Sustainability/ESG bulletin from Chartered Accountants Ireland, Friday 9 February 2024

In this week’s Sustainability/ESG bulletin, read about our recent webinar on collaboration between finance and IT teams to create effective sustainability reporting programmes, and two new diplomas from Chartered Accountants Ireland on Sustainability Reporting and Sustainability Assurance. Also covered is Ireland’s Business for Biodiversity members hub, Irish business and human rights, more investment in safe walking and cycling in Ireland, Invest NI's Grow Green programme, European developments, a software guide to carbon accounting, and the usual resources, articles, and upcoming events.

IRELAND

Watch back: Chartered Accountants Ireland, CSRD – Building Finance & IT partnerships

Click here to find links to our webinar from 7 February 2024 on how Finance and IT Teams can partner to deliver sustainability reporting programmes compliant with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive ('CSRD') requirements. Speakers David Codd and Paul Power discuss how to establish effective collaboration between the finance and IT teams, what pitfalls to avoid and how to build a strong partnership to deliver an effective sustainability reporting programme.

Call for Irish businesses to sign up to Business for Biodiversity members’ hub

The Business for Biodiversity Ireland platform is calling on Irish businesses of every size and sector to come together to accelerate action for nature by signing up to their members’ hub. The Government-backed national platform's membership function – free until 31 March 2024 – includes an easy-to-follow roadmap which aims to demystify the multitude of biodiversity frameworks, guidance documents and tools for businesses facing new rules on reporting their impacts on nature.

Irish business and human rights

Trinity Business School’s Centre for Social Innovation has published its latest Irish business and human rights benchmark report into the 50 largest companies in Ireland. The report finds that voluntary action is not driving uptake, with corporate uptake of the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) “remaining a work in progress”, with 52 percent of companies assessed scoring 30 percent or less. The Government’s National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights is currently being drafted.

Separately, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has told the UN that Ireland is violating the economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights of “entire sections” of Irish society. In its report submitted recently to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as part of Ireland’s fourth periodic review, the Commission raised particular concerns over housing and homelessness crises, extreme poverty, income and wealth inequalities and the climate.

Ireland to be referred to CJEU on water plans

The European Commission has decided to refer Ireland and five other countries to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failure to finalise the revision of their water plans. In a separate decision, the European Commission has called on Ireland to comply with the Urban Wastewater Directive. Ireland has two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission, failing which the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.?

€1 billion investment by Government since 2020 to prioritise safe walking and cycling

The Government has announced investment of €290m in funding to local authorities across Ireland to support the rollout of walking and cycling infrastructure in 2024. This brings to over €1bn the Government’s total investment for active travel infrastructure since 2020. This investment has seen more than 600km of cycling, walking and wheeling infrastructure delivered since 2020 under the NTA Active Travel Programme. The full list of Active Travel projects receiving funding can be found?here .

NORTHERN IRELAND

Ambition To Grow | Go Green programme

Invest NI is looking to support ambitious, innovative businesses in the Green Economy offering a product or tradeable service that can create new employment opportunities and grow sales outside Northern Ireland. Through its Ambition to Grow | Go Green programme, it is calling for applications from Northern Ireland businesses that have a focus on sustainable activities. Details of funding levels and eligibility criteria can be found here .?

EUROPE?

• The European Commission has recommended that the EU reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2040 , compared to 1990 levels. This is an interim target to be achieved by 2040, a ‘steppingstone’ between its 2030 emissions reduction target of 55 percent and its overall goal of ‘climate neutrality’ goal by 2050. By 2022 the bloc had reduced emissions by 32.5 percent compared to 1990. Following a legislative proposal made by the next Commission after the summer’s EU election, the European Parliament and EU members will need to reach agreement before any 2040 target can become enshrined in law.?
• The European Commission this week adopted an Industrial Carbon Management Strategy which presents a framework of the actions necessary to establish a Single Market for CO2. Industrial carbon management involves the use of a range of technologies to capture, store, transport and use CO2?emissions from industrial facilities, as well as to remove CO2?from the atmosphere.?
• The European Parliament and the Council have reached provisional political agreement on the?Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) . The Act is part of the Green Deal Industrial Plan, which sets out how the EU will scale up manufacturing capacity for the net-zero technologies and products required to meet EU's ambitious climate targets. Today's agreement is now subject to the formal approval of both EU co-legislators, and once adopted, will enter into force after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.??
• The European Parliament and the Council have also reached provisional political agreement on proposed common rules to promote the repair of goods for consumers .?Once adopted, the new rules will introduce a new ‘right to repair' for consumers, both within and beyond the legal guarantee, which will make it easier and more cost-effective for them to repair products instead of simply replacing them with new ones.?Separately, the European Parliament published an infographic showing facts and figures on E-waste in the EU.

