updated with relevant content based on 
the feedback and needs of our people—reinforced 
with the mantra, “Together, we are better than ever.”
Another initiative took place between January 11 and 
March 14, 2021, when Accenture IF—Accenture’s 
Sports Association in Sweden, hosted Winter Sprinter 
Challenge. This event aimed to promote well-being 
and healthy habits of its employees and to donate 
money to Save the Children foundation, based on 
the distances the employees ran and walked in their 
teams. About 180 employees participated in this 
challenge with the overall distance result of 34,680 
kilometers and over 50,000 SEK donation to Save  
the Children Sweden.
Caring for  
our people
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Pivoting to remote work and  
preparing for the future
Building on our decades of experience with 
remote working, we quickly enabled
our workforce to work from home and suspended 
substantially all business travel. We also 
shared our expertise in remote working with 
many clients and community organizations 
that were doing it for the first time.
We are implementing a comprehensive plan to return 
to Accenture offices and our clients’ offices where 
permissible. The safety of our people and the needs  
of our clients will guide how we manage our phased  
transition. By taking a phased approach, we have  
been able to prepare our workspaces and monitor  
and adjust protocols as needed. We have also built 
in the flexibility to respond quickly if government 
directives and local conditions change.
We believe the work environment of the future will 
continue to evolve, but will include more remote 
working and be very fluid as we innovate, collaborate 
and develop personal connections with people 
working from home, offices and at client sites. 
Over the longer term, we believe that personal 
collaboration and engagement will remain essential 
to maintaining our culture of shared success.
Maintaining a healthy  
and safe workplace
Supporting our people also includes helping 
to ensure rigorous health and safety programs 
for them—at our offices and client sites.
In 2020, we implemented a new, globally 
consistent Occupational Health and Safety policy 
to reinforce our commitment and define the 
responsibilities of all our people and contractors 
to keep our work environment healthy and safe— 
whether at an Accenture office, project site or 
at an alternate location. The new policy drives 
compliance with applicable laws and regulations
and fosters adoption of health and safety 
management standards across Accenture.
Our Global Asset Protection (GAP) team is 
responsible for providing crisis management and 
security advice and assistance to our people. GAP 
maintains a 24/7 Global Watch program to assist 
our people with security risks and health advice, 
and promotes awareness when our people travel to 
high-risk locations. GAP provides security awareness 
training on issues such as workplace violence, 
travel safety and natural disaster preparation. GAP 
also maintains a mass notification capability to 
alert employees to security events in their area 
based on residential, office and travel data.
In 2021, our Workplace teams led the development 
of a global Health Champion program, which 
helps to educate, inform and advocate for our 
people about health and safety concerns. 
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We are committed to continually enhancing the 
capabilities of our people through training and 
on-the-job learning opportunities. We continue 
to make significant progress in helping our 
people pivot to new, advanced technologies by 
providing them with the tools, skills and flexibility 
to discover new talents and keep pace with 
the digital revolution and our new reality.
When they are equipped for success, not only are they 
fulfilled in their career journeys, but our clients, our 
business and our communities reap the benefits.
Performance achievement 
Our Performance Achievement experience, 
supported by patented technology, is another 
way we invest in our people. Our people identify 
and apply their strengths, focus on a few vital 
priorities, ask for and share regular feedback, and 
take personalized actions to grow and develop.
In a particularly challenging year, we created 
the capacity to pay meaningful bonuses for 
fiscal 2021 performance. In Sweden, we also 
announced a significant number of 284 
promotions during fiscal 2021 and in our December 
2020 cycle we promoted 4 new managing 
directors and 5 new senior managing directors.
Skilling and specialization at scale
We know how important it is for our people to have 
a solid grasp of the major technologies that we 
create, customize, consult on and deploy, such 
as cloud, AI and cybersecurity. And, crucially, 
our people must be able to share that knowledge 
easily with their teams and clients alike.
We believe skills are the common currency that 
will unlock boundaryless opportunities for our 
people and power our networks. We continue 
our focus on Specialization at Scale— a program 
that provides a robust and agile way to ensure 
that the right team, with the right skills, is 
ready to serve our clients. Using the power
of AI, we help our people identify their skills 
and specializations, and then match them with 
project leaders and career opportunities. 
Investing in  
our people
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Our unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity 
enables us to attract, develop, inspire and reward the 
best people. It creates an environment that unleashes 
innovation, allows our people to perform at their very 
best, and underpins a culture in which everyone feels 
they have an equal opportunity to belong, advance 
and thrive. We approach inclusion and diversity with 
the same discipline and rigor as any other business 
priority. We set goals collect data to continuously 
improve and hold our leaders accountable. 
Our commitment starts at the top and we expect 
leaders at all levels to help create and sustain a 
culture of equality. Our areas of focus include 
gender; ethnic diversity; disability inclusion; 
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex 
(LGBTI); mental health; cross-cultural diversity.
We also commit to diversity and equal opportunity 
by eliminating discrimination in employment 
and applying our principle of meritocracy 
when we make decisions about our people. 
Gender equality 
We are making progress toward the global 
gender goals we set for ourselves in 2017. In 
2020, women are accounted for 42,8% of our 
Swedish workforce, 40,1% of our new hires. By 
the end of fiscal 2021 women accounted for 48% 
of our total workforce and 43% of new hires.
Fiscal 2021 marked our 17th annual celebration of 
International Women’s Day for our people, clients and 
partners. For more than a decade, we have published 
groundbreaking research in conjunction with these 
celebrations. Our global research explored the 
hidden value of culture makers, the perception gap 
that exists between leaders and employees on this 
topic, and how closing this gap will yield substantial 
benefits for companies and their employees. 
At Accenture in Sweden we participate as one of the 
main partners to Women in Tech, we a cooperate with 
Teknikkvinnor and host a mentorship program for 
junior female talent at the universities in Sweden. 
