The Finance for the Future Awards are back for 2025 with new categories and a new event. The awards, a partnership between ICAEW, Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) and Deloitte, are now open for entries, with the ceremony set to take place in London at the start of June.

New categories

In keeping with the evolution of sustainable finance, organisers of the awards have shaken up the categories. Gone are the likes of Moving Financial Markets and Embedding an Integrated Approach. Instead, the awards will focus on examples of group and individual excellence through five categories: 

• Team of the Year; 
• Finance Changemakers; 
• CFO of the Year; 
• Rising Star; and 
• The Lifetime Achievement Award.

Alongside those main categories, updated Leadership Awards will recognise the work of finance professionals who are delivering tangible results in four areas: 

• communicating integrated thinking; 
• climate; 
• nature; and 
• social impact.

“There was a desire ahead of the 2025 awards to refresh the categories, make them sound more engaging and give them a more personal feel,” says ICAEW Director of Sustainability Richard Spencer.

For example, he explains, a financial institution that is investing in clean technology in a particularly exciting way would be an eligible contender for Team of the Year. That award is designed to show how teams are embedding sustainability into their organisations’ everyday decision-making. 

Meanwhile, an example of an entrant for Financial Changemakers would be someone who has produced an insightful piece of thought leadership that they can demonstrate has changed how fellow professionals make decisions.

“In terms of the other three categories,” Spencer notes, “CFO of the Year, Rising Star and the Lifetime Achievement Award all feel a lot less technical and far more human and relatable in their approach.”

New event

Importantly, Spencer points out, the ceremony will be enfolded into the 2025 A4S Summit, putting it right at the heart of topical discussion and debate around sustainable finance. “The awards will retain their own identity and brand,” he says, “but we hope that by integrating them with the Summit, we will generate some valuable synergy.”

For Spencer, the awards’ new look reflects the journey that sustainable finance has taken over more than a decade – moving away from niche or novelty status and towards far greater public recognition.

“Momentum for sustainability is gathering in the mainstream,” he says. “When we started these awards 12 years ago, we were very much trying to encourage the profession to understand that sustainability is part of the job. That meant getting the mainstream to think a lot harder about technical aspects of sustainable finance and what they involve. 

“Now we’re seeing a greater mainstream focus on this area, it feels as though we are in a position of honouring work that’s becoming steadily more visible and understood. So, the awards are now less of a curiosity and more of a celebration of what’s increasingly relevant.”

To make a submission, download the entry form from the Finance for the Future website. Entries close on Friday 20 December, with judging set to take place next spring.