Bringing a passion for sustainability into Deloitte’s workplace living sustainably and enhancing workplace sustainability

Living sustainably is a way of life and a career path for one Deloitte professional

Her role at Deloitte: Sustainability Senior Consultant in the Growth & Purpose Office, Deloitte Services LP. Emma came to Deloitte after graduating from college with a degree in environmental economics and international studies, seeking to build a career in sustainability. “I thought that if I worked in consulting, I would have broad exposure,” she says. When she joined Deloitte in 2018, she sought internal ways to build sustainable practices. She quickly found the Boston office’s Green Team, a group of Deloitte professionals working together to make Deloitte an even more sustainable place to work and to empower others to take action. “The team had four people then,” she says. The goal: to get rid of single-use plastic bottles, which they achieved by working with the Boston One Team to install water dispensers in pantry areas and track data use. From there, Emma says, she felt like it was all systems go for her work with Green Teams. “We created Green Team toolkits for new teams to leverage – that was my nights and weekends thing for a while,” she laughs. She also worked on expanding the Boston team’s efforts and sourcing funding and support from leaders. Emma credits her work with Green Teams for opening the door to her role on the Sustainability team in Deloitte’s Growth & Purpose Office. Emma now leads the entire network of Green Teams, which has expanded to 35 teams across the country. “Green Teams are important for so many of our professionals who want to find a great way to get experience on sustainability projects,” she says. “I’m really most proud of my work on them – I found my network and the ability to use my skillset.”

Purpose in action: “Employee engagement efforts in sustainability can all come together in the realm of Zero Waste,” Emma says. “People need to be aware, if you’re going to succeed. That comes to life for me in Impact Day.” Emma started working on waste-reduction efforts for Impact Day – Deloitte’s annual day of service – in 2022, with a vision to achieve Zero Waste for the day by 2025. She and her team started in just four markets with a pilot program to focus on waste reduction. “We got a lot of feedback from the pilot,” she says. “It was new for a lot of people – to ask them to measure their waste and separate waste streams on site.” Flash forward two years later, and by Impact Day 2024 all markets were piloting Zero Waste programs to some degree, while larger markets were fully scaling their efforts. “Our goal for Impact Day 2025 is for all sites and all markets participating in Impact Day to achieve Zero Waste status,” she says. New roles, such as a Zero Waste Ambassador and a Zero Waste Champion, are likely to be important for the efforts’ successes, and they’ve added guidance materials to help local teams source vendors and methods. “We’re just trying to meet people where they are,” she says of broadening awareness of Zero Waste.

Impact: “I feel like I am probably the most inspiring, or possibly annoying, person about waste,” Emma jokes. She embeds waste-reduction efforts wherever she can at home, and she and her friends do clothing swaps for birthdays and holidays instead of buying new things. Her focus on recycling extends to even the smallest of things, and she goes out of her way to find ways to upcycle or reuse. For her wedding celebration in Maine, she and her husband worked with their vendors to identify ways to limit waste. “It felt really special to me, to minimize waste for a big life event,” she says.