We continue to participate in the Employers for 
Pay Equity consortium with other companies 
that understand the importance of ensuring all 
individuals are compensated equitably for equal 
work and experience and have the same opportunity 
to contribute and advance in the workplace.
Mental health and wellness 
We have made mental wellness a cornerstone of 
our commitment to helping our people be their 
best every day. We continue to break the stigma 
surrounding mental health by fostering a workplace 
environment where people feel comfortable 
engaging in open, honest dialogue about mental 
illness and mental well-being, including in response 
to external stresses such as the pandemic, 
natural disasters and other world events.
Through our Mental Health Ally network, Allies 
serve as ambassadors and advocates who can help 
colleagues facing mental health challenges find the 
support they may need. In 2020, our Mental Health 
Ally network expanded to nearly 7,000 members 
across every country where we operate. Our new 
Mental Health Essentials training helps our people 
understand the signs that a colleague needs help, 
how to have a conversation about mental health 
and the steps to take to support someone in need. 
Nearly five years ago, we became one of the first 
corporate partners of Thrive Global, a behavior 
change technology company on science-based 
solutions to lower stress and enhance well-being 
and productivity. Thrive has enabled us to deliver 
customized workshops that help our people not 
only achieve a sense of belonging and purpose, 
but also stay physically energized and mentally 
focused in our hyper-connected, digital world.
In February 2020, we began offering Thriving Mind, 
a voluntary, whole human well-being program 
developed in partnership with Thrive Global to help 
our people learn about the science behind their 
brain’s response to stress, and provide tools and 
techniques to help them recharge wherever they are. 
Available in eight languages, Thriving Mind had more 
than 125,000 participants as 2020 ended. We are 
expanding the program in 2021, including launching 
an app that will provide easier access and new tools 
for our people. It will include an e-learning course, 
Thriving Together: Building Resilience and Belonging.
Accelerating  
equality for all
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Open Door  
Sessions 
In recent years, there has been an increase in mental 
health issues in Sweden and in 2020 we saw an 
accelerated increase due to the pandemic. 
At Accenture, the well-being of our people is a top priority. 
We are committed to support our employees in every way we 
can, and Accenture in Sweden initiated “Open Door Sessions” 
in collaboration with our health care provider Sophiahemmet 
in the beginning of 2021. Through a portal people were able 
to, anonymously and efficiently, book a 25-minute slot with a 
psychologist. Our objective was to provide easily accessible 
professional support, with the aspiration that proactive help 
can counteract a possible sick leave. Continued support was 
offered to 50% of the participants after the first session.
The Open Door Sessions were greatly appreciated and feedback 
from the participants showed that many had acquired an 
increased understanding of how the past year had affected 
them. The participants also valued that Accenture as employer 
understood and acknowledged the mental health challenges 
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Accenture’s aim 
is to continually support its employees’ well-being, more 
Open Door Sessions will be carried out in the future.
“I am proud that we could come up with a proactive and easily 
accessible solution when our people needed it the most, in the middle 
of the pandemic. If we as an employer can lower the threshold for our 
employees to get professional support, we will do so!” 
Linn Winslott 
Country HR Lead Sweden, Accenture
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Disability inclusion
According to our global research, companies that 
fully include employees with disabilities grow faster 
than their peers. Yet, employees with disabilities 
around the world say they often feel excluded 
and unsupported. Our findings uncovered eight 
important factors that leaders can consider to 
build more inclusive cultures for all employees to 
unlock their—and their companies’—full potential.
We continue to create a safe environment for our 
people with disabilities. In the Nordics our Disability 
Inclusion Champion network of over 150 people 
brings our people, supporters and friends together 
for networking, collaborating and mentoring.
Abilities Unleashed, our new, award-winning disability 
inclusion leadership development program, enables 
our people with disabilities to feel empowered, 
plan their career journeys, build their network and 
collaborate across the company. The program began 
in Europe and is expanding to Asia and North America, 
bringing additional aspiring leaders into its fold.
Pride 
Ensuring an inclusive environment for all our people—
including LGBTI and all other sexual orientation, 
gender identities and expressions—is a key part 
of our belief that equality drives innovation.
We strive to provide identical employee 
benefits to same-sex and opposite-sex 
partners in all countries as law permits. 
In Sweden we are proud to be recognized as a 
corporate leader that supports LGBTI people and 
the broader community. Accenture is a member 
of the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality, a 
consortium of 19 leading multinational companies 
and six civil society partners. The initiative provides 
a platform to accelerate LGBTI workplace inclusion 
globally. In 2020, the initiative partnered with 
OutRight and the World Economic Forum to respond 
to COVID-19 by launching the COVID-19 Global 
LGBTIQ Emergency Fund and made significant 
progress on the UN Standards Gap Analysis Tool. 
During Fiscal 2021 our focus has been to 
raise awareness about the situation for the 
LGBTQ+ community in the Nordics, engaging in 
collaborations with local organizations, taking a 
clear stance for equal human rights and showing 
our employees that not even a pandemic can stop 
us from showing our commitment to inclusion. 
During World Pride 2021 in Copenhagen, Accenture 
in Sweden was an official partner supporting the 
strong Human Rights agenda that the World Pride 
organization had chosen to drive. We arranged 
a well-visited panel discussion within the Human 
Rights Conference program, inviting clients, 
partners and our employees to join the discussion, 
as we truly believe that businesses have a great 
role to play in driving and developing society and 
policies to improve the conditions for the LGBTQ+ 
community, not only in the Nordics but also globally. 
This year Accenture in Sweden collaborated as well 
with West Pride Festival in the city of Gothenburg 
and Malmö Pride Festival, which aimed to raise 
awareness and to support the local organizations 
that make a difference in the LGBTI community. 
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Living our  
core values	
Ethics and Governance
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Living our  
core values 
High priority SDG targets 
relevant for this chapter:
5.5	
Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal 	
	
