Timeline

2006 saw the first A4S Summit. Since 2006 there has been an annual summit each year.

The Prince of Wales launched the next phase of his Accounting for Sustainability Project at St James’s Palace in the presence of leaders from across government, business, accounting and civil society, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chief Executive Officer of M&S, Sir Stuart Rose and the most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.

The second phase of work aimed to develop ways to account for the true value of Nature and society in decision making and reporting.

Accounting for Sustainability Report launched

The Project launched recommendations on how to embed sustainability into decision making, with a focus on four sectors: the public sector, finance, construction and food.

A4S published connected reporting framework

The Connected Reporting Framework was launched, setting out an approach to reporting that enabled organizations to present their performance across financial and environmental dimensions in a clear, concise and connected way. The Connected Reporting Framework went on to be incorporated into H.M. Treasury’s Financial Reporting Manual and continues to be used as the basis for reporting on these matters across government.  It was also adopted by a number of private sector organizations and provided the foundations for integrated reporting and the establishment of the International Integrated Reporting Council. 

Accounting Bodies Network is established by HRH The Prince of Wales

It was recognized that, to respond to the challenges of the 21st Century posed by increasing environmental degradation and social change, new approaches to accounting needed to be developed and adopted globally. The A4S Accounting Bodies Network (ABN) was launched in 2008 to bring together a group of leading accounting bodies from across the globe to help achieve a common approach to accounting for sustainability. The Network agreed a set of five principles guiding their action, including embedding sustainability into training and education. Members of the ABN represent over two million accountants, almost two-thirds of accountants globally, providing significant influence and an ability to drive change. The ABN continues to play a vital role, equipping actors from across the finance and accounting community with the ambition and knowledge to make sustainable decision making business as usual.

Find out more about the ABN >

IIRC hold first meeting

The IIRC held its first meeting in July 2010 in HSBC’s boardroom.  It continued to be housed within A4S until the end of 2011, by which time sufficient traction had been achieved for it to be established as a separate entity.

Accounting for Sustainability: Practical Insights published

Professor Anthony Hopwood, Professor Jeffrey Unerman and Jessica Fries led a team of leading academics to research the practical application of A4S guidance in a series of case studies. The resulting book was published by Earthscan and remains a source of reference and teaching by universities around the world.

Business Leader or Eco Warrior film

The film starring Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden, Sir Richard Branson, Justin King, Sir Stuart Rose and Indra Nooyi, explored the role of business leaders in driving sustainability. 

Integrated Reporting Framework launched for consultation

During 2010 and 2011, work was undertaken to develop the first International Integrated Reporting Framework, with the recommendations set out in a Discussion Paper for consultation launched in September 2011. The concept of the ‘six capitals’ upon which organizations both depend and impact was fundamental to the Framework, and continues to encourage organizations to recognize the importance of natural and social capital in decision making and reporting.

Sir Michael Peat hands over to Mervyn King as Chair of the IIRC and Jessica Fries hands over to Paul Druckman as CEO of the IIRC.

In 2012, the IIRC was established as its own legal entity and moved out of Clarence House.

Find out more about integrated reporting >

Information is Beautiful

During the 2011 Summit, A4S teamed up with the Information is Beautiful team to provide a visual response to the 'economic invisibility of nature'. One of the outputs displayed at the event can bee seen below.

Teeb for Business Launched, later to become the Natural Capital Coalition

A4S was a founding member Natural Capital Coalition. The Coalition has brought together leading initiatives and organizations to harmonize approaches to valuing natural capital. The Natural Capital Protocol was launched in 2016. Since its launch, the protocol has been downloaded over 7,000 times and over 35,000 copies are reported to be in circulation. More than 68 countries are looking to produce natural capital accounts.

Find out more about the Natural Capital Coalition >

Rio+20 roundtable

The Rio+20 roundtable launched a three year project called Measure What Matters. The project brought together governments, business, investors and civil society to explore ways to align approaches to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, recognizing that all stakeholders are dependent on the same underlying resources and must form stronger partnerships to enable social and economic progress to be achieved within the finite limits of the planet.

Accounting Bodies Network Open letter to COP21

ABN members write an open letter to call on world leaders at COP21 to demonstrate the determination and political will necessary to achieve the low-carbon, sustainable future.

You can read the letter here >

First Finance for the Future awards

The awards highlight the essential role that the finance function plays in driving integrated thinking in decision making and in building sustainable business models. Its key ambition is to share best practice, drive awareness, inspire action and develop a community of finance leaders, committed to create sustainable outcomes.

