Not for the first time we are seeing some prime examples of where the business community is taking its rightful place a leader  in the global drive for sustainability. There’s United Nations acknowledgement too, as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) advances its Action2020 plan  to create a powerful roadmap for scaling up sustainable business action and now the Chief Financial Officers of some of Europe’s pre-eminent corporations have joined forces in a Network aimed at embedding environmental and social issues into company strategy and finances, with a little Royal endorsement  from the Prince of Wales. Read More

European business leaders unite to put sustainability at the heart of company decision making

From Clarence House (12 December 2013):

European business leaders unite to put sustainability at the heart of company decision making

New leadership network established by HRH The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project to lead the drive for resilient business

The Chief Financial Officers of some of Europe’s pre-eminent corporations have joined forces in a Network aimed at embedding environmental and social issues into company strategy and finances.

The Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network, established by the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Project, founded by HRH The Prince of Wales, is the first grouping of its kind to focus on the role CFOs play in integrating environmental and social issues into financial decision making. There is a growing commercial imperative for businesses to take these factors into account if they are to future-proof their organisations; and there is now clear evidence that companies which address environmental and social issues deliver improved commercial returns.

The Network will be launched this afternoon (12th Dec) at the eighth A4S Annual Forum. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has welcomed the formation of the network. The Prince said:

“C.F.O.s have a vital role to play in making sure their businesses thrive, not just today, but tomorrow and into the future.  The bottom line is that sustainable business equals good business.  I am therefore delighted that the A4S Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network will play a key role not only in communicating why sustainability makes business sense, but how to start accounting for it.  Our children and grandchildren are depending on it.”

At the launch, the A4S Executive Chairman, Jessica Fries, will chair a panel discussion featuring the A4S CFO Leadership Network Co-Chairs, John Rogers (CFO, Sainsbury’s) and Pierre-André Terisse (CFO, Danone) and Network member Rolf-Dieter Schwalb, CFO, Royal DSM.

Member organisations joining the Network are: Anglian Water, BUPA, Burberry Group, British Land, The Crown Estate, Danone, Royal DSM, Marks & Spencer, National Grid, Sainsbury’s, SSE, South West Water, Unilever, United Utilities, Walmart EMEA and Yorkshire Water.

The Network has come together to demonstrate leadership on how companies should respond to challenges including climate change, a rising and ageing global population, rapid urbanisation, and increased consumption. All these issues are putting unprecedented pressure on natural resources and the fabric of society.

The Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network will focus on developing and sharing successful strategies so these become the ‘norm’ across all businesses. This will include improved modelling of future risk and uncertainty as well as engagement with investors and other stakeholders to increase their understanding of the commercial benefits of sustainable business models.

John Rogers, Co-Chair of the A4S CFO Leadership Network and CFO of Sainsbury’s said:

“HRH The Prince of Wales has rightly recognised the vital importance of bringing sustainability issues into the very heart of corporate governance and accounting. What used to be seen as greenwash needs to become as natural to company finance teams as it is to CR departments or even NGOs. I’m pleased to be co-chairing this significant new initiative and urge my counterparts in business and public organisations to contribute their skills and experience to the A4S CFO Leadership Network.”

The Network will be extended globally during the course of 2014.

1. The CFO Leadership Network members are:

• Scott Longhurst, Managing Director of Finance & Non Regulated Business, Anglian Water
• Evelyn Bourke, Chief Financial Officer, BUPA
• Carol Fairweather, Chief Financial Officer, Burberry Group
• Pierre-André Terisse, Chief Financial Officer, Danone (Co-Chair)
• John Rogers, Chief Financial Officer,  J Sainsbury (Co-Chair)
• Rolf-Dieter Schwalb, Chief Financial Officer, Royal DSM
• Alan Stewart, Chief Finance Officer, Marks and Spencer
• Andrew Bonfield, Finance Director, National Grid
• Susan Davy, Finance and Regulatory Director, South West Water
• Gregor Alexander, Finance Director, SSE
• Lucinda Bell, Finance Director, The British Land Company
• John Lelliott, Director of Finance and Information Systems, The Crown Estate
• Russ Houlden, Chief Financial Officer, United Utilities
• Jean-Marc Huët, Chief Financial Officer, Unilever
• Richard Mayfield, Chief Financial Officer, Walmart EMEA
• Liz Barber, Group Director of Finance and Regulation, Yorkshire Water

