A4S Academy Award Winners

Caren launched the SME Climate Clinic as part of a new climate reporting course. This included an experiential learning component where finance and accounting (and other) students can learn about carbon accounting and then prepare carbon footprints for the SMEs they are working with. After completing the course, students can apply to continue working as analysts for the SME.

Key achievements:

• 30 students completed the SME Climate Clinic in 2024, preparing carbon footprints for their allocated small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The second group of students will complete the course in December. 

• 12 students continued to work as analysts with SMEs on a specific project. 

• Students hosted 'pop-up' clinics at events, eg the ESG Symposium for SMEs and career-related events for students. 

• Collaborated with the university’s career centre, accounting faculty and industry partners.

"Caren has demonstrated great innovation by creating a transformative learning experience that connects students from different programmes with SMEs to address the critical need for carbon skills. Her ability to foster practical education, real-world impacts, and lasting relationships between academia and business is truly inspiring. The multiplier effect is a clear winner and a model that should be replicated across universities." – The Judges

Lynn led the development of a sustainable finance framework for the city of Cape Town, which is in the final stages of approval. The framework aims to support sustainability discussions with lenders, attract new debt instruments and enhance the city's visibility in the sustainability space. 

Key achievements:

• Formed a working group comprising management-level officials from finance, risk and resilience, organizational performance management, and the policy and strategy departments. 

• Drafted a concept note for the sustainable finance framework and received approval from the CFO and the policy committee chair.

• Through the working group finalized the framework, identified eligible funding categories and amend governance structures as needed.

"Lynn's work has been a complex and challenging endeavour that requires vision, dedication, and leadership. Her ability to champion Cape Town's transformation, engage a variety of stakeholders, and work towards implementing a finance framework voluntarily – despite competing priorities – is pioneering and sets a remarkable example for others to follow." – The Judges

Giles’ plan focused on incorporating a cost of carbon into the capital investment appraisal process and ensuring baseline plans are aligned to a stated climate pathway and have scenarios to reflect 1.5 and high temperature scenarios.

Key achievements:

• Developed a proposed approach to incorporating a cost of carbon with a cross-functional team.  

• Advocated for change, resulting in the team performing a pilot of 5-6 schemes to test and refine mechanics. 

• Incorporated change into business-as-usual processes. 

• Enhanced organizational understanding of climate-related risks and opportunities that could impact business strategy. 

• Worked closely with the strategy team to develop a methodology on how carbon pricing could be incorporated into forecasts, and acted as an interface with  the financial planning and analysis team to ensure consistent preparation of forecasts. 

• Ensured the sustainability report and these scenarios were referred to, and aligned with, the financial statements, including impact on accounting policies (ie how risks reflected) and impairment testing.

"Giles has shown incredible resilience and determination in implementing carbon pricing within Rolls Royce, a challenging task in a complex manufacturing environment. Successfully aligning baseline plans and driving this initiative forward during a period of organizational streamlining is impressive." – The Judges

Anna enhanced the understanding of sustainability within the finance team through training and building stronger relationships with both the sustainability and estates teams. She worked with a range of colleagues to incorporate ESG factors into strategic business case and board reporting templates. 

Anna has been a champion of the A4S Academy, sharing her experience and encouraging future participation in the programme across her network of peers in the higher education sector. 

“Anna is a great example of an A4S advocate- using her enthusiasm for the Academy to encourage others to join the programme as well as sharing its benefits and tangible outcomes to her peers and colleagues.” – A4S

Caren launched the SME Climate Clinic as part of a new climate reporting course. This included an experiential learning component where finance and accounting (and other) students can learn about carbon accounting and then prepare carbon footprints for the SMEs they are working with. After completing the course, students can apply to continue working as analysts for the SME.

Caren was ambitious in her implementation plan but still found the capacity to support A4S across other initiatives, most notably by involving the University of British Columbia – Sauder School of Business in the A4S International Case Competition and also supporting students to enter.

“Caren’s commitment to sustainability in action is abundantly clear when we look at her achievements within the Academy and support of A4S as part of the International Case Competition. Her work has created tangible impact for students throughout the University of British Columbia.” – A4S

Nishant formed a sustainability finance working group that brought together key finance stakeholders from all business units to ensure alignment on sustainability reporting. He worked closely with the risk and sustainability teams to develop operational templates for business groups and portfolio companies.

On top of his Academy commitments, Nishant has been a mentor for one of the teams participating in the A4S International Case Competition. 

“We have been delighted to hear high praise for Nishant’s involvement as a mentor in the A4S International Case Competition. This had a huge impact on the students he worked with and demonstrates his success/influence within the A4S community.” – A4S

Pankaj educated the finance team about their role in net zero planning and initiated ongoing finance collaboration with the sustainability team. He worked to break down silos between teams, which has brought more rigour to net zero plans. He also identified data gaps and opportunities, and linked these to the financial planning process.  