Find our more about the Finance for the Future Awards >

Launch of the ‘Future proofed decision making’ report from A4S

The research document set out to understand whether organizational decision making would be improved by a broader information, and to assess the attitude of key decision makers — Board members and senior management — to different types of environmental and social information, including economic valuation.

‘What Investors and Analysts Said’ report launched

‘What Investors and Analysts Said – The value of extra financial disclosure’, set out research into how investors and analysts source, use and are influenced by information.

HRH The Prince of Wales sends a video message to the UN High Level Meeting on Wellbeing and Happiness

Philippe Joubert, A4S Advisory Council, shares his thoughts on how HRH The Prince of Wales has influenced how the Finance community looks at sustainability, and how this impacted the 2015 COP21 Paris Agreement.

HRH The Prince of Wales launched the CFO Leadership Network

The A4S Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network is the first grouping of its kind globally. Launched at the Annual A4S Summit by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2013, the Network brings together leading CFOs seeking to embed the management of environmental and social issues into strategy and decision making. With a first Chapter in Europe, the Network now has a Chapter in Canada and will be announcing the launch of a US Chapter.

Find out more about the CFO Leadership Network >

Capital Markets Forum

A4S held its first major forum for pension fund chairmen and chief executive officers, bringing together over 200 representatives to raise awareness of the need to incorporate risks associated with climate change and other environmental and social trends into investment strategy, allocation and decision making.

Find out more about our work within the capital markets >

CFO Leadership Seminar

A4S developed a CFO Leadership Seminar on the changing landscape of commercial risks and opportunities arising from increasing environmental and social pressures and the response of regulators and investors, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

‘Resilience and the long term’ guide launch

A4S launched the ‘Resilience and the long term: rethinking portfolio strategy’ report. The report included research and guidance on how the inclusion of sustainability and longer term issues in investment decisions can add value for asset owners such as pension funds.

Watch the speech from The Prince of Wales during the A4S Summit 2013 

To mark A4S's 10 year anniversary the film 'Transforming Finance' was created.

First A4S CFO Leadership Network project teams established

The CFO Leadership Network aims to transform financial decision making through the development of practical approaches and case studies. The Network set out to developed the A4S Essential Guide series by finance teams for finance teams, containing practical tools and case studies.

First Circles of Practice established

The Circle of Practice programme was developed to enable a wider range of CFOs and finance professionals from across the world to work together to implement guidance developed by the A4S CFO Leadership Network, and practical examples of relevance to their own region and sector. The first Circle of Practice was launched in the Gulf, marked by a video message from The Prince of Wales. Circles of Practice now exist in Singapore and Australia, as well as regional groups in the UK. Further Circles of Practice are being launched in India and Brazil, as well as other parts of the world. The first sectoral Circle of Practice is planned for 2019.

Stock Exchange Regulators Dinner

On behalf of A4S, The Prince of Wales hosted a dinner bringing together financial regulators from around the world to discuss the relevance of climate change and other environmental and social issues to financial stability, and the need for improved regulation. Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, was one of the attendees and subsequently went on to establish the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) under the auspices of the Financial Stability Board. A number of securities regulators and stock exchanges supported adoption of integrated reporting following the event, including in Brazil and India.

Find out more about our support for the TCFD >

Natural Capital Coalition Launch

Formerly known as the Teeb for Business, The Natural Capital Coalition was created.

Business School Event

A4S, in partnership with Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, brought together senior representatives from leading business schools around the world to discuss steps to embed sustainability into MBA programmes and research, in particular by finance and accounting faculties. The event provoked a number of actions, including the adoption of a ground breaking approach to encourage world leading research on climate finance by the Review of Financial Studies, one of the world’s top finance journals.

Find out more about our work with business schools >

First A4S Essential Guides Launched

The outputs from the A4S CFO Leadership Network project teams are released for the first time. The documents are the only guidance of their kind. The guides are developed by finance teams for finance teams, containing practical tools and case studies. They have inspired action by a wide range of companies around the world, and are now used as a basis for teaching by business schools.

Find out more about the A4S Essential Guides >

Watch the speech by HRH The Prince of Wales at the A4S Business School event in 2015

Measure What Matters Report Launch

The Measure What Matters project, launched at the United Nations Rio+20 Sustainable Development Summit, brought together governments, business, investors and civil society to explore ways to align approaches to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, recognizing that all stakeholders are dependent on the same underlying resources and must form stronger partnerships to enable social and economic progress to be achieved within the finite limits of the planet.

Find out more about the Measure What Matters project >

Social and Human Capital Guide launched

The Guide focuses on practical examples and suggested tools and guidance for how social and human capital can be integrated into decision making, in ways that develop resilient and sustainable business models.