2. About the CFO Leadership Network Charter

The Network has set its agenda through a Charter, which states its ambitions. The Charter sets out the Network’s objectives, which are:

• To support the CFO community in the creation of sustainable business models through strengthening skills, competencies and abilities
• To share insights, challenges and opportunities to accelerate progress towards accounting for sustainability and collaborate with others to increase the reach and impact of Network activities where opportunities exist
• To work together to develop new tools, methodologies and approaches where required in order to embed sustainability into internal decision making processes
• To influence the environment within which organisations operate through engagement with investors and other stakeholders

The Charter sets out the work which the Network will be undertaking in its first twelve months, which includes:

• Developing guidance to improve transparency in decision making including ways to embed sustainability into capital expenditure appraisal
• Contributing to the development of improved methodologies for the measurement and valuation of natural and social capital in order that they can be taken into account in decision making processes
• Improving investor engagement on the commercial benefits of sustainable business models

3. About The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S)

Accounting for Sustainability was set up by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2004 “to help ensure that we are not battling to meet 21st century challenges with, at best, 20th century decision-making and reporting systems.”

A4S works with the finance, accounting and investor community to build a sustainable, resilient economy.  It works to:

• Demonstrate the business case for organisations to integrate measures of environmental health, social well-being and economic performance into decision making, accounting and reporting.
• Develop the systems, tools and guidance and build capacity among the accounting, finance and investor community to enable action to be taken to develop sustainable business models.
• Facilitate the creation of an enabling environment for change.

Source: www.accountingforsustainability.org

Geneva, December 10 2013— The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is pleased to be acknowledged as a key partner, along with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), in a new resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Committee on Economics and Finance.

In the resolution adopted last Friday, entitled “Towards global partnerships: A principle-based approach to enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partners”, the UN “… welcomes the collaboration of the United Nations Global Compact with the Global Reporting Initiative and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development,” in helping to:

-       Promote the importance of corporate sustainability reporting;

-       Encourage companies to consider integrating sustainability information into their reporting cycle; and

-       Encourage industry to develop models for best practice and facilitate action for the integration of sustainability reporting, taking into account already existing frameworks, and paying particular attention to the needs of developing countries.

The WBCSD is already leading in several activities to support these objectives. In September, the WBCSD and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) collaborated in the launch of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) post-2015 “Business Engagement Architecture”. This architecture illustrates the main building blocks necessary to enhance corporate sustainability as an effective contribution to sustainable development, creating value for both business and society.

“The WBCSD’s new Action2020 plan is completely in line with the UNGC business engagement architecture, and bringing these initiatives together creates a powerful roadmap for scaling up sustainable business action in a very meaningful way,” said Carina Larsfalten, Chief International Relations Officer for the WBCSD.

GRI Deputy Chief Executive Teresa Fogelberg added, “This resolution underlines the hugely important role that the partnership between our three organizations can play in advancing the contribution of the private sector to the global goal of sustainable development.

“A key factor will be the need for businesses to demonstrate accountability and transparency by publicly disclosing their sustainability impacts, according to widely accepted guidelines. GRI will work withUNGC and the WBCSD to develop private sector guidance to help companies enhance their sustainability management and reporting with a view to sustainable development goals and targets.”

The WBCSD has also recently launched its first Reporting Matters – WBCSD 2013 Baseline Report,which is one of the largest independent research projects of corporate non-financial reporting. Using a set of qualitative criteria, the WBCSD conducted a review of 175 of its members’ sustainability reports to shed light on effective non-financial reporting practices and offer a pool of inspirational examples to stimulate the sharing of best practices.

Source: www.wbcsd.org