On Wednesday 7th August, Rutherford Cross held its latest Planning Your Career Journey event in Glasgow – “ESG, Sustainability & The Future of Finance with ScottishPower”. Consultant, Harry Young shares some insights and top tips from the event.
Climate, sustainability and ESG are hugely important and topical subjects in the market at the moment, and so for this event, we welcomed talks on these topics from Sam Gardner – Head of Climate Change and Sustainability at ScottishPower, Emma Howe – Head of ESG Reporting & Performance and John Walker – Head of Internal Control.
At Rutherford Cross, we are here to support our clients and candidates, and it is hugely important to us that we can add value to people’s careers at different stages. It was fantastic to see such a busy room and to be able to facilitate such a relevant discussion with our excellent speakers. Our audience included individuals who are currently studying for professional qualifications, through to senior leaders seeking to upskill their knowledge on climate, ESG and sustainability.
Sam spoke first and my key takeaway from his presentation was that the world will reach a key tipping point in the coming years with the requirement to keep global warming below 2°C; if it goes above that level, a positive feedback loop will be triggered that could have catastrophic consequences. On an individual level, we all have a responsibility to contribute to the circular economy to fight climate change. It was interesting to hear from Sam about what ScottishPower is doing from a climate perspective and how his team interfaces with finance.
Emma spoke next and discussed how ESG and sustainability-focused roles are going to become a focus point for businesses in the near future, as well as how finance professionals possess a similar skill set required to succeed in this space. There are few subject matter specialists in this space due to its infancy, so as a qualified accountant, opportunities are going to be created around this. Emma provided the audience with some insight into her career journey and what factors influenced her decisions, allowing her to progress her career into the ESG space.
John spoke last and discussed how we will see an increased convergence of finance and sustainability and ESG-focused roles when businesses are required to report standards across these areas. This merger will likely come into effect at a faster rate in larger organisations, but sustainability will also form a part of finance roles even in SME environments. John also discussed that from an internal control perspective, his team cooperates with the ESG team. John also explored his career journey and how ScottishPower has facilitated his continual professional development.
All of our speakers on the night were hugely informative, coming from different backgrounds and at different stages of their careers. They all agreed that change is coming; ESG and sustainability are here to stay. As an accountant, whether you choose to pursue an ESG and sustainability-specific role in future, or if ESG reporting is part of a wider role, it will be something that your career is going to touch on.
Sustainability is more important than ever as we seek to fight against the climate crisis. Sustainability reporting and an increased focus on ESG are coming for all businesses. Developing a robust ESG framework should look beyond emissions and filter all the way down to how you treat the people in your business.
Many thanks again to our speakers on the night and to our audience for taking time out of their Wednesday evening to attend – we are already looking forward to the next one!
At Rutherford Cross, we will continue to place attention on these topics within the market, so please do not hesitate to reach out if you would like to discuss how it will affect your hiring strategies or job search. We are also looking forward to the next instalment of the ‘Planning Your Career Journey’ series; please contact [email protected] if you would like to attend it.
