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International <IR> Framework recommended as a key framework in call to action by A4S and Accounting Bodies internationally to tackle climate change

Posted 26 February, 2020
The International Integrated Reporting Council’s <IR> Framework has today, 26 February 2020, been recommended as a key framework for accountants globally to use as they respond to and account for climate change risks. The recommendation has come as part of a call to action signed by 14 accounting bodies and led by the Prince’s Accounting For Sustainability (A4S).
 
The statement, signed by 13 chief executives representing over 2.5 million accountants and students globally, including IIRC Chairman of the Board Barry Melancon of AICPA and IIRC Board Member Helen Brand of ACCA lists four clear actions for accountants: 

 

  • Provide sound advice and services as organisations, capital markets, and governments develop and implement plans for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
  • Use and implement existing and developing reporting frameworks such as those from the International Integrated Reporting Council and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
  • Contribute to the efforts of the organisations they work with to integrate climate change risk into organisational strategy, finance, operations, and communications.
  • Support sustainable decision making within the organisations they work for by allocating budgets and resources, and by developing high quality and timely information and insights through measurement and disclosure, built on robust and transparent accounting systems.

 

The IIRC has welcomed this renewed commitment from the global accountancy profession to play their part in tackling the urgent challenges posed by climate change and the recognition of the role integrated reporting can play in ensuring organisations are considering the impact of – and their impact on – climate.
 
The International Integrated Reporting Framework, which has been adopted by around 2,000 organisations in over 70 countries, encourages organisations to think about natural capital in the context of its value creation story – articulating the connectivity between climate risk and the other resources the organisation relies on to create value such as human, intellectual, social and relationship, financial and manufactured capital and their strategy for managing these capitals to create long term sustainable value.