ESGmark® returns to the MGI Worldwide UK & Ireland conference
ESGmark® returns to the MGI Worldwide UK & Ireland conference
26 September 2022
This month we were delighted to be invited back to present at the 2022 MGI Worldwide UK & Ireland conference, this year held in Dublin. MGI Worldwide is a global network of some 240 independent accountancy firms in more than 100 countries.
The three day conference culminated in a focus on ESG on the final day. The session opened with Paul Winder and Nicki Lynn from the MGI UK & Ireland team, sharing their progress in improving the ESG credentials of MGI over the past 12 months. The ESGmark® team have been delighted to support MGI during that period, participating in webinars with MGI member firms, producing educational material and calculating the carbon footprint of MGI’s international conferences. This exercise has been important to focus attention on the environmental impact of all member firms and encourage discussion with respect to reducing emissions, before resorting to offsetting.
ESGmark® co-founders Portia Patel and Justin Bates gave a presentation covering the growing demand for the certification and the important role accountants can play as the demands of non-financial reporting of ESG-related KPIs alongside financial reporting grows.
The session closed with a panel discussion including three MGI member firms which during the last 12 months have successfully become ESGmark® certified - Watson Buckle, Alexander Knight and Rickard Luckin. Key conclusions from the session included:
Embracing an ESG-focused agenda within a business had been critical for staff motivation and retention, particularly the younger generation.
Having confidence in their own ESG credentials had enabled firms to initiate conversations with their clients with respect to topics such as supply chain management and carbon accounting.
Firms identified G as less well understood than ‘E’ or ‘S’, but believed strong G was crucial to the delivery of credible and successful E and S objectives.
Firms identified having strong ESG credentials and a credible way to demonstrate that as a competitive advantage which in the near future could present a genuine revenue opportunity.
Overall, it was an excellent, thought provoking session. Our thanks to the MGI team for inviting us along and organising the conference.
At ESGmark® it is critical for us to lead by example. We believe it is important and necessary for conferences such as this to happen in person as it provides an opportunity to learn, share ideas and foster collaboration in a way that is difficult to achieve remotely. We believe there is a balance to be struck. In order to mitigate the carbon footprint of the ESGmark® team who travelled to Dublin, we calculated our carbon footprint and purchased a carbon offset from the United Nations platform (see certificate below).