	
opportunities for leadership at all levels...   
5.b	
Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular 	 	
	
	
information and communications technology, to promote the 		
	
empowerment of women  
8.8	
Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working 	
	
	
environments for all workers… 
9.2	
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization…   
10.2	
Empower and promote the social, economic and political 	
	
	
inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, 		
	
	
ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
16.5	
Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms.
16.6	
Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions  
	
at all levels.
Doing business responsibly, in compliance with laws and with integrity is the foundation of 
Accenture’s culture, reflecting our core values, inclusiveness and the highest ethical standards.
Conducting business with integrity
We believe an ethical culture is critical to our growth and differentiates us in a competitive 
marketplace. Clients choose to involve us in some of the most sensitive areas of their business 
in part because of our integrity and commitment to the highest ethical standards.
One way we demonstrate our commitment to behaving ethically is by supporting labor and human 
rights, locally in Sweden, as well as across our global business and operations. We also uphold this 
commitment as a LEAD participant of the United Nations Global Compact (which we signed in January 
2008) and by adhering to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Our commitment to ethics, human rights and strong corporate governance is a key driver of our business 
strategy and is essential to safeguard our people, clients, brand and financial performance. It is the 
foundation on which we build trust and is evident in our long-term relationships with our clients. 
At Accenture we work with 90% of the 30 largest companies in Sweden, delivering on the promise of 
technology and human ingenuity.  80% of our Swedish clients have been our clients for 10 years or more.
Integrity is always 
top of mind
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Building a strong ethical culture
In today’s evolving business, legal and regulatory 
landscape, determining what the right decision 
is can be difficult. To help our people make 
ethical choices and consider the full impact of 
their decisions, we rely on our core values and 
Code of Business Ethics (COBE) as guides.
At Accenture, our people care deeply about doing 
the right thing. Together, we have proven that we 
can succeed—providing value to our clients and 
shareholders and opportunities for our people—
while being a powerful force for good. Our shared 
commitment to operating with the highest ethical 
standards and making a positive difference in 
everything we do is what makes Accenture special.
In today’s environment, we go beyond mere 
compliance; we innovate with integrity by using 
our understanding of technology and its impact 
on people to develop inclusive, responsible and 
sustainable solutions to complex business and 
societal challenges. To get this right, we must 
empower our people to make good decisions, 
act responsibly and speak up with confidence.
With our Code of Business Ethics, we want to help 
our people make ethical behavior a natural part of 
what we do every day—with each other, our clients, 
our business partners, and our communities.
Our Code is more than just a document, it’s what we 
believe, how we live and how we lead. It’s embedded 
in all we do. It’s how we improve our business 
performance and build on Accenture’s reputation 
in the marketplace. It’s how we put our clients and 
our people first. It’s our way of putting integrity into 
action…every one of us, in every moment, every day.
We offer a broad range of resources to help our 
people better understand and fully engage with 
our COBE, including annual required Ethics & 
Compliance trainings, a Making Good Decisions 
tool, our COBE toolkit with downloadable job aids, 
an ethics helpline, an on-demand anonymous 
chatbot, and internal and external platforms for 
people to raise concerns, including anonymously.
We continue to evolve our required Ethics & 
Compliance training with shorter, interactive and 
visually engaging courses. Accenture employees 
(including part-time) must complete all required 
Ethics & Compliance training by July 31 each 
year to be fully eligible for year-end rewards (as 
permitted by law). In fiscal 2021, we achieved 
completion rates of more than 99% in Sweden.
Contractors are also required to complete Ethics 
& Compliance training within 60 days and may 
face revocation of access to systems or even 
termination if they fail to do so. Our goal is to 
maintain our high completion rates for trainings 
globally and to continue to evaluate our trainings 
(including through user feedback) to make 
sure they remain relevant and effective.
We are committed to providing a positive, respectful 
and inclusive work environment to all our people. This 
means we prohibit disrespectful behavior and have 
zero tolerance for sexual harassment, harassment 
or discrimination based on personal characteristics 
(such as race, color, ancestry, national/regional 
or ethnic origin, religion, sex, gender identity, 
sexual orientation, pregnancy, age or disability), 
retaliation, workplace violence or threats.
We understand that it is not always easy or 
comfortable to raise concerns. As a result, we 
provide multiple reporting channels for our people 
to raise those concerns in order to minimize 
potential unease in reporting an issue that may 
involve a colleague, an Accenture Leader, a 
client, supplier or contractor, or anyone else.
We strongly encourage our people to raise concerns 
to a manager or trusted advisor, an Accenture Leader, 
Human Resources or Legal and make it clear that 
they can always escalate concerns without fear 
of retaliation if they do not receive an acceptable 
response from their first point of contact.
Concerns may also be reported anonymously 
to the Accenture Business Ethics Helpline 24/7. 
We encourage our people to contact Human 
Resources or Legal for guidance if they are unsure 
whether an issue should be reported. We take 
all good faith concerns seriously and all steps 
necessary to ensure that those who raise concerns 
do not experience any form of retaliation.
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Guiding our people’s behavior
The first fundamental behavior featured in COBE 
is “Make Your Conduct Count,” which articulates 
