Auditing climate risk and environmental sustainability: An ESG masterclass

Presented by John Chesshire 

This updated and hugely topical really course puts the “G” into ESG! Spend a full day thinking about governance concepts, best practices and current developments from across the private, public and third sectors and consider internal audit’s role in an interactive and participative style. This course will improve your ability to provide effective, professional insight and internal audit assurance that moves beyond a tick box approach, identifying the real underlying governance risks faced by organisations. 

Some of the most significant impacts of climate change, whether they be temperature increase, extreme weather events such as wildfires or flooding, failing crops or mass migration, are widely acknowledged to be crystalising now. Climate change is visibly damaging infrastructure and assets, threatening businesses’ reputation, challenging supply chains and introducing a whole new level of regulatory and compliance risks that will increasingly test business resilience. Throughout 2023, regulators and governments have progressed action and activity for enhanced ESG reporting and much of this focuses on climate change, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability.

The Chartered Institute’s Risk in Focus 2024 survey has once again highlighted ESG as a key area of concern for increasing numbers of CAEs across Europe, whatever size, sector, or scale of internal audit team. Over 30% identified climate change, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability as a top five risk for their organisations today, with well over 50% calling it out as top five risk when looking three years into the future.
Building on the coverage in the CIIA’s popular “Auditing ESG: A strategic overview” training session, this new course for 2024 puts the “E” into ESG! Spend a full day thinking about climate change, biodiversity and environmental sustainability concepts, best practices, and current developments from across the private, public and third sectors. It will consider internal audit’s role in an interactive and participative style. This course will improve your ability to provide effective, professional insight and internal audit assurance that moves beyond a tick box approach, identifying the real underlying ‘E’ risks faced by organisations.

Who should attend?

This course has been designed to be relevant to internal auditors, audit managers and chief audit executives from every business sector – private, public, and voluntary – and for delegates with varying levels of practical experience. It is of most relevance to those about to embark upon an internal audit of climate change or environmental sustainability-related risk, for those who manage audits in this area or for those wishing to stay up to date with topical developments and emerging areas of internal audit interest.

Course programme

A blend of theoretical, technical, discursive and practical approaches covering:

• climate change – where are we today?
• climate change-related risks, both direct and indirect, threats and opportunities
• organisational awareness and preparations
• what can we audit here?
• assurance or advice?
• developing an insightful internal audit climate-related engagement
• delivering professional insight and internal audit assurance over your organisation’s climate-related risks, activities and countermeasures
• topical issues and developments in climate change assurance
• practical problems, obstacles and barriers when auditing this evolving topic.

The course includes facilitator input, topical examples, short practical discussions and task-based exercises to build upon existing knowledge and reinforce your learning.

CPE competency areas covered

• Performance (Engagement planning)
• Performance (Engagement Fieldwork)
• Performance (Engagement outcomes)
• Environment (Social responsibility and sustainability).

7 CPE points