Delivering on ambitious promises and tackling inertia key sustainability challenges for business

More than 100 business leaders will hear from leading experts next week on the sustainability challenges and barriers facing companies as Chartered Accountants Ireland hosts its inaugural sustainability conference, in partnership with Goodbody. Minister Eamon Ryan T.D. and Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon will both address the conference. 

The conference is in response to research by Chartered Accountants Ireland last winter, which showed a demand for more specific training to understand the challenges that sustainability poses for organisations. 74 per cent felt a responsibility in relation to sustainability, with 60 per cent saying it forms a key part of their company’s business strategy.

According to a poll of experts taken in advance of next week’s conference, the major sustainability issues facing businesses in Ireland in the next 5 years fall into three categories:

1. Delivering on promises

Ambitious emissions reduction targets have been set by many companies towards 2030 and 2050, and there is a ‘credibility challenge’ now in meeting these. Many of the barriers are people-centred, from not knowing where to start, to not having the right expertise at board level and across key roles in the business to embed sustainability strategies and deliver on targets. Key will be giving people across different levels in businesses the skills to feel comfortable talking about sustainability, what it means for the organisation and their role in tackling and delivering on objectives. 

2. Countering inertia and lack of responsibility

A lack of long-term thinking is a common barrier, according to the conference speakers, and there was concern that inertia had started to creep in. Coupled with a lack of responsibility among some businesses and within some sectors to act, the challenge for committed businesses will be to ensure transparency and authenticity in their ESG-related activities, setting targets and generating tangible evidence to report on progress. 

3. Ensuring strategy can stand the test of time

Finally, respondents highlighted the challenge of achieving a strategy that is as relevant at the end of a 3–5-year period as it was at the outset. The strategy must have the resilience to withstand change in the business, as well as in the external environment, for example changes to the physical environment caused by climate change, and ‘transitional change’, like the onset of regulation around sustainability. Compounding this in the short term is the additional challenge of reimagining organisations from a physical to a virtual world, identifying the skills necessary for future growth, and attracting, developing and retaining talent when employees’ lives increasingly straddle both worlds.

Barry Dempsey, Chief Executive, Chartered Accountants Ireland, noted
"The challenges are varied for businesses coming out of the pandemic, but sustainability is firmly in the mix. Accountants, from their vantage points in organisations, are well-placed to advise on how to address sustainability challenges. We want to give our 29,500 members working across business and practice a deeper understanding of these challenges, and how the profession can play its part in helping organisations and employees respond. 

“Sustainable accounting is part of this response, and one that balances both the needs of investors and board members with what is right for communities and the planet. Showing strong resolve today will have a very necessary and lasting impact into the future, from CEOs and CFOs to our students and graduates.”