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Academy of professional development

Sustainability and ESG Leadership Programme

This programme equips senior leaders from practice and industry with the skillset to embed sustainability/ESG into their organisation and day-to-day role.

Why join the programme?

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Expert insights

Facilitated discussion with a subject-matter-expert, as well as one-to-one mentoring.

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Shared experience

Peer learning in small cohorts of senior leaders with good foundation in ESG and sustainability.

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Be the catalyst

Technical learning will enable you to deliver real change within your organisation.

Getting you from A to B...

Challenges you may face currently...

  • Team have limited knowledge and expertise in ESG/sustainability.
  • Struggle to create an actionable plan to embed sustainability across your organisation.
  • Difficulty influencing internal decision making.
  • Difficulty understanding sustainability opportunities and challenges that are most important to your organisation and/or clients.
  • Struggle to build an internal and external support network.
  • Unable to find time to commit to sustainability.
  • Unsure how to build and effectively communicate a business case for sustainability.

…after completing the programme you’ll …

  • Know how to build internal buy in for ESG/sustainability within your organisation.
  • Understand ways of influencing and leading in a context of change, uncertainty and disruption.
  • Be confident in how to navigate the changing sustainability landscape.
  • Have received practical support to real-life live challenges you are facing.
  • Have had the opportunity to dive deeper onto specific problems with a sustainability expert.
  • Have built a supportive network of peers in other organisations.
  • Have access to ICAEW learning resources.

What is the programme?

The programme comprises:

  • 4 x three-hour facilitated discussion/meetings (online, facilitated by a sustainability expert).
  • 2 x 1:1 hour-long online mentoring sessions with an ESG expert.
  • Free access to the ICAEW Sustainability Accelerator Programme.

Throughout the programme you will be part of a small cohort of five to eight senior leaders, all of whom have a good foundational knowledge of sustainability/ESG.

Peer learning and facilitated discussion provides a platform to practice coaching, critical thinking and mindset skills. They stimulate a transfer of learning from workshop to workplace from sharing live issues, gaining input and insights to "lessons learned". 

Who is the programme for?

  • Senior leaders within practice and industry (such as partners, directors, CFOs, finance directors).
  • Have a good foundational knowledge of sustainability/ESG (for example, those who have completed the ICAEW Sustainability Certificate or an equivalent).
  • Want to know how to integrate sustainability/ESG into their organisation and into their day-to-day role.

Key stages of the programme

Module
Learning hours
Meeting 1
Building internal buy-in for ESG/sustainability.
3 hours
1:1 mentoring session
1 hour
Meeting 2
Influencing change within your organisation
3 hours
Meeting 3
Leading in a context of change, uncertainty and disruption
3 hours
1:1 mentoring session
1 hour
Meeting 4
Navigating the changing sustainability landscape
3 hours

Hannah Keartland

The programme is delivered by Hannah Keartland, the founder of Keartland & Co, a certified B Corp™, which helps business leaders navigate the sustainability transition.

Hannah has 20+ years experience leading innovation and change at director and board level with the unusual blend of leading innovation, finance and operations functions. She trained at Deloitte, is a Fellow of the ICAEW and a member of the ICAEW Sustainability Committee.

Having worked in and with charities and for-purpose businesses for the vast majority of her career (including Innocent Drinks and Cancer Research UK), Hannah knows how to integrate impact and successful business.

Headshot of Hannah Keartland, founder of Keartland & Co, a certified B Corp, which helps business leaders navigate the sustainability transition.
Wind turbines on a wooded hillside at dusk surrounded by clouds
Support for finance teams

ICAEW's Sustainability Accelerator Programme

For sustainability leaders looking to develop critical sustainability skills across their finance teams, ICAEW offers a flexible series of elearning resources designed to equip professionals with the strategic insight and technical expertise required to lead sustainability and ESG initiatives.

Find out more

Register your interest

To be the among the first cohorts on ICAEW's Peer Learning and Mentorship for Sustainability Leaders programme, register your interest. A member of the Academy team will get in touch.

academy@icaew.com