Pakistan has the potential to contribute around 5 to 6 per cent to over $100 billion world carbon market which is presently dominated by China and India.
Further, social accounting is a new and evolving field, which analyses a company’s triple bottom line by reviewing its economic, social and environmental performance. Measuring a company’s triple bottom line provides a means for determining the social sustainability of a company while holding management accountable for the societal and environmental impact of business decisions. Theses views were expressed by the speakers at the second day of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) Golden Jubilee Conference held here at a local hotel.
“The global carbon market is over $100 billion, and is dominated by China and India – who together contribute to 45 per cent and 30 per cent of the global CER market respectively,” said Director Carbon Services, Omar Malik, during the second day of the ICAP Golden Jubilee Conference held here at a local hotel.
Malik said that Pakistan had the potential to become a 5-6 per cent contributor to this market, if the energy-scarce country properly registered its renewable energy projects i.e. hydro, wind, biomass and biogas power generation, and all other energy efficiency projects in industrial sectors. In his address, Ian Ball, Chief Excutive Officer of International Federation of Accountants, delivered a technical session titled ‘Moving towards Integrated Reporting’.
He said the world was moving on from conventional and financial reporting models to the new model of integrated reporting covering governance social and environmental aspects.
Syed Asad Ali Shah, former President ICAP said the government alone could not take measures and the private sector had to contribute too.
With increasing expectations of corporate responsibility, stakeholders were more concerned about corporate behavior and Triple Bottom Line (3BL) reporting, which was a method to demonstrate commitment to the community.
The session was chaired by Muhammad Rohail, CFO Engro Corporation, who concluded that integrated reporting could create awareness and pressure on the management to do more.
Panelists of a session on ‘Poverty Alleviation through Microfinance’ were of the view that microfinance was an essential tool to build entrepreneurship which would pave way for poverty alleviation.
They highlighted the role of media in promoting the cause of reducing poverty, which was a ray of hope in the current socio-economic outlook. For the first time on ICAP forum the concept of green accounting was discussed which was highly appreciated by the audience. Director SA-8000, Ministry of Commerce, Nasim Qureshi in his presentation spoke on the importance of SA-8000 social accounting standards which was the first auditable most widely recognized standard for managing human rights in the workplace and can be adopted by all kinds of organizations, irrespective of size or nature of business. Local export oriented industries may also get tremendous benefit, if they implement SA-8000 standards. It will enhance their business prospects globally.