five locally relevant yet globally applicable 
standards to guide how we think and act across 
our unique and diverse culture. This framework 
creates a foundation for a positive, respectful 
and inclusive work environment that can inspire 
our people, reflect who we are and who we want 
to be as a company, and guide how we work 
with clients, our partners and each other.
We believe these ethical behaviors are critical 
to the success of our business, and we continue 
to monitor the ethical environment through 
anonymous surveys. We conducted our global 
Conduct Counts survey across all eligible countries 
at the end of fiscal 2020 and will continue to 
conduct the global survey at regular intervals.
Because we are part of a global organization, 
Accenture in Sweden can leverage scale to 
establish and improve efficient programs for 
our workforce. We are pleased to see continued 
adoption of Conduct Counts, with local leaders 
embracing the program and setting the “tone 
from the top,” further enhancing our professional 
environment by visibly modeling good behavior 
and holding themselves and others accountable.
As the program continues to grow and incorporate 
insights gained through local learning sessions 
and focus groups, we see positive individual and 
workplace changes. Survey data is driving our 
training and development programs, as well as 
local initiatives, to make sure we are meeting the 
needs of our people. One direct result of data-
driven training is our interactive, scenario-based 
course for supervisors focused on handling feedback 
and concerns, which we introduced this year to 
ensure they have the tools they need to properly 
approach and elevate incoming feedback.
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Spring  
Talkers 
At Accenture in Sweden, we believe in a collaborative, honest and 
supporting work environment where everybody is empowered 
to be themselves, to be truly human and to make our conduct 
count. The Spring Talkers, launched by Accenture in Sweden 
in 2019 and inspired by the classic Swedish radio show 
“Sommarpratarna”, embodies these beliefs. In the program, 
some of our Accenture leaders in Sweden shed light on matters 
close to their hearts and welcome the listeners along on their 
personal journeys, while reflecting on various perspectives of 
ethics and respect for the individual at the workplace. By open-
heartedly sharing their own stories this way they contribute 
to an inclusive and trusting environment, highlighting how we 
can work together to achieve equality, create purpose, drive 
innovation, and live our code of business ethics every day. 
This year Accenture in Sweden introduced season 2 of Spring 
Talkers. Every week during spring one episode of these brave 
and candid stories was released. Topics of the season include 
inclusion and diversity, mental health, climate change, workplace 
norms and biases, human and technology interaction, staying 
true to your own ethical compass and much more. In Nigel 
Waywell’s episode he gives a personal reflection on his 25 
year-long Accenture journey and what he has come to learn 
over the years. He provides the listeners with a list of seven 
pieces of wisdoms, such as finding opportunities to learn 
everywhere, always being honest, and celebrating diversity.
“It was a privilege to be asked to contribute to the Spring Talkers program 
and to reflect on my own career path, motivations, and outcomes. The 
opportunity to share perspectives through the recording has triggered 
numerous follow-up discussions with colleagues and offered a chance to 
share further in support of individuals as they define and develop their 
own personal journeys.” 
Nigel Waywell 
Senior Delivery Lead, Accenture
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Increasing transparency
For many years, we have communicated frequently 
and effectively with our people about how to 
raise a concern. In fiscal 2021, we increased 
transparency with our people about how they can 
find support once they raise a concern, how the 
investigation process works, and where to find 
aggregated internal data about the types of conduct 
matters we investigate and their outcomes.
Supporting and respecting 
the rights of all people
Our commitment to supporting and respecting 
internationally proclaimed human rights is a common 
thread connecting our business and requires the 
support of our leaders, people and suppliers.
As stated in our COBE, we focus our human rights 
efforts where they are most relevant to Accenture. 
For Accenture in Sweden that means for example;
•	
Diversity and equal opportunity by eliminating 
discrimination in employment and applying 
our principle of meritocracy when we make 
decisions about our people;
•	
Employment conditions and working practices 
and respecting the right to form and freely join 
legally constituted representative bodies and 
working in good faith with them;
•	
Maintaining a respectful environment for our 
people, through COBE and Conduct Counts, by 
respecting the rights of our people relating to 
health, safety and security.
•	
It also means protecting the privacy and 
security of personal data and using personal 
data responsibly.
•	
Complying with all anticorruption laws without 
exception, regardless of local business culture 
or practices and respecting human rights in our 
supply chain in a manner consistent with our 
Supplier Standards of Conduct.
•	
Our clients and other stakeholders increasingly 
look to us for visibility into our human rights 
commitments and policies. Some of our 
key global policies are publicly available 
through our Modern Slavery Transparency 
Statement to show how we drive human 
rights within our organization. These 
include: Speaking Up and Zero Tolerance 
for Retaliation, and Prohibition on Human 
Trafficking, Forced Labor and Child Labor.
•	
We also adhere to relevant international 
instruments and documents, including the 
International Labour Organization’s Declaration 
on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 
and the United Nations Guiding Principles on 
Business and Human Rights.
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Anticorruption principles 
We are committed to conducting business ethically 
and leading by example. Our COBE and related 
anticorruption policies, both part of our global Ethics 
& Compliance program and human rights efforts, 
require our people, business partners and suppliers to 
comply with the anticorruption laws here in Sweden 
and everywhere we as a Global organization do 
business, including: 
 
