There is no doubt in our minds that there is a pressing need to respond to the climate emergency. This requires governments and businesses to take a ‘whole of organisation’ approach: the same is true for ICAEW. For us to help this process of change, we want to ensure that we have a good understanding of how our members are engaging with climate change and what they need from us – wherever they are located and whatever their occupation. This survey of international members will help us build our knowledge base while informing our future activities in this space.
Complete the survey: Addressing Climate Change Risks and Opportunities
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), taking place in Glasgow on 31 October-12 November 2021, will focus on securing global political commitment to go beyond the 2-degree warming target set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This is probably the last chance to get it right and the stakes could not be higher.
But getting it right requires commitment for the future by ensuring a pathway for rapid decarbonisation, as well as for the present by accelerating action to deal with the damage already done, and to fast-track adaptation to the impact of a changing climate. This must be achieved while tackling the loss of biodiversity and addressing social inequalities in society.
Progress needs concerted action across governments, business, the wider public and organisations that can enable change. In this context, the accounting profession has a critical role to play in ensuring transparency and accountability of decision-making – including by responding to the growing demand for companies to put people and planet into the numbers.
Chartered accountants are already at the heart of tackling climate change, and ICAEW member Alok Sharma MP will be leading the way as COP26 President. In our own ‘road to COP26’, we are carrying out a range of activities to engage with our members, develop more guidance and provide more resources to help drive change.
In addition to our own net-zero journey, as signatories to the professional bodies’ Charter for Climate Action and the Green Finance Education Charter, we are committed to building sustainability into the ACA qualification and CPD. Our 1,000 Chartered Accountants campaign seeks to celebrate our members who are acting on the climate crisis. This month also sees our first ESG risk webinar series, building up to our first virtual ICAEW Climate Summit which will bring ICAEW members from across the profession on the issue of climate change during the week of 18 October. Our Sustainability and Climate Change Community continues to grow rapidly since its launch in November 2020.
We hope that this survey of members will provide valuable insights into the perspectives and needs of our international members. The highlights of the survey will be shared during our Climate Summit.
We encourage all our international members to take five minutes to complete the survey: Addressing Climate Change Risks and Opportunities
Visit the 1,000 Chartered Accountants hub where ICAEW, Chartered Accountants Ireland, and ICAS want to celebrate our members who are acting on the climate crisis.
Members can also sign up for the ICAEW Climate Summit 18-22 October 2021, A five-day virtual summit of events, videos, podcasts and articles to help chartered accountants act on climate.