Q: Now that Deloitte has completed two years under the Corporate Responsibility (CR) policy with you as CRO, what was different about the second year?

Tom: In many ways the second year of our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability initiative may have been more important than the first. The second year bridged the excitement, and novelty associated with the launch, moving to the task of permanently embedding CR and sustainability into the fabric of our organization. We have had longstanding programs in Ethics, Talent and Community Relations but less rigorous initiatives in greening/sustainability where we have made great progress this year.

After our kick-off year with Green Champions and green teams in every office, "Greening the dot" office projects underway, and high levels of participation in our "How green is your footprint?™" survey, we turned our focus toward establishing an on-going advisory group as well as expanding the greening initiatives in each of our offices and, recently, beyond the workplace.

During fiscal 2009, throughout Deloitte, there has been increasing integration with our greening initiatives as well as reinforcement of CR and sustainability principles across Ethics, Talent, Internal Operations, Technology, Community Involvement, and Client Service. Each area has its own story to tell with achievements highlighted within their sections of this report.

Finally, as the US representative on the global Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) CR Council, I've been part of growing collaboration among member firms to build CR and sustainability into all that each member firm does around the world. One of the accomplishments this year was to develop a Global CR policy and obtain DTT Board approval. The policy will be adopted by all our member firms worldwide.

We have made a lot of progress toward driving CR and sustainability deeply into our organization; but the more we accomplish the greater our realization of how much more there is to do.

Q: How does Deloitte connect national programs with grassroots efforts?

Tom: We recognize that, ultimately, all greening is local. That's where programs get executed and innovation occurs. To deliver consistent national messaging and provide a conduit for grassroots feedback, we formed the Green Leadership Council (GLC) this past year. The GLC is composed of senior representatives from each of the eight regions in the US and India as well as representatives from Talent, Community Involvement, Field Operations, and our Enterprise Sustainability group. The council maintains a constant dialogue between national leadership and our people on the ground in offices across the country.

The GLC's broad role is to assist in implementing a sustainable green culture at Deloitte, develop and share green ideas across regions, participate in the development of greening goals, track and monitor our performance in implementing ideas and achieving our greening goals, and identify and address challenges and opportunities related to greening Deloitte. With the help of the council, we developed the home footprint survey ("How green is your other footprint?™"), and Toolkit 2.0 with additional projects--both with emphasis on greening within the community.

Q: Over the past year what have been your biggest accomplishments?

Tom: Again, all of the components of CR can point to major accomplishments. For example we have initiated an extraordinary pro bono program through our Community Involvement group which provides professional services to undertake significant projects in the nonprofit sector. Within Internal Operations we made noteworthy progress in our Green IT efforts, consolidating data centers and making them more energy efficient, increasing video conferencing in our practice offices, and developing a program to reduce, recycle and reuse end-user computing resources such as cell phones, PDAs, desktop computers, etc. We have also developed design criteria and processes to pursue LEED certification for all our lease renewals. LEED requirements have been incorporated into our "Workplace of the Future" design for the layout and equipping of our practice offices.

However, I believe our most significant accomplishment was the initiative to quantify our carbon footprint. So far we have carbon measurements for a baseline year as well as measurements for fiscal 2009. We are currently confirming and analyzing the data before determining appropriate reduction targets. For any organization, this is a significant milestone and a visible demonstration of commitment to sustainability.

Q: What is the biggest opportunity going forward?

Tom: In our organization there are many opportunities and things yet to do. Last year we had a list of 29 initiatives that we conducted. This year that list has expanded to 50 initiatives that cover Internal Operations, Talent, Community Involvement, Leadership, CR policy and reporting, Client Service, Communications, Technology, and Ethics and Compliance. It seems that the more initiatives we conduct, the more opportunity we find. We have created a PMO (Project Management Office) to help us organize the many activities we have underway.

In an organization such as ours, it always makes sense to start from the core and work outwards, being very open to all the ideas, creativity and innovation that happens through our many highly talented professionals. Now that we have comprehensive participation in strong CR and sustainability programs internally, one of our greatest opportunities is to share our learning with our communities, stakeholders, and clients.

Certainly our efforts within the community, and leadership in the Talent area with our women's initiative and, recently, the Mass Career Customization™ direction indicate a desire to contribute, share and collaborate. Further, given our success in Green IT, we will extend our understanding into tangible programs to further education and awareness both internally and externally.

We have made great progress in the CR/sustainability services we deliver to our clients—last year revenue for the Enterprise Sustainability group exceeded plan by over 50 percent. We have more than 500 practitioners delivering services in the areas of CR and sustainability strategy and reporting, energy investment, climate change and sustainability risk management, health and safety, CR organization and development, green IT, green supply chain, and many other related services.

There is obviously much to do, but at the same time we have a great deal to offer. As one of the largest professional services organizations and given our involvement in the economic and social structures in the US, our intellectual capital and implementation capability represents substantial opportunity not only for us but also for society at large.

Q: Now with two years in your current role, have there been any surprises?

Tom: Those outside Deloitte would probably be surprised at the enthusiastic response we've received from our people regarding our greening initiatives and the outpouring of volunteers who are the Green Champions or are on green teams in our practice offices. The whole program is geared toward opt-in participation and the response has been extraordinary. This has been extremely gratifying and a testament to the quality of our people and our values.

What does surprise me, and it is very a pleasant one, is the spirit and nature of the collaboration within the sustainability community. The transparency and the willingness to share are, I believe, driven by a strong sense that we are all in this together, and we better get it right. There appears to be an emphasis on the journey where small starts are encouraged and celebrated. Also there is ever-present humility regarding the challenges that must be overcome. I think the enormity of the challenges we all face is transforming the mindset of even normally fierce competitors to cooperate for the common good.