•	
The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
•	
The Organization of Economic Cooperation 
and Development Convention on 
Combating Bribery of Public Officials in 
International Business Transactions.
•	
The United Nations Convention 
Against Corruption.
•	
The U.K. Bribery Act.
Our relevant anticorruption policies apply to all 
Accenture people working for any Accenture 
entity, in any country, and to the many ways we 
handle our broad-based Anticorruption program. 
Through our internal controls function we 
regularly monitor our anticorruption program, 
and for Accenture in Sweden there have been 
no significant findings during fiscal 2021.
We continually assess and refine our Ethics & 
Compliance program, including how we train 
our people. Our approach provides a baseline 
of training to all Accenture people, including 
our part-time employees and contractors. 
Individuals in higher-risk roles receive additional 
anticorruption and other compliance training. 
Digital responsibility
As technology becomes ubiquitous, trust becomes 
paramount. To build—and maintain—trust in 
today’s digital age, businesses must use data and 
artificial intelligence (AI) ethically across customer 
information, product development and workforce 
training. Security and AI are among the topics 
within our Technology Quotient (TQ) training 
available to all Accenture people. In fiscal 2020, 
Accenture introduced TQ—a new training program 
to make tech fluency table stakes for everyone. 
The more our people can discuss technology in 
plain language, the more our clients can, too—and 
the easier it will be for them to adapt to changes 
and explain them to their customers, shareholders 
and employees. At the end of the fourth quarter 
of fiscal 2021, approximately 91% of Accenture’s 
people in Sweden had started their TQ journeys.
 