“Pankaj’s progress report is a great example of meaningful collaboration to accelerate efforts to integrate sustainability into financial decision making. We were impressed by how he has worked to bring these teams together, putting his knowledge and learning into action at Meta, where his leadership is already having an impact after just six months in role.” – A4S

Róisín Booth led an extended team to enhance the Green, Social and Sustainable (GSS) bond reporting process and outputs. She focused on building awareness of the GSS bond process internally and externally, as well as upskilling the finance team to support this complex and technical topic.   This resulted in greater awareness, understanding and collaboration across the organization. It also led to significant positive feedback from investors on the quality and evolution of NatWest's latest GSS disclosures. 

Róisín supported A4S by bringing her energy and passion into all the Academy sessions she attended, sharing insights and engaging with her peers. Roisin was also a speaker on the ‘Debt Finance Sustainability in Action’ webinar. 

“Róisín was a passionate and active participant throughout her time at the Academy, and we were grateful to have her input and insights as a speaker on our recent webinar. We greatly appreciate her support across our work.” – A4S

John led various projects to improve management information (MI) systems and impact reporting of ESG initiatives. He worked with IT to incorporate sustainability analytics into searchable dashboards and tools. These automated tools and improved MI help users assess the impact of sustainable initiatives and investments.

Key achievements:

• Developed an automated portfolio carbon footprint (PCF) calculation tool to enable more frequent reporting
• Produced an integrated Power BI management dashboard to track real-time information on carbon footprint activity for all investments and the impact of carbon reduction initiatives. 
• Improved climate-related reporting to the board and audit committees, including detail on the drivers of PCF, results of broader ESG strategies, peer benchmarking and the interplay between returns and PCF.
• Generated KPIs to measure the success of OTPP's new impact strategy.
• Created a roadmap for transitioning to integrated reporting.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure. John has demonstrated brilliant innovation in this area by developing an automated carbon footprint calculation tool. It is exciting to see real-time data being integrated into decision making and the positive impact that this can have.” – The Judges

Rob progressed a range of actions through his plan: he enhanced GHG reporting, implemented carbon budgeting and introduced an internal carbon price. He also coached four internal “future leaders” using A4S Academy principles to design and develop solutions to help achieve their 2030 decarbonization targets. This included scenario analysis to look at how different decisions and options could affect the achievement of targets and also enabling insights into management decision making.

Key achievements:

• Represented Ramboll UK on the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) working group to support the development of a group wide GHG reporting platform. Rob challenged and scrutinized underlying data through a finance lens, providing analysis on how to support management decision making.
• Collaborated on the development of an automated internal reporting tool for project-specific travel and the development of a tool to support decision making on travel.
• Progressed against 2030 decarbonization targets, developed an internal carbon budgeting process for divisions, and introduced a carbon emissions levy.
• Worked with the wider finance team to explore cultural change in support of sustainability.

“It was clear to us that Rob’s achievements whilst on the Academy programme were comprehensive and effective, as well as inspiring. Rob’s achievements, such as his work on carbon budgeting, will make a real difference to the way decisions are made at Ramboll UK. We are also delighted to see that Rob is sharing the knowledge he gained on the A4S Academy programme with colleagues.” – The Judges

Simon led SSE's review and update to climate scenario modelling processes. In FY22, SSE was non-compliant with the requirements of TCFD. SSE acknowledged this and Simon looked at the process from scratch. He was responsible for performing the review, establishing a TCFD steering group and revising the TCFD scenario modelling process. Simon’s main challenge was to educate nonfinance colleagues in the rigour and discipline applied to regular financial reporting processes and incorporating that structure into the TCFD process.

Key achievements:

• Achieved compliance with TCFD requirements in 2023. This was accomplished by conducting a complete review of the climate scenario modelling process. 
• Identified five climate-related opportunities and four climate-related risks for SSE to address.
• Quantified each risk and opportunity across various timeframes.

“Simon demonstrated excellent resilience and leadership in the face of complex compliance challenges. We were particularly impressed by Simon’s approach to cross-functional collaboration, his swift establishment of new processes and governance structures, and his work to navigate evolving industry standards.” – The Judges

Maryke worked across the organization to improve guidance, drive consistency and execute actions to identify and mitigate climate-related risks and opportunities. This cross-team collaboration resulted in an ESG accounting manual that is a source of guidance for the whole business. She also shared numerous A4S resources with colleagues so they could broaden their knowledge and utilize different tools in their own roles.

Maryke supported A4S by sharing her experience on one of our Information Calls and encouraging a colleague to join the 2023/24 programme and participating in one of our pilot programmes.

