13 associations of professional accountants from around the world, including the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), the U.K. Association of Accounting technicians (AAT), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and the U.S. Association of Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA), are committed to ensuring the goals of carbon neutrality.
These organizations are also members of Charles, Prince of Wales project called Accounting for Sustainability (A4S). The total number of this international network is more than 2.5 million professional accountants working in companies and government organizations in 179 countries.
The signing of a joint agreement by professional associations means for each of them the obligation to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality as soon as possible. More precise dates will be defined in the plans to be published in the next 12 months. On an annual basis, we will have to report on the progress of achieving this goal. In addition, the parties pledged to assist their governments in developing plans and building infrastructure for the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Recall that ‘carbon neutrality’ means the equality of volumes of carbon dioxide absorbed and emitted by the enterprise. The industry does not matter: the financial institution can also poison the atmosphere, although, obviously, not on such a scale as, for example, a metallurgical plant.
As has been repeatedly pointed out, professional accountants in business are in a unique position, being the force that stimulates change. With this in mind, professional associations are going to provide their members with all the necessary support, training, resources and more that will be useful for each member’s own plans to achieve carbon neutrality.