By using technology responsibly, we are 
considering the extended consequences of each 
new innovation—both positive and negative—
on people, the planet and the economy.
 
As society continues moving to a digital-first reality, 
promoting human rights and setting industry 
standards are top of mind as we adapt our offerings 
to reflect this new collective consciousness.
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

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49
Data privacy
Safeguarding data is one of our most important 
responsibilities. We are continually evolving our 
approach to information security and data protection, 
identifying emerging threats and driving appropriate 
behavior to prevent and mitigate attacks. Everyone 
at Accenture has a personal responsibility to practice 
effective data management in accordance with 
our company policies, including our Data Privacy 
Statement and procedures, as well as changing 
global regulatory policies, such as GDPR.
We are dependent on information technology 
networks and systems to securely process, transmit 
and store electronic information and to communicate 
among our locations not only in Sweden but around 
the world and with our people, clients, alliance 
partners and vendors. Our success depends, in part, 
on our ability to continue to develop and implement 
services and solutions that anticipate and respond to 
the rapid and continuing changes in technology and 
offerings to serve the evolving needs of our clients. 
Facing the unique challenges created by COVID-19 
and large employee populations working remotely, 
we took additional steps to protect sensitive 
health data while operating safely and effectively. 
With a goal to stabilize, normalize and optimize 
our approach to the changing environment, we 
strengthened our processes and privacy controls 
already in place to enable a secure and safe mobile 
workforce, and enhanced information security and 
data protection training to include guidance on 
how to securely work from home. For example:
 
