Climate Crisis will define us

Bruce Cartwright, CEO of ICAS, tells us his thoughts on where accountancy is heading in 2020.

As I look forward to 2020, I have high hopes for a year that has a very significant feel about it. The year 2020 had, up until very recently, always seemed a long way off. It was ‘the future’, when we could look forward to all sorts of fantastic technology-driven changes to society.

Now here we are, and although there have been huge changes over the past decade, in part technological, as we start a new one it’s very obvious that we need more change, and fast, in order to secure a healthy and sustainable world for all.

I am of course thinking about the climate crisis and the fact that what we do to tackle this in the coming decade will define us. I have real expectation that 2020 will see us work together to take huge strides moving us towards a better future.

In November 2020, the UN climate change summit will be held in Glasgow, and at ICAS sustainability will be a key focus for us as we lead up to that summit, and beyond. We want our members, and those joining our profession, to understand that they have an important role to play in bringing about positive change. They can contribute to creating sustainable business models, supporting their organisations to account for value beyond the balance sheet and helping them find ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Over 2020 ICAS will be supporting its members in these endeavours and it fills me with promise to think that together as a profession we can be a powerful force for good bringing about the change that we need to see in this new decade.

Thanks to Bruce Cartwright, CEO, ICAS