As climate volatility and new regulatory pressures escalate, business leaders are increasingly framing complex strategic decisions through the lens of sustainability and resilience.

In this episode of Accounting for the Future, host Anne-Marie Henson, Partner, National Industry Leader, sits down with Simon Hutton, National Sustainability Leader, to discuss how organizations are integrating sustainability into proactive risk management, navigating growing pressures, and using data to stay transparent.

With grounded insights and practical examples, this episode offers CFOs, audit committee chairs, and business leaders a clear path to strengthening risk oversight, enhancing reporting, and building more resilient, future-ready enterprises.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

00:00 – Introducing Simon Hutton, National Sustainability Leader

01:45 – The evolving sustainability landscape

04:57 – Top sustainability priorities for Canadian businesses

09:13 – Sustainability as a catalyst for supply chain scrutiny

12:10 - Extreme weather and supply chain resilience

16:28 - Factoring climate risk into asset decisions

20:16 - Real-world example: Mining industry supply chain decisions

21:26 - Common mistakes in sustainability reporting

25:29 - Avoiding greenwashing & Bill C-59

30:52 - Why CFOs and boards should care about sustainability

35:23 - Closing thoughts

Mentioned:

Anne-Marie Henson

Simon Hutton

BDO Canada

Quotes:

“Sustainability has evolved from simply a reporting exercise to more being a core, integral part of building business resilience.”

“We do see more and more companies are recognizing that sustainability performance, commitments, and so on, is really part and parcel of not just building firm value, but also protecting firm value over the course of time.”

“The good news that we see unfolding is that more and more companies are shifting. Shifting from a place of reacting to disruptions—which is something, of course, they have to do—to taking a more proactive approach and building more resilience in their supply chain up front.”

“I think the two biggest mistakes that we see manifesting is overpromising and then undermeasuring.”

“There is a real benefit to starting with one or two things you can confidently do; there is a real risk to identifying five wonderful, bold aspirational goals but not having the confidence you can execute on them.”

“Sustainability is a financial management and valuation issue, and, as a result, this is an important thing for the CFOs of the world to take stock of.”

“I think, at the end of the day, strong sustainability data creates value, it can protect value, and it can build transparency that can inform smarter decision making and create numerous benefits in the business, again both from a value creation point of view and also from a value protection point of view—a risk management point of view.”