•	
Work-from-home users received specific 
guidance and job aids. Advanced Technology 
Centers and Intelligent Operations Centers 
received increased levels of guidance. 
•	
Accenture quickly amended—and continues 
to update—our dedicated internal information 
security websites and communications with 
up-to-date work-from-home guidance and 
COVID-19 scam awareness.
•	
We generated global awareness of our guidance 
around work-from-home security practices 
and increased participation in the Information 
Security Advocate program. 
•	
Accenture applied our Client Data Protection 
(CDP) controls across the enterprise and 
acquisitions, as well as collaborated with CIO to 
strengthen our app and cloud security.
•	
Further, we updated our required Ethics & 
Compliance training to include enhanced work 
from-home guidance.
We adhere to the highest and strictest standards for 
handling and protecting global privacy requirements. 
Our robust data privacy management program is 
acknowledged through receipt of both Enterprise and 
Client Service Business ISO® 27001:2013 and ISO® 
27701 certifications.
We take security seriously, with extensive training 
and learning assets. All Accenture people regularly 
participate in required and targeted data privacy 
trainings. Further, our global awareness campaign, 
Protecting Accenture: Live Smart to Stay Safe, equips 
our people with the latest best practice learnings 
and behaviors necessary to maintain safe hygiene of 
data security. Beyond our required, comprehensive 
training tracks, 99% of our people in Sweden have 
completed one tier of our Information Security 
Advocate program, which is a set of self-paced 
courses, designed to strengthen employee awareness 
and adoption of secure behaviors. Furthermore, 
over half of the people at Accenture in Sweden 
choose to expand their knowledge completing 
additional in-depth information security trainings. 
Employees who complete the Information Security 
Advocate program are significantly less likely 
to contribute to an incident and outperform 
non-Advocates in identifying phishing email 
indicators and passing phishing tests. In addition 
to keeping Accenture, our people and our clients 
protected through advanced internal security 
practices, technologies and controls, we serve as 
a global provider of managed security services, 
helping our clients with comprehensive security 
solutions spanning strategy development, risk 
management, cyber defense, digital identity, 
application and managed security services.
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

Statutory Sustainability Report 2021  |  Accenture AB
50
Working to ensure a sustainable future for our 
communities, our clients, our people, and our 
business is one of our biggest commitments. As 
we look ahead to a future where we are starting 
to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic we are 
dedicated to keep envisioning and actualizing 
the possibilities of sustainability. We have an 
unprecedented opportunity to embrace change 
and reimagine and rebuild responsibly. 
Building upon the interdependencies across regions 
and industries and the integration of the supply 
chain around the world that were highlighted during 
the pandemic, we will continue to help our clients 
on their sustainable journey. Sustainability is multi-
dimensional, and so is our approach. We deliver 
value—and deliver on our values—by embedding 
sustainability into everything we do and for everyone 
we serve; our clients, people, partners, shareholders 
and communities. It’s about working together to 
rewire the global economy for shared success. 
As we transform Accenture for all of our stakeholders, 
we will work tirelessly until we reach the day when, 
for our clients and their communities, sustainability 
is not just good business—it’s business as usual. 
Together with our 1,400 people in Sweden, our clients 
and all our ecosystem partners, we are committed 
to building a future of shared success to achieve 
sustainable, long-term growth that benefits everyone.
A look  
ahead
Overview
Path to Net-Zero
Supply Chain
Social Impact
People
Ethics & Governance 
A Look Ahead

Statutory Sustainability Report 2021  |  Accenture AB
51
Auditor’s opinion regarding the statutory 
sustainability report
To the general meeting of the shareholders in Accenture AB, corporate 
identity number 556608-0668.
Engagement and responsibility
It is the board of directors who is responsible for the sustainability report 
for the financial year 2020-09-01—2021-08-31 and that it is prepared in 
accordance with the Annual Accounts Act. 
 
 
The scope of the examination
Our examination has been conducted in accordance with FAR:s auditing 
standard RevR 12 The auditor’s opinion regarding the statutory sustainability 
report. This means that our examination of the statutory sustainability 
report is different and substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in 
accordance with International Standards on Auditing and generally accepted 
auditing standards in Sweden. We believe that the examination has provided 
us with sufficient basis for our opinion.
Opinion
A statutory sustainability report has been prepared.
Stockholm  7 December 2021
KPMG AB	
Hök Olov Forsberg	
Authorized Public Accountant

Statutory Sustainability Report 2021  |  Accenture AB
52
Accenture is a global professional services company with leading 
capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched 
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, 
we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and 
Operations services—all powered by the world’s largest network 
of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 
624,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human
ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We 
embrace the power of change to create value and shared success 
for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities.  
Visit us at www.accenture.com.
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