GLOBAL

Carbon accounting – a software guide

Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) has published a Carbon Accounting Software Guide which explores the two predominant tracking methods of tracking and reporting on carbon emissions - Spend Tracking and Activity Tracking. The article describes the pros and cons of each approach, and how to embrace carbon accounting.

Did you know?

Chartered Accountants Ireland is launching two new Diplomas in Sustainability? in March 2024: a Diploma in Sustainability Reporting and a Diploma in Auditing and Assuring Sustainability Reporting.? Join us for a virtual open day, including a Q&A, where you can find out more from lead tutor Dr Louise Gorman, Trinity College Dublin.

Date: Wednesday 14 February

Time: 12.00pm – 1.00pm

Register your place now: Webinar Registration - Zoom

Resources?

Entrepreneurship for All Platform

A training platform initiative developed by the European Union is now offering three levels of expertise (Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced), centred around the four pillars of Entrepreneurial Competences; Financial Literacy for Entrepreneurs; Sustainability Competences for Entrepreneurs; and Digital Competences for Entrepreneurs. Find out more here .

EENergy Grant Aid Now Open

The EEN has launched supports for SMEs in their efforts to improve their energy efficiency including for their buildings, processes and production lines. Find out more here .

Articles?

• “Wake-up call”: Big firms’ flakiness on human rights puts them in Brussels’s firing line (The Currency (Subscriber Only) )
• The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive: Getting to grips with double materiality (Accountancy Ireland )

Upcoming Events ?

• Accountancy Europe Supporting SMEs with sustainability information ?

• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data requests that SMEs are getting from financial institutions and large value chain partners, voluntary initiatives such as the planned non-listed SME standard for sustainability reporting, the OECD’s work and industry-led initiatives, and SMEs’ support requirements for their sustainable transition? 21 February, 17:00 - 19:00 Brussels time?

• A4S Sustainability In Action Webinar: Management Information ? An interactive webinar focusing on techniques to help finance professionals develop and integrate information needed to respond to social and environmental risks and opportunities into core management information processes.? 27 February, 08:00???

• A4S Sustainability In Action Webinar: Capitals Accounting ? An interactive webinar exploring various aspects of capitals accounting and how it is being applied in practice. The discussion will explore the information needed to tackle a range of impacts.? 28 March, 08:00 GMT?

• Chartered Accountants Ireland ESG Masterclass: Take your sustainability knowledge to the next level (ROI/NI) ? Masterclass designed for all professional accountants working in business or practice, wishing to consolidate their knowledge and understanding of the sustainability regulatory, reporting and assurance landscape.? 18 April, 08:30 – 13.00?

• National Sustainability Summit 2024 ? Dates: May 28-29? Locations: RDS?

?

Network for Chartered Accountants working on ESG projects?

Are you a Chartered Accountant working in ESG or working on ESG-related projects? Would you like an opportunity to engage with other Chartered Accountants working in this space to share insights, challenges and opportunities??

Chartered Accountants Ireland now has a network to allow members working in sustainability/ESG to meet and discuss all matters of interest re ESG and accounting.?

• When: Wednesday, 28 February, 14:00-15.30?

• Where: Teams?

If you would like to attend, please email [email protected] ?

You can find information, guidance and?supports to understand sustainability and meet the challenges it presents in our online?Sustainability Centre .