Event Information

This November ICAEW will hold its second five-day virtual climate summit, bringing members from across the profession together on the issue of climate change.

With growing climate concerns an ever-present consideration for companies around the world, what can – and should – finance professionals be doing to support efforts towards net zero, sustainability and green finance?

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the face of the climate crisis, and unsure of where to start. Our summit will dig into the key aspects of climate change and sustainability as it pertains to your business and your clients, assessing the challenges we all face and the important steps we can take today and onwards.

Join experts from across the industry for an engaging and informative week, discussing climate-focused financial reporting, resilience, the role of a Chartered Accountant and more.

Key benefits

The event aims to support members, our wider communities and students to help them look at climate change now and into the future. The programme covers an array of areas including:

• The Role of the Profession 
• Resilience
• Climate Finance
• Financial Reporting and Assurance
• COP27 and beyond

Please see the programme tab for full information.

Free to join

Programme

Please note that the programme may be subject to change.

Speakers

Hannah Keartland, Keartland& Co
Hannah helps businesses scale up their social and environmental impact by working with them as their Outsourced Chief Impact Officer. Hannah has 20+ years experience at director and board level in innovation, project delivery and finance. She knows how to run a financially successful business; and how to deliver transformation & change. Having trained at Deloitte, Hannah has since spent most of her career working in sustainability and social impact, within charities and for-purpose businesses, including Innocent Drinks and Cancer Research UK. She knows how to embed impact into operating and business models – delivering non-financial value is second-nature. 

James Alexander, Chief Executive Officer, UKSIF
James Alexander joined UKSIF as Chief Executive in October 2020, with a strong vision and mandate to further enhance the organisation’s key role in promoting and expanding sustainable investment and finance in the UK.James has a background in international climate finance and infrastructure finance as well as many years’ experience in leadership roles in membership organisations. Most recently, James supported global megacities to overcome the substantial barriers to financing climate action as Director of the City Finance Programme at the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and Head of the C40 Cities Finance Facility – a project preparation facility he developed, now supporting cities across the world to structure nearly a billion dollars of sustainable infrastructure transactions.

Keith Pogson,Senior Partner, Financial Services, Asia Pacific, EY
Keith Pogson is the Executive Sponsor for EY’s Global Regulatory Network and leader of EY’s Global Central Bank Network. Keith is the standard Setter (chair of Committee) for the disclosure rules for ESG & CG for the Hong Kong Exchange and all companies listed thereon - looking after the EY Global relationships with the BCBS and FSB.

Keith advices clients on regulation, strategy and the capital markets, and is EY Global Assurance Leader for Banking & Capital Markets. He works closely with governments and industry regulators on emerging trends impacting the financial services industry. He is also the EY representative on the Bank Working Group of the Global Public Policy Committee. Previously, he served as Founder and Regional Managing Partner of EY Asia-Pacific Financial Services. Keith has spent substantial periods of time working with frontier and emerging market governments and institutions, helping in areas such as financial market reform and restructuring. 

Lee Freeman FCA, Carbon Solutions Specialist, Auditel
Lee qualified as a chartered accountant with one of the UK’s top 10 practices and has spent a number of years in various senior finance roles with a number of publicly quoted and privately owned organisations, both in the UK and overseas. This insight has provided first-hand experience of the challenges that businesses face and has led to significant projects advising companies on how to improve their long term approach to carbon solutions and procurement. He is an associate consultant to the British Standards Institute (BSI Associate Consultant).

Simon Heppner, Founder, Net Zero Now
After an early career running restaurants and bars in London and then offshore facilities management, Simon joined Good Business as Senior Partner in 2006 to lead the climate team, subsequently developing long-term working relationships with clients such as eBay, Virgin Media, Vitality and Quilter.

In 2010 Simon co-founded the Sustainable Restaurant Association to make sustainability advice available to SMEs in the hospitality sector and remains involved as a co-owner and non-executive director. Net Zero Now was launched in 2021 in response to the need for urgent and broad-based action to address the climate crisis and is currently building out a sector-based, partnership-led approach, that makes credible climate strategy accessible to smaller businesses.

Simon Thompson, Chief Executive, Chartered Banker Institute
Simon Thompson was appointed as Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute in 2007 after working for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in Central & Eastern Europe, and for the International Federation of Accountants. Under his leadership, the Institute has grown to become the largest professional body for bankers in the UK, with nearly 35,000 members and students in more than 100 countries.

Simon is the author of Green & Sustainable Finance: Principles and Practice, published by Kogan Page and leads the Institute’s work in this area. He chairs the UK’s Green Finance Education Charter on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and is a Board member of the UK’s Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC). Simon is a former Vice President of the European Bank Training Network.

Adam Birt FCA, Head of Qualifications Strategy and Development, ICAEW
Adam Birt is the Head of Qualifications strategy and development at the ICAEW, overseeing the development of the ACA, the ICAEW Chartered Accountant qualification. This involves working closely with key stakeholders, including employers, tuition providers and students, to ensure that the ACA remains one of the most advanced learning and professional development programmes available. Adam has also designed, developed and launched a number of qualifications and assessments within the ICAEW portfolio.

Adam trained and qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant with KPMG, then worked in the finance team of a quoted property investment company and for the 10 years before joining ICAEW tutored students for professional accounting qualifications with BPP.

Richard Spencer, Director, Sustainability, ICAEW
Richard Spencer joined ICAEW in 2005 to set up the sustainability practice within Reputation and Influence department. During this time Richard has led on the ICAEW’s thought leadership and engagement programme in sustainability.

Sarah Reay, Climate Change Executive, ICAEW
Sarah Reay works within the sustainability team leading on ICAEW's climate change thought leadership work, with the aim of supporting the Institute and its members to achieve SDG 13 Climate Action.

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