Five ways we are making a difference in our communities and for our planet

Social Impact Sustainability

June 17, 2019Our Social Responsibility Report, published this week, reflects our commitment to using our knowledge and our capabilities, beyond our client work, to help tackle pressing social and environmental challenges. Through our annual report, we hope to share the progress we are making. Here are five highlights.

1. Each year, we support 600+ non-profits through pro bono service, board membership, and volunteering

McKinsey has helped the non-profit Girls Who Code build their strategic plans and increase their reach.

Each McKinsey office forms its own social impact partnerships, reflecting the issues that colleagues are passionate about and that matter locally. Our colleagues have worked to deepen leadership and expertise in Foster America, helped to prepare formerly homeless citizens in London with the “soft skills” they will need for work, and developed an operational base at Last Mile Health, which trains workers serving the most remote communities of Liberia.

2. By the end of 2018, Generation had trained 25,000 young people worldwide, placing 81 percent in jobs across 25 different fields

Generation Spain prepares young people, especially women and liberal-arts graduates, for jobs in tech, including digital marketing, robotics, and Java development.

Inspired by our research on the education-to-employment gap, McKinsey founded Generation—an independent non-profit tackling youth employment. In less than 3 years, the program in Kenya has grown to be Generation’s largest, with 12,000 graduates placed in jobs in banking, financial sales, sewing-machine operation, restaurant services, retail, and distribution. Generation’s program in Spain, one of the non-profit’s earliest, is filling 7 percent of all digital-marketing vacancies in the country, with a strong emphasis on preparing women for tech jobs.

3. We’re making the economic and business case for diversity—in 2018, our Women in the Workplace researchers surveyed more than 64,000 employees

Through our research, policies, practices, and networks, we are working to advance diversity and inclusion.

They interviewed women of different races and ethnicities along with LGBTQ+ women about their workplace experiences. They also identified trends and best practices to help companies turn good intentions into lasting change. We’re committed to increasing diversity and fostering inclusion in our own firm. Last year, we extended our diversity reach to include supporting the indigenous peoples of Australia through skills building and economic-development programs.

4. We’re helping to build an environmentally sustainable planet—in 2018 we helped Chile create ten million acres of new national parkland

Casa Piedra Campground in Patagonia National Park in Chile. Photo: Linde Waidhofer, Tompkins Conservation

For more than 10 years, the research of McKinsey’s Sustainability Practice has framed environmental challenges and opportunities for businesses and governments. In 2018, we provided pro bono support to Tompkins Conservation to help make the economic case for Chile’s new national parks, which will benefit local communities as well as the environment. We also founded the non-profit McKinsey.org, which is developing new approaches for community-led recycling systems to create socially and environmentally responsible solutions to the waste crisis the world faces.

5. As a firm, we have zero net carbon emissions

We support carbon-reduction projects focused on preserving forests and improving land use.

Since 2018, we have been carbon neutral. We have achieved this by reducing our emissions where possible—87 percent of the electricity we use in our offices is from renewable sources and we have committed to 100 percent by 2025—and are offsetting the remainder by investing in high-quality carbon-reduction projects. After a firmwide poll, we decided to focus our offset efforts on forestry and land-use projects.