Accenture: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Expertise
Akzente is the latest move by Accenture to expand its sustainability services and ESG capabilities globally and its third M&A deal involving sustainability expertise in two months. The other deals involved buying Avieco of the United Kingdom and Greenfish in Belgium. Additional Accenture M&A deals involving sustainability include Zestgroup and Umlaut. Rivals such as IBM also are acquiring sustainability-focused businesses.The M&A activity comes at a key time. Some — though not all — major corporations worldwide are beginning to expand their business priorities beyond profits to increasingly include environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. A case in point: Mastercard plans to link all employee bonuses to ESG goals, Bloomberg reported. Similarly, some investors are starting to seek out ESG performance data before deciding to pump money into specific stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other financial instruments. Accenture itself has made a Sustainability Value Promise to embed sustainability into everything the company does and with everyone it serves, the company said, using technology and leveraging partnerships, mergers and acquisitions to create business value and sustainable impact.Accenture Acquires akzente: Leadership Insight


“We’re delighted to welcome akzente to our team, adding significant expertise to our sustainability capabilities while jointly extending our services powered by technology and human ingenuity. Helping our clients drive this change across all dimensions paves the way to a more sustainable economy and future for all.”
“akzente is known for deep consulting expertise and thorough experience in all facets of sustainability for almost 30 years. Accenture’s scale and commitment to sustainability will enable us to extend our value proposition to new customers across industries and geographies. Being part of Accenture will lead to new opportunities for our people and our combined expertise will help our clients to integrate sustainability at the core of their business.”