“Maryke’s dedication to collaborating with colleagues and peers is abundantly clear. Her work and commitment over the past 18 months are already having tangible impact both within and outside her organization.” – A4S

Nick worked to develop the finance culture at NATS to instil a common understanding of climate change and ultimately support sustainable decision making. He engaged with colleagues across the business through workshops and meetings, as well as at Executive and Board level. Nick also actively engaged with peers at other organizations to discuss and share ideas.

Nick recommended a colleague join the 2023/24 Academy programme and took part in one of our pilot programmes.

“Nick’s Progress Report is a fantastic example of meaningful collaboration and an excellent demonstration of leadership and influencing skills. We can see that he put his knowledge into action at NATS and that the organization is already reaping the rewards.” – A4S

Jancy has wholeheartedly engaged with A4S, not just through the Academy programme itself, but also A4S as a wider organization. Jancy consistently demonstrated great commitment and enthusiasm during Academy sessions and check-in calls. She is also a valued member of some of A4S’s formal working groups.

Jancy has encouraged and enabled cross-team collaboration to help embed sustainability into processes and decision making, as well as supporting two colleagues to join the A4S Academy programme 2023/24.

“We appreciate greatly Jancy’s continued enthusiasm and support for A4S’s work. Her involvement across A4S’s different workstreams and activities is hugely valued.” – A4S

My plan had two objectives:

• Build and grow the ESG office to be a cross-functional team poised to deepen the ESG agenda across the business.
• Influence and guide the integration of ESG into the finance organization with a mission to transform financial decision making.

The first step was to elevate ESG as a business-critical topic with our executives, their staff and the board. This was essential to meaningfully progress our 2030 agenda. Once we received executive and board endorsement, the next step was raising awareness in our finance leadership teams of the increasing importance of ESG to VMware’s strategy and business and their role in driving this change.

“Elizabeth’s drive and determination for integrating sustainability across her organization, sharing and supporting others was evident in every interaction.”

A4S

As a result of my implementation objectives and active participation in the carbon emission calculation project, I am now leading this project. To enhance to quality of our external reporting, governance for Climate and ESG disclosures now follow similar discipline to other financial reporting.

My implementation plan focused on delivering climate reporting intended to align with TCFD, supporting the work to calculating financed emission and incorporating climate considerations into the budgeting process.

“Supriya’s commitment to sharing her knowledge with others and supporting our work has been inspirational.”

A4S

My implementation plan focused on three areas: our sustainable financing framework, our TCFD reporting and supporting the pension trustees to review our investment strategy. 

Our updated sustainable financing framework will form the basis for all our future funding requirements. The new framework incorporates all current sustainable and green principles. We adjusted our use of proceeds to include both operational and capital expenditure, allowing the group to allocate funding to defined expenditure that helps us to meet our sustainable goals. This includes some of our upstream and downstream thinking expenditure that tackles issues such as restoration and biodiversity. 

To meet the minimum requirement of the TCFD recommendations, we needed to collaborate across the business to conduct scenario analysis. The biggest challenge is understanding the potential financial impact of climate-related risks and opportunities and ensuring these are communicated to our stakeholders. 

“The judges were impressed with Chris’s level of ambition and his multidimensional approach, from updating the sustainable financing framework and developing TCFD disclosures through to the commitment to making their pension investment strategy net zero. A particular highlight was that all future funding will align to the sustainable financing framework, demonstrating the impact that is, or will be, achieved.”

The Judges

My plan focused on developing sustainability-linked supply chain finance to incentivise our suppliers to report on their GHG emissions and align with 1.5°C climate targets. We started with a focus on environment which will be broadened out over time to other elements of ESG.

The project went through various internal teams and governance forums, culminating at the Tesco Executive Committee. The project was then initiated by finance. It required a project charter covering vendor selection, scope, costs, benefits, resource profile and an implementation plan. We created a cross-functional project team to deliver the project when it started. Key to the plan was developing a new scalable supply chain financing platform with an ESG link that would go live in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. 

The platform links Tesco-sponsored benefits to suppliers’ ESG achievements, aligned with Tesco’s overall sustainability strategy. 

“Alex demonstrated inherent innovation by starting with a clean sheet of paper and developing a thought-provoking approach to incentivizing action within Tesco’s supply chain. He has developed something new and different that he is keen to share with others.”

The Judges

My plan focused on reporting ESG metrics in the same management reports and to the same standard as financial reporting. 

Part of the plan was to include those metrics in the planning cycle for our forecast review pack and to embed carbon metrics in the investment planning process for capital decisions. I also intended to start assessing and creating a plan for multicapital reporting. 

I achieved good progress in my work on ESG metrics, working alongside the ESG team now in the finance organization. On multicapital reporting, work is ongoing to establish the priorities in this complex area, and I will continue to support this. 

“The judges were impressed by Chris’s ambitious plans and his willingness to try new approaches. A particular success was the integration of sustainability metrics within regular board reporting.”

The Judges