Accounting for Sustainability - Net Zero: Myth or Reality?

The Global Ethical Finance Initiative are hosting their next virtual Ethical Finance Round Table on Thursday 18th February 2021 at 14:00 GMT.  We will be joined by Professor Michael Mainelli, Sheriff of the City of London, founder of Z/Yen and qualified accountant, and Jon Williams; Partner, Sustainability and Climate Change, PwC.

Prof. Mainelli and Jon Williams will discuss the faultlines and tensions in green finance’s pursuit of net zero, and how the accounting sector can help – or hinder – in this goal.

Topics to be covered will include:

• How are carbon emissions actually calculated and what assumptions are used when allocating this?
• Is carbon pricing achievable?
• How do banks decarbonise their loan book?
• Is carbon being fairly allocated across all asset classes or are equity asset managers being unfairly punished?
• What are the current compulsory financial reporting requirements and how do TCFD, SASB and GRI reporting and disclosure frameworks help reporting reflect carbon risk?

The session will ask the big questions facing the accounting industry: have accountants been asleep at the wheel, or are they going to be a force for good in the fight against climate change?