3 August 2010
The public sector has been warned against letting sustainability fall off its agenda as it grapples with spending cuts.
Paul Druckman, executive chair of the Prince of Wales’ Accounting forSustainability Project, told Public Finance that quick-fix government decisions about spending cuts could have ‘a materially poor impact’ on longer-term environmental issues, such as climate change and over-consumption of natural resources.‘It’s terribly dangerous to take short-term measures without understanding where they are leading you to,’ he said.
Druckman admitted he was ‘nervous’ that the sustainability agenda might be lost, adding: ‘We hope that in light of all the important things that are having to be done at the moment in the short-term, that this big picture is not lost with the new government.’
Druckman was yesterday announced as co-chair of a new group tasked with creating a globally accepted framework for accounting for sustainability. The International Integrated Reporting Committee hopes to bring together financial, environmental, social and governance reporting into a single format.
He said a new system was needed to bring reporting practices into the twenty-first century and boost transparency.
The committee will produce a draft framework by the end of the year, but it is expected to take some time before international agreement is reached. Meanwhile, all UK government departments are already committed to a ‘dry run’ of integrated reporting by March 2011, including their performance against greenhouse gas emissions and use of finite resources.
