As featured in this month’s Business Cornwall magazine, Practice Director Michelle Pearce discusses RRL’s environmental journey. The article highlights how the role of accountants is expanding beyond traditional number crunching to embrace environmental responsibility, emphasising the vital part they play in addressing the climate crisis.
This article was published for Business Cornwall magazine, on 3 September 2024 (Page 28): Business Cornwall Sep 24 by Business Cornwall – Issuu
We thankfully find ourselves in a time where environmental consciousness is gaining prominence. We believe that the traditional role of accountants has evolved beyond number crunching and compliance to embrace a broader perspective that incorporates environmental responsibility, and that accountants will play a huge role in tackling the climate crisis.
As ‘trusted advisers’ to businesses, accountants are instrumental in assisting clients to consider the increasing impacts of the climate crisis and implement sustainable business practices. But to do so, you need the credibility and authenticity. This is one of the driving forces behind our own journey to adopting eco-friendly operational practices – recognising the ethical, but also commercial opportunity and demand.
Before embarking, we had already made massive progress in embracing digitalisation, and implementing policies which have made small yet impactful steps towards creating a more sustainable workplace in the name of efficiencies and for a better work environment. But now the ethos has changed to a focus on sustainability as well as commerciality.
We are using Net Zero Now to measure our carbon footprint which has led to further changes in our internal practices and procurement decisions. As a result, we are much more attuned to addressing our supply chain, reviewing sustainability credentials, and influencing suppliers where possible to consider the products that they use, giving all purchases ethical consideration.
We have embarked upon a programme of awareness raising and the staff have all shared their ideas, which we report upon at our quarterly sustainability meetings. All of these events have compounded the wider interest and knowledge in sustainability and biodiversity, prompting further understanding and impetus within the business.
We are now in the early stages of assessing our governance structures to formalise the principle of sustainability being a consideration in all that we do and the decisions we make. The journey continues.