Hello, and welcome to Making cup 26 account, a podcast series based on the finvest 2030 webinar hosted by David Nussbaum and supported by ICAST, One Young World of Chartered Accountants worldwide. This is the second part of David's roundtable discussion with Claire, Sarah Mavis, and when you were they explored the future post cop 26.
00:35
Thank you, when you can I pick up on that and on your story originally about, you know, your choice to move from medicine to climate change. And I want to ask all of you really, we've got people around the world who are largely working as accountants or in the finance sector, what what particular what particular contribution Do you think such people can make in in tackling climate change? And maybe you can think of, you know, a particular example of that. But when you maybe we can kick off with you, you know, do you feel that your your move? Well, it must be particularly poignant, given this now, pandemic, and if you carried on as a doctor, you might have been able to help us on that front. But you know, you've chosen to be in the finance and accounting sector. So what do you see as the particular skills in the context of all this information, and training and communication that different ones of you have spoken about that accountants particularly can bring that the world needs if we're going to tackle climate change effectively?
01:46
Yeah, so I would say broadly, maybe if we classify as you know, commercial professional services, individuals, I think, as a whole, whether that's accountants, you know, financial advisors, commercial advisors, we have a huge role to play in cutting through the noise, and providing a lot of clarity. I think at the end of the day, a lot of people say, you know, you should be doing the right thing, because it is the right thing, not not because of a business case. But there is a very strong business case, you know, companies that are not moving ahead are going to fall behind, they face future regulatory and reputational risks. There are so many great reasons what's happening is there's too much noise. And sometimes for good intentions, the case of the ISP that I think David mentioned, or clouded towards the beginning of the session, you know, before that, and still, we have an entire alphabet soup of ESG initiatives, this sa SP does tcfd There CDSP. There's also renewables, 100. And there's still a bunch of voluntary standards for carbon offsets. And it gets extremely confusing for corporates, even if they want to do the right thing. And so I think we play a critical role in being trustable advisors in providing clarity through the noise, trying to look ahead based on what we think is going to happen for economic reasons, based on our own moral compass. I think that's it. I think that's a massive role that we play in this society that will be hard to displace. I hope that makes sense.
03:19
Yeah, indeed, it does. So Sarah, can we come to you on that? I mean, you're you're there in the hardware community facing that very particular challenges. Again, you've chosen to stay in the Accounting and Advisory sector. What is it you see accountants bringing to this?
03:38
Yeah, exactly what when we're saying we have to be that trusted adviser to tell people what what is going on there. Chartered Accountants, Australian, New Zealand is actually just bought out SME handbook. So for businesses or for advisors to I suppose from, and it's really from that base level as to even within our offices and our own businesses, what we can be doing to get ourselves within a strategy sense and sustainability, but also then to do to our, to our clients as well. And it's literally only full out in the last couple of weeks. And I've got it here beside me. And I really want to pick it up and say some of the key parts of it, but I even recommend it being circulated post this, this panel discussion. And even things like as a specific example, you know, when you were saying before the difference between carbon neutral, and, you know, and and, you know, all that different terminology, like, as I said, because I play in that ag sector, there's lots of people coming, there's all this information out there and it's cutting through that noise and being able to say you have choices, or, you know, at the moment I've got clients looking to sign contracts to to sell their carbon credits. Those contracts are 25 or 75 years that they're committing to. There's really big commitments that people are making, but I feel it's our role to educate people as to what this means. And I agree with you and it's the business case stacks up like there's no No doubt about that. But it's that communication and education piece that I think we have to play because and I'm not saying that there's salespeople out there, there's genuine people out there. But they, my clients trust us to come and speak to us about it. Because this is a big decision that they're making, not just for their business, that's actually not the reason why they're doing it. It's for the environment, it's for their family, there's community impacts that come with all of this stuff, good and bad. So it's really being across all of that. And then the figures is just the outcome of it all. But it's being that sounding board and one of their team members in helping them make these decisions. So I think that's really important for us to be ahead of all of that. And that's actually at the moment, got nothing to do with tax. It's really about us knowing what's ahead of the game, to be part of that conversation with our clients.
05:50
Right. Thank you plan.
05:52
Yeah, I completely agree with when you say there, I think one of the things that we as accountants can do can really just make it tangible. So everybody buys into, or there's a business case for that there's a strategic reason for it, actually, and that cutting out the noise. And given a few concrete examples. So we're seeing it right now from our kind of finance, Director, finance professional, getting a lot of traction with others and management teams has been able to see like there are no lending products out there. And it's increasing day by day, whereby, if we commit to net zero goals, or ESG related targets, we will get a margin reduction. So that really like makes it very tangible for others. Who are the non finance people in the wider management team have? Oh, actually, okay, there's a Steven to the business here. And then there's a strategic decision of Phil, what do you see expend that saving on? Is it an investment and, you know, accelerate neonates evil plan? Does it free up money for growth and investment? So I think it's articulate in these types of opportunities. And from a kind of accounting perspective right now as as being alert to all these emergent changes within the connected markets of finance and legal and really been able to articulate Look, here's some practical examples of where you're gonna get a lot buy in from others in your in your business.
07:19
Oh, you made us Yeah,
07:20
yeah. So yeah, adding on to what Sarah Claire when I said, I think I might one action points. It's also basically on the finance. So like I mentioned, I think what accountants because accountants allocate resources within your organization's. And I think that is where power lies, so to say to allocate resources to adaptation, work on initiatives specifically for developing countries, because this is like the biggest challenges that developing countries face access to finance. So making us finance accessible for adaptation projects and climate initiative in general, for developing countries, I would say I would be my biggest point of action point for accountants and financial finance professionals.
08:10
Great. Well, thank you to all four of you for that lively discussion. You've certainly given us all a lot to think about, I think, but also and perhaps even more importantly, you've helped to energise the motivation in us to enact change in our own communities and workspaces around the world. I think some things that I've particularly heard today have been firstly, encouragement that lots is happening, lots is happening in business, as well as all the stuff we heard about a cop 26 is happening in government. And indeed, it's happening in society. But secondly, we need lots more to happen, and in particular, the contribution of the commercial sector. And that involves communicating effectively about this and bringing clarity to a subject which can easily become an field just too complicated for people to engage with constructively. And so thirdly, we've seen how Chartered Accountants are already at the heart of this, but perhaps more importantly, need to be to bring that sort of professional, informed, passionate, but objective perspective to the debates and decisions that businesses and people have to make about tackling climate change. And finally, we've heard a lot of examples about how each of us can identify actions we can take in climate change in tackling climate change in a more just way in the particular roles that we play professionally, and in our communities. Now, I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. But thank you Once again to each of our four panellists for their insights into just transitions around the world. It's good to know that there are people like yourselves who are invested in both the planet and its people. And we hope that all of you who've been watching feel inspired to go out and make a difference yourselves. As I've said, we encourage you to share your favourite quotes or moments from this event by adding the hashtag, making cop 26 count. And indeed just cop 26 and tagging us in your posts charted WW, and iCast accounting. And a final thank you as well to our partners at Big Top media and a one for bringing this event to life. Thank you all and now of course, it's over to you to work out what you're going to do to take this crucial agenda forward. Thank you and goodbye.