HRH The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Project has established a new leadership network aimed at ensuring environmental and social issues are at the core of company strategy and finances. The new Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network has already attracted CFOs from Anglian Water, BUPA, Burberry Group, British Land, The Crown Estate, Danone, Royal DSM, Marks and Spencer, National Grid, Sainsbury’s, SSE, South West Water, Unilever, United Utilities, Walmart EMEA and Yorkshire Water.

CLARENCE HOUSE, LONDON, 12 December 2013 – The Chief Financial Officers of some of Europe’s pre-eminent corporations have joined forces in a Network aimed at embedding environmental and social issues into company strategy and finances.

The Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network, established by the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Project, founded by HRH The Prince of Wales, is the first grouping of its kind to focus on the role CFOs play in integrating environmental and social issues into financial decision making. There is a growing commercial imperative for businesses to take these factors into account if they are to future-proof their organisations; and there is now clear evidence that companies which address environmental and social issues deliver improved commercial returns.

The Network will be launched this afternoon (12th Dec) at the eighth A4S Annual Forum. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has welcomed the formation of the network. The Prince said: “CFOs have a vital role to play in making sure their businesses thrive, not just today, but tomorrow and into the future. The bottom line is that sustainable business equals good business. I am therefore delighted that the A4S Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network will play a key role not only in communicating why sustainability makes business sense, but how to start accounting for it. Our children and grandchildren are depending on it.”

At the launch, the A4S Executive Chairman, Jessica Fries, will chair a panel discussion featuring the A4S CFO Leadership Network Co-Chairs, John Rogers (CFO, Sainsbury’s) and Pierre-André Terisse (CFO, Danone) and Network member Rolf-Dieter Schwalb, CFO, Royal DSM.

Member organisations joining the Network are: Anglian Water, BUPA, Burberry Group, British Land, The Crown Estate, Danone, Royal DSM, Marks and Spencer, National Grid, Sainsbury’s, SSE, South West Water, Unilever, United Utilities, Walmart EMEA and Yorkshire Water.

The Network has come together to demonstrate leadership on how companies should respond to challenges including climate change, a rising and ageing global population, rapid urbanisation, and increased consumption. All these issues are putting unprecedented pressure on natural resources and the fabric of society.

The Chief Financial Officer Leadership Network will focus on developing and sharing successful strategies so these become the ‘norm’ across all businesses. This will include improved modelling of future risk and uncertainty as well as engagement with investors and other stakeholders to increase their understanding of the commercial benefits of sustainable business models.

John Rogers, Co-Chair of the A4S CFO Leadership Network and CFO of Sainsbury’s said: “HRH The Prince of Wales has rightly recognised the vital importance of bringing sustainability issues into the very heart of corporate governance and accounting. What used to be seen as greenwash needs to become as natural to company finance teams as it is to CR departments or even NGOs. I’m pleased to be co-chairing this significant new initiative and urge my counterparts in business and public organisations to contribute their skills and experience to the A4S CFO Leadership Network.”

The Network will be extended globally during the course of 2014.

For further information, please visit www.accountingforsustainability.org