CIIPA ESG committee convenes first meeting in 2022

Members of government, the financial services industry and accountancy firms met on Wednesday, 12 Jan., for the first meeting in 2022 of the Cayman Islands Institute of Professional Accountants’ ESG committee.

The committee aims to promote standards and practices that support the Cayman Islands in becoming a global green finance centre and, ultimately, offer solutions to urgent global problems like climate change.

“ESG initiatives are a priority for CIIPA and its members,” said CIIPA Chief Executive Officer Sheree Ebanks in a press statement. “Cayman is in a position to be the global green finance and ESG leader. That can be achieved through the many funds managed here with the resources to make the world a better place as well as raising awareness on ESG and promoting local practices.”

The ESG framework assesses environment, social and governance factors to measure the sustainability, social responsibility and ethical structure of an organisation.

This could, for example, refer to a firm that encourages clients to invest in green funds, but also includes a company’s practices relating to inclusion and transparency.

“The formation of this committee comes at a most opportune time and I am delighted to be selected to chair it,” said KPMG’s Jodie McTaggart. “With the recent announcement that the Government is working on a legislative framework for the implementation of ESG criteria for the financial services industry, we see incredible opportunities for Cayman to be at the forefront of the development of green, blue and sustainable finance.”

McTaggart said ESG is the new lens through which companies worldwide will be evaluated.

Our committee will help drive the ESG agenda locally as well as help Cayman contribute to global issues such as climate change.”

In addition to McTaggart, the committee includes EY’s Eleanor Fisher, Ogier’s Angilynn Baraud, Clearwater’s Richard Harrison, PwC’s Kelli Dawson, Deloitte’s Lawrence Usher, Artex Risk’s Anna Ghandilyan, KPMG’s Arnaud vanDijk, CUC’s Ravi Persad, Waystone’s Rebecca Palmer, MNP’s Edward Olson, as well as Michelle Bahadur from the ministry of financial services, and Sheree Ebanks and Kevin Morales from CIIPA.