Global professional services firm Deloitte Africa announced the appointment of sustainability and climate change specialists Jayne Mammatt and Jyoti Vallabh as Partners within its Audit & Assurance division.

The company stated that the new hires form part of its efforts “to help clients to develop, execute and report on their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives,” which includes providing assurance on sustainability reporting. Earlier this year the firm announced a $1 billion investment to grow its Sustainability & Climate practice, building on its initiative from last year to provide climate training to all of the firm’s 345,000 professionals, as well as to clients and suppliers.

Ruwayda Redfearn, CEO of Deloitte Africa, said:

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our times. At Deloitte, we are gearing ourselves to effectively guide clients in making ESG a key part of business strategy and reporting it with transparency. Our ability to attract two of the best talent in this sector is also an endorsement that our strategy is on course.”

Mammatt joins the company after 12 years at professional services firm PwC, where she headed the South African Sustainability and Climate Change practice and was the ESG Africa lead. At PwC, she was also responsible for delivering value propositions to clients in the areas of sustainable development, safety, health and environment risk, among others. Prior to this, she served for 17 years at professional services firm Ernst & Young.

Mammatt, said:

“The pressure to truly embed ESG, sustainable development principles and climate change resilience in all spheres of our economy and society is immense and is driven by all stakeholders across the ecosystem. The business case is clear; continued socio-economic development depends on it and the planetary boundaries will fail without it.”

Vallabh joins after 20 years at professional services firm KPMG, where she most recently led the Sustainability Services business unit, specializing in providing sustainability assurance and advisory services.

Vallabh, said:

“We’re seeing rapid moves to mandatory ESG reporting, with global regulators and policymakers responding to the urgent need to address climate change and other sustainability issues. Standards are critical in driving high-quality disclosures and accelerating preparedness for enhanced regulatory disclosure requirements.”