ICAEW has said that it intends to become carbon neutral in 2020.

A long-term champion of sustainable issues, the institute will become the first major professional body to be carbon neutral. On top of this ICAEW’s board has promised a 10-commitment to continue to cut internal carbon emissions.

The decision to go carbon neutral aligns the ICAEW with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, which aims to mobilise $100m annually for developing countries to adapt to climate change and invest in low-carbon development.

Climate change and sustainability are embedded into many modules of the ACA syllabus, and ICAEW recently signed the Green Finance Education Charter, committing it to building green finance into its qualifications.

Since 2015, the Institute has reduced its carbon footprint by 20 per cent through internal initiatives such as the installation of energy-efficient LED lighting. To reduce its footprint further, ICAEW has pledged to have less overseas travel and to provide incentives for electric vehicles for those who drive for work.

These and other projects will see its footprint decline by 20% by 2025 and 40% by 2030.  

ICAEW will purchase verifiable offsets against its entire greenhouse gas footprint as a short-term solution while it focuses on internal projects to reduce its footprint. The offsets deliver projects which meet the gold standard verified emission reduction accreditation and support the SDGs.

Institute CEO, Michael Izza said: “Our commitment to carbon neutrality puts the climate crisis at the heart of our operations as a professional body. We hope that our move to carbon neutrality will encourage others to accelerate their own sustainability agendas.” 

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