TCFD announced Recommendations report released with a 60 day public consultation period

The recommendations from the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) goes out for consultation. Mark Carney speaks in conversation with Emma Howard Boyd at the A4S Summit 2016 to discuss the recommendations due to be finalised the following year.

Natural Capital Protocol Launch

The Natural Capital Coalition launches the Natural Capital Protocol is a framework designed to help generate trusted, credible, and actionable information for business managers to inform decisions. The Protocol aims to support better decisions by including how we interact with nature, or more specifically natural capital.

Natural Capital Protocol > 

Release of final TCFD Recommendations report, A4S Launches Statements of Support for the recommendations

In June 2017, the TCFD released its recommendations, underlining the financial implications of climate change to investors and companies, and the need for better reporting to enable action in response. At the request of the TCFD, A4S brought together three stakeholder groups to signal their support for the implementation of the recommendations: CFOs, Asset Owners, and Accounting Bodies. The signing the Statements of Support, A4S has held a series of workshops and released practical guidance to support adoption.

The CFOs supporting the TCFD recommendations represent organizations with combined total assets of over $2.1 Trillion.

Accounting bodies supporting the TCFD recommendations represent 2.3 Million accountants and are present in 181 countries.

The Pension Fund Chairs supporting the TCFD recommendations represent over $234.7 Billion Assets Under Management (AUM).

To find out more, including who has signed so far, and how you can get involved in either signing a statement of support or attending our implementation workshops, please go to: www.accountingforsustainability.org/tcfd  

A4S Essential Guide to Strategic Planning Budgeting and Forecasting launch

This guide helps finance teams to navigate the complexity of a changing world by providing tools, practical examples and guidance on how to integrate sustainability into strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting.

The organizations who took part in the project to produce the guide found clear business benefits to doing this:

• Identifying sustainable opportunities and risks
• Driving investment for long term success
• Aligning performance management with long term value drivers
• Reducing cost
• Providing brand benefits
• Encouraging better employee and customer engagement

Launch of the Canadian Chapter of the CFO Leadership Network

The Canadian Chapter are developing a number of projects to address key challenges for organizations in Canada.

A4S has partnered with Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) to run the Canadian Chapter. CPA Canada is one of the largest accounting bodies in the world, with more than 200,000 members in Canada and internationally. For more than 20 years, CPA Canada has been driving awareness of sustainability issues and supporting its members to deliver on that key role.

Establishment of the Asset Owners Network

The Network brings together Chairs of pension funds, their pooling partners, investment committees and endowments to explore the relevance of material social and environmental risks and opportunities to their funds, to share insights and to take action.

Find out more about our work with the Asset Owners Network >

The A4S International Case competition (A4S ICC)

The A4S International Case competition (A4S ICC) for students was established in 2017, developed in partnership with Rotman School of Management’s Net Impact. Over 50 students were involved, from business schools in five countries, all presenting their ideas for new, disruptive business and finance models which solve sustainability challenges and create the businesses of the future. The competition is now in its second year. 

Financing our Future report launched

The Finance Leaders’ Summit, hosted by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in July 2018, brought together more than 60 Chairs, Chief Executive Officers and Chief Investment Officers from the largest financial institutions in the world, representing all steps in the investment chain. A set of five recommendations were agreed, and shared within the Financing Our Future Report, released during the week of the UN General Assembly in New York. Inspired by the event, the World Bank is convening a meeting bringing together private sector representatives alongside G20 Heads of State and Finance Ministers to take forward the recommendations.

Accounting Bodies Network celebrates ten years of the ABN

In 2008, the A4S Accounting Bodies Network (ABN) was launched by HRH The Prince of Wales at St. James’s Palace. Ten years on, we celebrate this milestone in our report, Our Principles in Action.

This report highlights key achievements made by the ABN member organizations over the past decade, reflecting on the five key principles that the Network members adhere to.

“The Accounting Bodies Network is a great collaborative force that has, for the past ten years, used its combined expert knowledge to support members and students to account for sustainability, providing the competencies and frameworks required to build a sustainable economy within which individuals and organizations can thrive” Jessica Fries, Executive Chairman, A4S

A4S launches Essential Guide to Finance Culture

The guide provides clarity on how finances’ role aligns with the overall business strategy, and the ‘behaviours’ required to achieve success. The project team who created the guide have set out internal requirements to support the right cultural environment, as well as suggested actions required to shift the culture of the finance teams and how they can be actioned.

HRH The Prince of Wales’s 70^th birthday

To celebrate His Royal Highness’s birthday, A4S collect letters from the finance community. The letters convey the huge achievements to date as well as the momentum gathering to meet the challenge of shaping a sustainable future.