Exploring the critical role of CFOs and finance teams in the climate transition
Date:
The practice of publicly disclosing transition plans is rapidly evolving, and yet significantly fewer companies have disclosed comprehensive plans than have committed to reach net-zero or pledged to reach climate neutrality. There’s no quick fix towards achieving climate commitments, but companies need to understand and communicate their climate-related risks and opportunities and how they plan to meet their climate commitments.
Though each company will have a unique path to reach net-zero, relevant information, time, and know-how to understand and plan for relevant risks, implement specific actions, and make investments to drive balance sheet and value chain decarbonization will be necessary to reach their own targets and respond to investor needs.
Finance leaders and their teams have a critical role in enabling robust climate transition planning that provides the basis for strategic decision making, fulfills investors’ reporting needs and allows asset owners and managers to efficiently allocate capital and mobilize resources.
Finance function stewardship and collaboration across departments are required to advance climate commitments. Developing transition plans depends on enabling an integrated mindset that brings together corporate functions including sustainability, planning, risk management, and the CFO and finance function to break down informational silos and connect information on climate-related risks to strategy and financial performance.
In this panel discussion co-hosted by IFAC and A4S, we'll hear from finance leaders at various steps of their transition journeys and explore their perspectives on:
- How finance leaders are enabling their organization’s transition planning
- Overcoming key challenges in transition planning including financing and data
- Where CFOs have the most to add in terms of achieving climate targets and developing and executing transition plans
- CFO expectations of reporting standards and requirements that would facilitate companies disclosing their decarbonization strategies and transition plans.
Speakers
- Moderator: Jessica Fries, Executive Chair, A4S
- Shamsul Bahar, VP & Group Financial Controller, PETRONAS
- Patti Humble, IMA Board Member, and Chief Accounting Officer, UPS
- Kee Chan Sin, Assistant Treasurer - Capital Markets & Corporate Finance, Verizon
- Swami Venkataraman, Associate Managing Director, ESG, Moody’s
- Jing Zhang, Head of Climate Research, IFRS Foundation