Sustainability Hub
Welcome to the Chartered Accountants Worldwide Sustainability Hub – global information at your fingertips.
In this hub we have pulled together a wealth of content from our member institutes and trusted partners around the world to help you – and the businesses you support – in becoming more sustainable and resilient now and for the future.
Whether you and your organisation are just beginning your sustainability journey or are already well under way, there is always more to be done as we learn more about the risks climate change poses and the need to build business resilience.
To make sure you get straight to the content you need, we have curated it under the headings Environment, Society, Governance and Reporting. There is also an accessible and straightforward ‘Getting Started’ checklist, as well as specific advice for small businesses.
All Chartered Accountants are agents of change and accountability. Your sustainability journey starts – or continues – here.
CAW Sustainability Pledge
Chartered Accountants Worldwide has partnered with Resilience First to become a recognised leading player in contributing to a better, safer world, through partnership of the UNFCCC’s Race to Resilience Campaign.
In becoming a partner and joining the campaign which aims to build global resilient communities, Chartered Accountants Worldwide has signed up to a pledge that includes certain commitments which would minimise businesses’ risk whilst evolving our climate resilience plans.
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Getting started
Get started with the Chartered Accountants Worldwide Sustainability Roadmap
This guide has been prepared for Chartered Accountants working in the private sector, but it can equally be applied to those working in the public and not-for-profit sectors.
SMEs
Climate for SME’s
Climate change is and will continue to affect businesses of all sizes. ICAEW is aiming to cut through the noise by providing tools and resources for small to medium sized businesses to build resilient business models. Here you will find guidance on where to start, how to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt into the future. The stages outlined below will ask you simply: why, what, how and apply.
This report examines the importance of readily available, relevant, and reliable sustainability information for achieving better-informed decisions, enhanced strategic and risk management, and more thorough and valuable reporting to external stakeholders.
Climate change has become a driving force in the way companies operate, and consumers and stakeholders are largely behind the push, experts say. As they become more aware of their carbon footprint, people are adjusting their behaviour accordingly—and organizations are catching up.
The Integrated Multi-Capital Performance Research Centre at Audencia, a French business school, developed the methodology for the LIFTS Accounting Model. ‘LIFTS’ stands for ‘Limits and Foundations Towards Sustainability’. The model has been tested and refined in a partnership between the Audencia research centre and Nepsen, an engineering and consultancy SME that specialises in the ecological transition.
Environment
Climate – What’s the role of the accountancy profession?
Climate change is a crucial issue for the accounting profession. Time is running out to take action, and ICAEW and its global community of members are driving the change to protect the environment for future generations. Are you professionally ready to mitigate the risk and maximise the opportunity of climate change? Find inspiration, information and practical resources to support the goals set out in the Paris Agreement and in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This is the second in a series of two virtual Dialogues designed to bring together the valuing nature community.
On 6 April 2022 we took stock of the changing operational landscape for the transition to nature-positive in business and assess what more needs to be done to accelerate the transition and make valuing nature the new normal for business.
Over half of the world’s GDP, $44 trillion of economic value, is at moderate or severe risk due to nature loss.
More than 1,000 businesses around the world are calling on governments to adopt policies now to reverse nature loss in this decade.
Climate change is and will continue to affect businesses of all sizes. ICAEW is aiming to cut through the noise by providing tools and resources for small to medium sized businesses to build resilient business models. Here you will find guidance on where to start, how to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt into the future. The stages outlined below will ask you simply: why, what, how and apply.
Governance
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: How Effective & Just Enforcement Systems Contribute to Global Accountancy Development
Strong governance and a robust investigation and discipline (I&D) system are core elements of a professional accountancy organization (PAO). An effective I&D system should protect the public interest in a proportionate way. Not only does this provide assurance to those using a professional accountant’s services, but it also protects the reputation of the PAO and the profession.
FAQs on Sustainability Reporting - Heart of Good Governance. Sustainability Reporting Maturity Model (SRMM) - Version 1.0 Background Material on Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) - Revised Edition 2021 Sustainable Development Goals - Accountants Creating Sustainable World Part - 3 Sustainable Development Goals - Accountants Creating Sustainable World Part […]
As investor attention shifts, sustainability reporting is gaining ground. With investors calling COVID-19 the 21st century’s first “sustainability” crisis, heads are turning towards climate change and socially responsible actions. In particular, there has been a surge this past year in sustainable investing approaches, as investors demand more attention be paid to environmental, social and governance (ESG) endeavours.
As part of the process for developing a climate plan the board needs to consider whether the organisation currently has the structures, systems and culture needed to deliver it.
Society
Gender pay gap reporting: the regulations
It is now a legal requirement for any type of organisation with over 250 eligible employees to publish a report on their gender pay gap. This means the regulations do not just apply to large corporations but also to private companies, partnerships, charities, trade and professional bodies and indeed anyone who employs 250 or more eligible employees.
Reporting
Purpose, people and planet
A new playbook offers actionable insights for not-for-profits and charities which have a critical role in the transition to a sustainable future.
ESG in Corporate Finance ESG considerations can have a positive impact on a business’s decisions in relation to transactions. They can also be a driver of transactions as a business’s ESG credentials influence investment and capital allocation decisions. ESG in transactions and investment decisions Why does ESG matter in […]
Climate change is impacting us globally and affecting the way businesses are being conducted. The affects that the weather has brought can be seen to be changing the way people live their daily lives. In order to have a sustainable business the owners have realized that to participate in keeping a minimum impact of climate change the business operations can contribute, be it in the ambit of reducing carbon emissions or creating an environment whereby the parties collaborating in a business activity all are brought towards the direction of positive impact on having a safe living environment.
Our planet is heating up rapidly and it’s a scientific fact that humanity will face disaster if we don’t cut down on greenhouse gas emissions massively and quickly. But climate change itself is not our problem. It’s merely a symptom of another problem that’s even bigger in scale and that many people don’t quite see yet. If we don’t succeed in understanding and solving this core problem (which is the root cause of many other problems as well), we won’t be able to tackle climate change either.