Kuwait City, 1 Oct: KPMG has launched the KPMG ESG Academy in collaboration with Microsoft and some of the world’s leading universities and institutions. The scalable, turnkey academy leverages the KPMG Learning Enablement and Analytics Platform – a preconfigured platform enabled by Microsoft 365, Azure, Teams and Microsoft Viva Learning that helps to deliver learning directly in the flow of work. It can be offered as a standalone virtual learning tool or can be integrated into clients’ in-house learning platforms, helping organizations support their ESG initiatives by delivering foundational and advanced learning on a wide range of ESG topics and disciplines.

The Academy course material is structured around the latest business thought leadership in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics, with content developed by globally recognized ESG specialists from leading universities and institutions, in collaboration with KPMG subject matter professionals in sustainability.

The course content is fully customizable and scalable. Executive-level leadership, mid-management, and/or non-management learners can be engaged in the business client’s choice of basic-level ESG training, comprehensive ESG training, and/or advanced ESG-focused training in specific topics of interest, such as circularity, reporting, and risk. With a powerful combination of business and academic learning, the KPMG ESG Academy delivers both foundational and advanced learning on a range of ESG topics, with the option to focus on specific business sectors and functions.

The KPMG ESG Academy builds on the expanded global alliance between KPMG and Microsoft and investment to accelerate global digital solutions for ESG issues.

Majid Makki, Partner and Head of Technology advisory, KPMG in Kuwait said:

"As business leaders seek to enhance their knowledge of ESG and its changing regulatory landscape for future-proof decision-making, the collaboration between KPMG and Microsoft comes at an ideal time. By combining the technology from Microsoft with the knowledge ecosystem of KPMG, we intend to bring together all the information and insights around ESG onto a single platform.

KPMG and Microsoft share a commitment to innovation and sustainability that drives us to deliver new products and initiatives. I believe the KPMG ESG Academy will empower decision-makers to create positive change.” 

The KPMG ESG Academy is part of a range of innovative new digital solutions KPMG and Microsoft have launched to support businesses on their ESG journey. Earlier this year, the longstanding global alliance was further strengthened with the release of the KPMG Circularity Tracker – a solution designed to provide even greater depth of ESG understanding for clients – including automated data collection and model-based data calculations using standards, regulatory reporting metrics, and universally accepted measurement frameworks for circularity performance.

Ali Abbas, Director and Head of Risk Consulting, added “While Kuwait is in the initial maturity stages of the ESG landscape, we believe it is the right time for the decision-makers to understand the potential impact of ESG on their businesses. To meet their ESG commitments, companies must gain insights, act, and ultimately transform their businesses. The KPMG ESG Academy, powered by the Microsoft Cloud, provides the knowledge and tools that corporate leaders and their teams need to build more sustainable businesses and tackle the climate change issues of today and tomorrow and support them along their ESG Transformation Journey from Strategy to Implementation.”