Sustainability at Chartered Accountants Ireland

• Our Advocacy and Voice Board is invested in driving the Institute’s agenda on sustainability. It mandated the establishment within Chartered Accountants Ireland of a Sustainability Expert Working Group, to inform the development of research for the accountancy profession in Ireland. This working group comprises representatives from accounting firms, government organisations and NGOs, academia, business, professional accounting organisations, and the energy, banking sector and technology sectors. 

• Institute representatives sit on the Sustainability Working Group of the Global Accounting Alliance, and through this we are a member of the Accounting Bodies Network of “Accounting for Sustainability” (A4S). A4S is Prince Charles’ Accounting for Sustainability Project and was established in 2004 with the aim of promoting sustainable decision-making in business. The Institute was one of 14 accounting bodies worldwide to become signatories to a call to action on climate change issued by A4S in February 2020.

• On June 16 the Institute responded to the public consultation on the EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive. This Directive lays down the rules on disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by large public-interest companies, which have been required to non-financial statements in their annual reports from 2018 onwards.

• Through Chartered Accountants Worldwide the Institute is involved in a range of initiatives, including Finance and Business 2030 (FinBiz).

• We have integrated sustainability into the student curriculum, with the introduction of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Integrated Reporting as a topic area within Topic Area 4 Risk Management & Sustainability. 

• Through our District Society activities we are running a series webinars on the topic of sustainability, the most recent being the June 4 event ‘Investigating Sustainability in the Current Climate’. 

• Sustainability is also included as a topic area in our CPD programme. 

• Within the Institute itself, there is an established team-driven CSR programme.

For more information about sustainability and climate action in Chartered Accountants Ireland, contact Public Policy Officer Susan Rossney.