Ethics, social, and environmental issues are at the heart of the ACCA Qualification. As well as understanding the need to support practising accountants, ACCA also recognises that the inclusion of sustainability and environmental issues throughout the ACCA Qualification is of vital importance for future generations of finance professionals.
In addition to the added emphasis placed by the syllabus on social and environmental responsibilities, ethics forms the core of the qualification. As well as the key Paper P1, Professional Accountant, which focuses on ethics, governance, and sustainability issues, the ACCA Qualification also includes an innovative Professional Ethics module which gives prominence to ethics and the integrity of the professional accountant. The qualification aims to develop individuals with integrity, and who will do the right thing rather than doing what is convenient or merely permissible.
ACCA’s collaborative projects
Carbon Disclosure Project
Carbon Action is a new investor led initiative from the Carbon Disclosure Project to request companies to implement cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Its purpose is to accelerate company action on carbon reduction activities which deliver a satisfactory return on investment. With rising energy prices and increasing resource scarcity, the efficient management of energy is critical. By managing carbon effectively, companies have the potential to reduce costs and deliver higher returns for shareholders.
A vanguard group of 35 investors with US$7.6 trillion assets under management are asking the world’s largest companies to demonstrate that they are managing carbon effectively. Specifically companies are being encouraged to:
Make year-on-year emissions reductions;
Identify and implement investment in greenhouse gas emissions reduction initiatives which have a satisfactory positive return on investment;
Any companies that do not already have an emissions reduction target will be asked to set and publicly disclose this.
Companies will be asked to demonstrate these actions by disclosing them, including any examples of best practice, through the established 2011 CDP system to ensure ease of reporting.
There are a huge range of carbon reducing activities that companies can undertake that have a very clear business case. With rising energy costs, reducing emissions often means making more money. Carbon Action will encourage companies to identify the many cost savings that can be achieved through increased efficiency and investment in carbon reducing activities.
Leading businesses are already seeing tangible commercial benefits from implementing quantifiable sustainable processes and practices to manage carbon.
Research by McKinsey finds that most companies have options to reduce carbon emissions at negative cost – across the overall economy there is the potential to save as much as 12Gt CO2e, 25% of the global total annual emissions in this way by 2030.*
The information gathered will be analysed and reported to Carbon Action signatory investors to inform their engagement and other investment activities with companies. The responses will also be reviewed for best practice examples which will be showcased to help advance peer to peer learning and provide support to other companies in achieving the expectations of investors.
*McKinsey & Co (2009) Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy.
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