Interview with Mazars Sustainability Services Lead - William Hughes
Interview with Mazars Sustainability Team Lead - William Hughes
Mazars is a leading international audit, tax and advisory firm. Operating as a united partnership, they work as one integrated team, leveraging expertise, scale and cultural understanding to deliver exceptional and tailored services in audit and accounting, as well as tax, financial advisory, consulting and legal services. Operating in over 90 countries with 42,000 professionals, they are driven by their strong values and commitment to technical excellence when it comes to the quality of their financial services and customer satisfaction.
ESGmark®: William thank you for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly can you tell us a little about your background and how you came to be interested in sustainability?
William Hughes: In my early career, I ran a farm in Zimbabwe. As a farmer you are really close to the environment so sustainable practices are something you are naturally aware of.
In 2003 I moved to South Africa to pursue a career in textile manufacturing. There was serious competition in that sector from the East, where retailers were opting to do business versus buying local. We had to think outside the box - how we could still be relevant, so we started adopting some of what I had learnt on the farm in terms of sustainability principles and applying them to the business.
We were able to build a niche around this, becoming carbon neutral in 2008, many international brands saw the appeal of what we were doing. We were the first carbon neutral textiles company in Africa at the time who were operating sustainably and reporting on it.
In 2015 I decided to exit the business and wanted to consult on sustainability as the business case was so strong for it. I retrained as a carbon footprint analyst and approached Mazars in Cape Town to see if they were interested in setting up a sustainability service line and there was appetite from the managing partner. We started the service line in 2017 and it’s grown ever since and I am now doing what I did in Cape Town, in the UK.
ESGmark®: That’s quite a change - both in career and location! So thinking about your role as Sustainability services lead at Mazars, can you tell us more about what it involves?
WH: A big part of the role is building ESG awareness within our own firm but also externally to clients. At Mazars we are very much about being ‘hands on’, not just applying theory. It’s really what differentiates us as a business. My role is to look for practical application, practical solutions, not just to help a company to tick boxes.
ESGmark®: As you build that external awareness, what are the most commonly asked questions you receive from clients?
WH: This is a difficult question as no two clients are the same so what is relative to one may not be relative to another. The first thing we like to clarify is that they understand what ESG is. We find the most common questions are:
a) What is ESG? What does it mean?
b) What does it mean for me? What does it mean for my business?
We receive a lot of questions about regulation – “e.g. I have to do this report can you help me?”. Ultimately, we want clients to be proactive and recognise the value ESG brings, not reactive to pressure from stakeholders in completing certain tasks.
ESGmark®: What are Mazars doing themselves in terms of ESG commitments? Could you give us some examples?
WH: Mazars as a global firm, one of it’s core pillars is sustainability and that filters down to everything we do. We have one clear purpose which is to help build the foundations of a fair and prosperous world.
It’s important we set an example, for example publishing our own sustainability report which reports on the outcomes of actions we have committed to. We’ve committed that all of our staff be fully trained on our global code of conduct by 2023 which is very important in terms of people. We’ve set targets around diversity & inclusion. We’ve got a community day where we encourage all staff to go and work in their local community.
In terms of climate we are working towards becoming net zero by 2030. We have eradicated single use plastics in our offices. We have pledged a 50% reduction in business travel by 2022, no waste to landfill by 2022 and renewable energy by 2025.
The sustainability services we offer are not just about income generation for us, but helping others to do what we are doing to create a better world.
ESGmark®: With Mazars being one of the larger accountancies, what responsibility do you think smaller, more independent firms have around this?
WH: Well the climate emergency and this movement isn’t just about us it’s about everyone. We believe it’s important that stewardship be passed down, that we widen the circle to make it bigger so everyone can be involved in making change. That is why we set up an alliance where we support other, smaller accountancies develop their own ESG strategies.
ESGmark®: What role do you think financial institutions have in helping businesses with their ESG strategy?
WH: Financial institutions have a big part to play in both consulting on ESG related matters but also assurance and accountability. Banks have a lot of influence in providing capital to firms and there comes the opportunity to incentivise clients to consider ESG in order to gain further investment.
ESGmark®: What do you think the key challenges are, preventing businesses from integrating ESG as part of their core business strategy?
WH: What we see as one of the biggest barriers for businesses is the lack of knowledge and understanding around the topic, its value drivers and how it can benefit the business. This lack of knowledge prohibits lack of development in terms of ESG within that business and people tend to steer away from things they do not know.
Resources is another constraint with many businesses viewing ESG as a costly exercise. This particularly relates to smaller businesses who are perhaps worried about consultancy fees. I think the question they must ask themselves is “Can we afford not to?”. The cost benefit to being proactive versus reactive is much greater. The speed at which change is happening in this space suggests businesses must engage sooner rather than later.
What we have seen is that the younger generations coming through the ranks are much more in tune to purpose rather than only profit, so there is definitely a drive from within businesses to consider aspects of ESG. In my opinion it’s simple, if businesses don’t change they will be left behind.
ESGmark®: What do you think the biggest trends and conversations will be for 2022?
WH: COP26 is taking place this month (we spoke to William just ahead of the conference) so undoubtedly the conversations from this will go into 2022. When one looks closely at the climate emergency and the figures scientists are producing, it’s quite scary. More has to be done and we’re hoping for some seriously good leadership on this to come out of COP26 so governments can start more aggressively putting into practice actions.
I think there will be a realisation from many that it’s not just one person’s problem but everyone’s right from individuals to businesses. Every day we go through a series of choices, we have the power to make changes in our own life that are positive but we choose not to because it’s our comfort zone. I hope COP26 will trigger some individual changes of people’s mindsets.
I think we will also be considering the effects of the pandemic in 2022 and what happens next in terms of the way we work and the future of the workplace. I also this a big topic next year will be addressing the mass social inequality that we have seen over the pandemic, with some countries still not been vaccinated due to lack of resource and funding.
You find more about William Hughes on the Mazars website.
We have plenty of resources on creating your ESG policy, ESG as a competitive advantage and COP26. And as ever, if you have any questions please get in touch.