EMAN virtual event: Building resilience in a time of crisis – the role of sustainability leadership, accounting and reporting
16 September 2020, online
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the Environmental and Sustainability Management Accounting Network (EMAN) are proud to host a free one-day virtual event 16 September for the 24th EMAN Conference on Building resilience in a time of crisis: the role of sustainability leadership, accounting and reporting.
When: 16 Sept. 2020
Location: Online
Registration
Register here to join us for the day and sign-up your interest for one of our breakout sessions. We will follow-up with you to confirm your registration and send the Zoom link to join the event in due time.
Businesses’ and organizations’ ability to be resilient and adaptable is being put at a test across the world with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, it is crucial to draw from current and past lessons, share knowledge and new ideas to ensure sustainable continuity for businesses and research.
As in-person meetings are limited, the EMAN and WBCSD would like to take this opportunity to have a free one-day virtual event to share knowledge and bring practitioners and academics together. With this, we are postponing the in-person conference to the year 2021. We will communicate more information on next year’s plan in due course.
During the morning plenary, we’ll bring academic and business leaders to provide insights about the crisis and what this means in terms of business resilience and leadership, as well as the role of sustainability reporting and accounting within our current context.
In the afternoon, we’ll dive into practical training with specialists on:
- Enhancing resilience: Integrating ESG into enterprise risk management workshop.
- Building business capacity to value nature in decision-making workshop
- Strengthening ESD disclosure workshop
We are also inviting participants to submit a proposal to host virtually a breakout session in the afternoon, alongside the virtual trainings above already proposed. Please see below for more information.
This free virtual event will be interactive and include group discussions. We look forward to you joining us and share your experiences.
Program
Morning Plenary Wednesday 16 September
Plenary
Time: Morning
We are bringing together business and academic leaders to discuss how to build resilience, foster leadership and the role of sustainability reporting and accounting within our current context. Detailed program to come.
Afternoon workshop Wednesday 16 September
Enhancing resilience, We Value Nature and Disclosure training
Time: Afternoon
- Enhancing resilience: Integrating ESG into enterprise risk management workshop. Join our workshop on how to integrate ESG risks into mainstream risk processes to ensure long-term resilience and competitiveness. Read more here.
- Building business capacity to value nature in decision-making: All businesses depend and impact on natural capital. Through understanding and considering the risks and opportunities created by nature, businesses can make better decisions that benefit themselves, society and the planet as a whole. Join We Value Nature’s interactive and practical training to explore the relationships between business and nature and learn about practical approaches companies can adopt to integrate nature in decision-making processes.
- Strengthening ESG disclosure workshop: As crucial stakeholders are demanding to understand companies’ true performance – including ESG aspects – we’ll dive into how to take control of your ESG reporting processes and enhance the quality of information. We’ll touch upon materiality, Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures (TCFD), assurance and key reporting trends. Check out our work on disclosure here.
Key takeaways and drinks Wednesday 16 September
EMAN Board meeting
Time: Late afternoon
Key takeaways and insights from the plenary and workshops. Join us also for a virtual drink afterwards.
Call to propose a breakout session
We invite all participants to submit a proposal to host virtually a breakout session in the afternoon, alongside the virtual trainings already proposed.
We encourage you to think of ways to bring forward breakout session ideas that consider the current crisis we are going through, what are its implications for business now and in the future. Potential topics to focus on include but are not restricted to the areas listed below.
- ESG metrics
- ESG assurance
- Materiality analysis
- ESG disclosure and reporting
- ESG management accounting
- Corporate ESG performance
- ESG in business decision-making
- Integrated reporting
- ESG management and measurement tools for management control
- Accounting and reporting for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The deadline for sending a breakout session proposal is 17 July 2020. Notification of acceptance decisions will be sent out by 31 July 2020. There is no compulsory template for submitting a breakout session proposal, we simply ask you to plan on a session between 2-3 hrs long.
Please send you breakout session proposal to Katia Bonga at bonga@wbcsd.org
Questions can be addressed to Katia Bonga at bonga@wbcsd.org
Additional information
This free virtual event will be interactive and include group discussions. Participants are therefore asked to plan on being in a space that enables them to fully participate. It will be hosted entirely through Zoom.
Closer to the event date, useful resources as well as a more detailed agenda will be sent to all registered participants.
The virtual event will be recorded and all discussions kept confidential. The event’s slides, resources, as well as the recording will be shared with participants only after the event.
About WBCSD
WBCSD is a global, CEO-led organization of over 200 leading businesses working together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. We help make our member companies more successful and sustainable by focusing on the maximum positive impact for shareholders, the environment and societies. Click here for more.
About EMAN
The steering committee Environmental and Sustainability Management Accounting Network (EMAN) is a group of academics and professional experts in the area of environmental, social and sustainability accounting who are responsible for general policy, procedures, and related matters affecting EMAN as a whole. Find out more.
The Steering Committee includes:
| Nathalie Crutzen | HEC-Management School of the University of Liege, Belgium |
| Maria Csutora | Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary |
| Igor Alvarez Etxeberria | University of Basque Country, Spain |
| Delphine Gibassier | Toulouse Business School, France |
| Edeltraud Günther | Technical University Dresden, Germany |
| Rodney Irwin | World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Switzerland |
| Karen Maas(Chairwoman) | Department of Business Economics Erasmus School of Economics Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
| Stefan Schaltegger | Centre for Sustainability Management, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany |