Accounting for Sustainability (A4S)

📢 Early bird applications for the A4S Academy are now open! 2/3 organizations that successfully integrate sustainability into their business practices see it as a driver of significant value in sales growth. The A4S Academy is designed to help finance professionals embed sustainability into financial decision making – creating long-term value by making sustainable business, business as usual. 🔹5-weeks of live, online seminars 🔹Expert-led sessions 🔹Practical tools to drive real change 🔹Resources created by finance for finance 🔹Implementation in own organizations 🔹Ongoing support from technical experts You'll not only gain knowledge, but also put it into action – developing a plan that makes a tangible impact within your organization. If you want the skills to turn sustainability ambitions into action and create more value, find out more here:  https://lnkd.in/dV9QssFx    Don't miss out on the chance to secure your spot at a discount.

👇 Read below for our takeaways from our recent fireside chat for CFOs and senior finance executives of Australia’s Group of 100 (G100) – an Australian business association and advocacy body representing Chief Financial Officers and senior finance executives in Australia. 🔍 This webinar allowed us to explore “The Investor Perspective” on all things sustainability. We were fortunate enough to have Olumide Olawale, of OMERS Sustainable Investing team and member of the IFRS Sustainability Reference Group, and Phillip Gee join us as speakers. 🚀 OMERS have a mandate of delivering sustainable, meaningful, and affordable pensions to its members. OMERS believes that well-run organizations with sound sustainable business practices will perform better particularly over the long term, and as such the fund’s actions are guided by this belief. It was a great opportunity to understand how OMERS (one of our CFO Leadership Network members) approaches sustainable investment and hear about their learnings: 📊 Start with what’s readily measurable. Leveraging primary data and publicly available information is a strong foundation for building out sustainability reporting. 📈 Investors support progress, not perfection. They are willing to back companies that take incremental steps toward adopting sustainability standards, recognizing that this enhances the quality of reporting and data. 🗣️ Don’t hesitate to seek guidance. Engage with peers, consultants, industry forums, and even investors themselves—collaboration strengthens both strategy and reporting. 🛠️ Interoperability among standards is essential. Aligning frameworks helps reduce costs and enhances comparability across jurisdictions, making sustainability reporting a more effective tool for informed decision-making. 📖 Quality sustainability reporting goes beyond compliance. It should tell a compelling story of how an organization creates value over time, rather than just ticking regulatory boxes. 💡The most impactful engagements take a thoughtful, bottom-up approach. Organizations that focus on their most material risks and opportunities—while staying true to their values and long-term strategy—create a more authentic and effective sustainability narrative. We hope these points are useful to you in your sustainable investment processes – do share any of your own in the comment section. We host numerous events to promote peer-to-peer learning and knowledge for our network members. To find out more about our different networks, click here: https://lnkd.in/esX_wmDt

❓ What is the business case for integrating sustainability across key functions? 👉 Our recent report, "Sustainability Value Triangle," offers insight for finance, IT, and sustainability leaders on how organizations are collaboratiing, integrating and creating greater business value. The research also explores how the collaboration of these three functions can help businesses navigate critical challenges such as sustainability reporting and AI adoption. Here are some key findings from the report: 🔹 44% of respondents believe that sustainability reporting promotes meaningful collaboration that generates value, while 42 percent believe it either has no impact on value creation or actively distracts from making progress on sustainability. However, companies with deeper integration are far more likely to leverage sustianability for value creation. 🔹 Fewer than one-third of IT and finance leaders feel there is a high level of competence and understanding of sustainability within their functions. 🔹 While only 6% of leaders think that AI has already provided significant value for sustainability, 50% expect it to do so in the next two years, particularly in reporting, measurement, and cost management. 🌎 To conduct this research, we established the Sustainability Value Creation Partnership, which includes SustainableIT.org, ERM Sustainability Institute, Salesforce, and GlobeScan. Access the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eGiUbAV3 

🌍 Announcing the A4S International Case Competition (A4SICC) 2025 Finalists! 🏆 We received an incredible range of high quality entries this year, making it a tough challenge to whittle it down to our final shortlist, but after much deliberation, here are the teams moving forward: 🔥 NourishCycle 🔥 Enact Consulting 🔥 RefriGenius 🔥 Rockstars 🔥 Team GreenPath 🔥 The GreenForge 🔥 Milky Way 🔥 Lestari 🎉 That's not all: People’s Choice Award! In addition to the official competition, we’re inviting YOU to have your say! Vote for the team you think excelled in this year’s challenge. You can watch all the finalist videos here: https://lnkd.in/eGaTV52B and cast your vote here: https://lnkd.in/dwg_3bMv 📅 Your vote counts! Deadline: 30 March We kindly ask you to vote only once and not for your own team! 🚀 This year, we’ve introduced exciting updates: we added internship opportunities for participants, and we are also launching a brand-new live challenge during the finals! We hope finalists are ready for the last stage of the competition on 3-4 April, where they will will test their knowledge, pitch their solutions to a panel of judges, connect with peers, and sharpen their skills for the future. 💡 A huge thank you! To all participants –whether or not you made it to the final–you've impressed us with your innovative approaches to decarbonization. The world needs ambitious, forward-thinking students like you, ready to tackle sustainability challenges head-on. Keep learning, keep creating, and keep pushing boundaries! 📍 Next stop: TORONTO! 🙏 Special thanks to our sponsors: Brookfield, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, ofi, Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) and Accounting for Impact; our host Schulich School of Business - York University (Charles H. Cho, PhD, CPA); our partners Altiorem, GBSN, ICAEW, Capitals Coalition, Shift Project and World Benchmarking Alliance; and our corporate partners DHL, SAP, Schroders and Tanganda Tea Company Limited. 🚀 Interested in entering or supporting next year’s competition? Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eMVhdWmW

