The past two years have had a profound impact on the business world, leaving some industries crippled even as others have thrived. As the public and private sectors have worked to adapt to an increasingly fraught environment, consultancy firms have provided extensive support and guidance to their efforts, and have reaped the financial rewards for doing so. Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading management consulting firm, recently announced global sales of $11 billion for FY2021, with year-on-year growth of 25%.
The firm’s new Chief Executive Officer, Christoph Schweizer, who took the helm in October 2021, credits strong client demand for climate and sustainability services along with digital and artificial intelligence (AI) services as major growth drivers. The firm is recruiting an additional 8,000 staff in 2022, seeking climate and sustainability and AI experts to join its consulting teams.
“We have benefited from our multi-year commitment to invest in developing world-class capabilities. Increasingly, we are bringing those capabilities together to support clients on their path to net-zero, and in the past few months BCG has also launched major partnerships with SAP and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP),” said Schweizer in a press release. “I’m also very proud of the way our team has partnered with clients in every sector to help them navigate through a very challenging period. We are enabling our clients to harness the potential of digital transformation, advanced analytics, and AI at scale to build resilience and prepare for future opportunities.”
BCG’s commitment to addressing climate change internally and externally has been wide-ranging. The firm is preparing to issue its annual sustainability report at the end of April, and is expected to announce significant progress on its path to net-zero. BCG has invested $240 million since 2020 in broadening and deepening its climate partnerships, advancing thought leadership, and expanding capabilities. It has also served as the consulting partner for COP26 and is supporting climate-related efforts for the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. In addition to these projects, BCG is a founding partner of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, a fund investing in companies developing cutting-edge net-zero technologies.
