A4S Academy Award Winners

Collaborating

Bethan’s commitment to integrating sustainability led to the finance and sustainability teams working alongside one another, sharing best practice and collaborating across the organization on risk scenario planning. She also set up a working group to look at how to embed quantitative sustainability information into investment appraisal processes.

Encouraging

Bethan encouraged others to participate in the Academy by sharing insights into her own positive experience on our information calls for future cohorts. Within her organization, she also motivated colleagues to join the programme.

“Bethan’s passion for collaborating and encouraging others shone through during the Academy programme. Her efforts are already having impact, with one of her colleagues joining the 2022-23 cohort.”

A4S

Sharing

Chris shared his knowledge with the wider finance community as a panel speaker for an A4S Sustainability in Action webinar. He was always willing to share his insights and knowledge with peers during the Academy seminars and check-in calls. Through his implementation plan he developed an "Introduction to the Foundational Economy" guide for finance and non-finance professionals. This was presented at NHS Wales Finance Academy's national conference and is available online for all Wales public sector professionals.

Collaborating

Chris’ focus on collaboration progressed cultural change for NHS Wales leadership through roundtable sessions and the establishment of a forum for sharing knowledge at a national level. 

“Chris’ commitment to sharing his knowledge with others and collaborating both within his organization and across the sector has been inspirational.”

A4S

Supporting others

Ton showed real passion for helping peers whose companies were less advanced in their sustainability journey, providing supportive guidance, tips and practical insights into the approaches taken at Moody’s. She was always willing to support her peers, imparting useful information and thoughtful contributions during the Academy seminars and check-in calls.

Encouraging

Ton encouraged others to participate in the A4S Academy by sharing insights on her own positive experience during our information calls. She demonstrated how finance professionals could make a positive impact within their organizations by describing her own objectives and key achievements. Within her organization, she collaborated with colleagues who were also on the A4S programme and motivated others to explore joining the Academy.  

“Ton’s passion for sustainability and supporting others was evident in every interaction.”

A4S

Lindsay developed a new and different way of working that will drive organizational change in the direction of positive sustainable impact.  

Her work on developing a matrix to measure the environmental footprints of products in Asahi UK helped heighten awareness of the impact of the company’s products on the planet. She took the finance lead in UK&I on communicating the need for change, both within the finance team and at board level, calculating and explaining the matrix methodology and impact on overall P&L.  

Lindsay has also started to build CO2 emissions, plastic and water budgeting into the 2023 budgeting cycle. Her work was complemented by the launch of a group-wide Sustainability-EBITA project in 2022, which sets out to allocate Scope 1 and 2 emissions and Scope 3 packaging and transport emissions by product. 

Key achievements: 

• Created a UK matrix for calculating CO2 emissions and virgin plastic in order to track the environmental footprint for Stock Keeping Units.  

• Began to build CO2 emissions, plastic and water budgeting into the company’s 2023 budgeting cycle.  

• Took the UK&I finance lead on communicating the need for change, both within finance and at board level, explaining the methodology and impact on overall P&L.

• Drove the adoption in the UK of ‘Sustainability-EBITA’ for Asahi, which tracks Scope 1 and 2 emissions, as well as Scope 3 packaging and transport emissions.   

“Lindsay demonstrated innovation by developing a matrix to measure the environmental footprints of products and embedding this into the capex and opex budgeting cycle. Measurement, focused on carbon emissions, packaging and water use, is now being incorporated into a sustainable profit measure (S-EBITA) to inform reporting and decisions. We can see that through embedding this tool into the budgeting cycle and driving awareness internally, Lindsay created lasting positive impact.”

The Judges

Jeannette inspired others at the American University of Sharjah to take action and to follow her positive example, by developing a Climate Action Plan for the operations departments. She put finance at the heart of this plan, to make sure that financial and carbon budgets were aligned.  

Jeannette ensured that the operating team had knowledge of the severity of the sustainability issues they face and the motivation to support the project. She made sure that all staff in her teams were trained. This included over 300 members of staff across finance, campus development, facilities, construction, IT and cybersecurity, and supply chain.  

Jeannette also made sure all her direct reports were incorporated into the steering committee to develop the Climate Action Plan. This ensured that the project became every department's priority. She also rallied support from the wider community of students, staff and government organizations.    

Key achievements:  

• Trained the operations and finance department teams on the severity of sustainability issues.   

• Currently developing a ‘Climate Action Plan’ that includes full financial calculations of making the cost of carbon visible. This will also include the wider community such as students, staff and governmental organizations.   

• Ensuring that the financial and carbon budgets are aligned. 

“Jeannette developed a Climate Action Plan, putting Finance at the heart, to make sure that financial and carbon budgets are aligned. What stuck out for us when reading Jeanette’s Progress Report was the sheer number of people she influenced. Educating and training over 300 staff on the severity of sustainability issues, in addition to rallying support from the wider community, is a brilliant achievement. The work Jeannette has done to bring people along on this journey has real potential to have a significant snowball effect.” 

The Judges

Hélène faced and overcame significant challenges, making progress despite the obstacles she faced.  

Hélène addressed the challenge of changing reporting requirements by creating an agile system for reporting. She also looked at definitions of non-financial KPIs, agreeing them with group functions and sustainability teams. She then successfully designed and built a system for collecting and reporting on relevant ESG KPIs, and linked them to Zurich's sustainability pillars, as well as allocating the ownership of KPIs to various functions.  

Hélène also helped raise awareness of sustainability within the organization and challenged the finance executive team on how to embed sustainability in their work. She was willing to take risks on a topic close to her heart and her efforts to onboard the management team had a clear impact. 

Key achievements:  

• Successfully designed and built a system for collecting and reporting on relevant KPIs from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), World Economic Forum and TCFD. This included changing KPI definitions, linking them to one of Zurich's sustainability pillars and allocating KPIs to group functions.  

• Raised awareness of sustainability and challenged Zurich’s finance executive team on how sustainability is embedded within the group finance department.  

“Hélène’s resilience was clear for us all to see. During her time on the A4S Academy, Hélène has transitioned her role from Senior Financial Controller to Sustainability Analyst, bringing her finance skills to help solve Zurich’s sustainability challenges. Despite facing setbacks, such as changing reporting requirements, Hélène’s perseverance has paid off. It enabled her to design and build a system for collecting and reporting on relevant ESG KPIs. Hélène also demonstrated tenacity by challenging Zurich’s finance Executive team, asking tough questions around the topic of sustainability, and exploring how sustainability should be embedded within the group finance department.” 

The Judges