📢 We have developed a document for finance teams to align transition planning and financial planning: https://lnkd.in/eXA8T8TR If you work in finance, this will help you identify the different transition planning activities that may have financial implications, including the key questions to ask colleagues, across:  👉 Capex 👉 Revenue 👉 Opex 👉 Value chain  👉 Regulation, internal pricing and offsets 👉 Raising capital For CAPEX, the suggested questions include: ❓ Are you installing any new low-emissions assets (eg wind turbines, solar panels or EVs – either owner or hire purchase)?  ❓ Are you buying any assets that are required to manufacture new low-emissions products or to increase the circularity of products?  ❓ Are you upgrading or retrofitting any assets on the basis of preparedness for the transition (eg making old buildings more energy efficient)?  ❓ Are you likely to incur costs to ensure assets are resilient to physical risks (eg adding in f lood defences)?  ❓ Are you likely to need to revalue, write off, impair or retire any existing assets due to the transition? Q. Are your fixed assets likely to increase in value?  ❓ Are you investing in any capex to support your value chain? 🛠️ In each section you’ll find practical examples of climate action that organizations have taken that have financial implications, for example from Levi Strauss & Co., Unilever, NatWest and Apple. 🔗 Head to our webpage and download the document for the rest: https://lnkd.in/eXA8T8TR 🤝 This resource has been developed with support from ICAEW.

🐞 🍃 Happy World Wildlife Day! 🌊 Natural ecosystems underpin our social, cultural and economic systems. They fall under the term 'natural capital', the world's stock of natural resources—such as ecosystems, biodiversity, air, water, and soil—that provide essential goods and services and support life and economic activity. 🔥 Failing to identify natural capital can expose businesses to significant risks, including environmental degradation, resource scarcity, regulatory penalties, and supply chain disruptions. On the other side, overlooking these assets means missing out on opportunities for innovation, cost savings from efficient resource use, enhanced resilience, and a competitive edge through sustainable practices. 🌎 By integrating natural capital into our financial models, businesses can uncover hidden value, drive sustainable growth, and mitigate risks, ensuring that both nature and profit thrive together. Swipe through our collection of case studies on biodiversity and natural capital to inform your natural capital approach! 🔗Download the individual case studies here: 👉 PensionDanmark: https://lnkd.in/e6-HGS7t 👉 GSK: https://lnkd.in/eBi4RGdt 👉 United Utilities: https://lnkd.in/e9f2PVxW 👉 Yorkshire Water: https://lnkd.in/ebunDrUW

🌿 If you want to hear about other corporations’ experiences with nature reporting, specifically the TNFD recommendations, then register for the ‘UK action on TNFD’ webinar: https://lnkd.in/e6iG9KpA What you’ll get: 🗣️ A broad ranging discussion about how to build the case for nature internally and get started ⚙️ An exploration of motivations, first steps, and how the process is helping to inform action across the organisation ❓ A Q&A to share your own experiences and learn how the panellists have navigated any challenges When: 📅  5th March 2025 🕦 11:30 - 12:30 London You’ll hear from 3 UK companies from across a range of sectors: • Chris Dodwell, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Impax Asset Management • Ruth Voigt CEnv MCIEEM, Environmental Sustainability Lead, Laing O'Rourke • Diane Crowe, Group Sustainability Director, Reconomy • Charlie Dixon, UK Market Engagement Lead for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), GFI Group (moderator) 👉 This is a great opportunity for cross-sector learnings – if you’re interested, register here: https://lnkd.in/ennF_PAK Green Finance Institute

👇 Read below for thoughts on the EU Omnibus Package related to CSRD and CSDDD

📢 Many are aware of how sustainability integration drives positive brand awareness – but the value creation goes a lot deeper than that. If embedded successfully sustainability principles and practices can drive both innovation and resilience. 🔓 To unlock this value, sustainability, finance, and IT functions need to work in tandem, each taking shared ownership of the sustainability agenda. When done well, each function can contribute significantly in its own unique way. What might this look like? 🌿 Sustainability: can shape clearer goals, metrics and roadmaps 🛠️ Finance: can build improved and innovative ways to measure value and long-term ROI 📈 IT: can ensure integrated, automated and centralized data To learn more, download the report here: https://lnkd.in/eFYh3qvR

🎥 What does sustainability in action look like at A4S? 👉 At Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), we drive change by equipping finance professionals with the tools, insights, and strategies needed to embed sustainability into decision making. ⚙️ Working with leaders across finance and accounting allows us to not only build and develop guidance to help others, but also to learn about and understand the main challenges and opportunities in the sector. If you participate in our mission, you are directly and indirectly informing and supporting others in the space. 🛠️ We work with our networks to feedback on reporting standards, discuss best practice, and steer new modes of thinking and doing. 🚀 In this video, Helen Slinger, Martina Tessari, and Susan Whyte share some meaningful moments they've experienced while working at A4S – from inspiring stories and collective action to that 'penny drop' moment. These milestones demonstrate both the tangible and conceptual impacts of our work, changing hearts and minds as well as changing methods and operations. 💬 Have you experienced a meaningful moment in the work to a sustainable future? Let us know below. 🔗 And if you want to contribute more, have a look at the networks on our website and sign up for our newsletter to keep up with out latest events and publications!