Including Sustainability within Strategic Planning

Event summary

In collaboration with City Science and the Greater South-East Net Zero Hub — funded by Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme and DESNZ’s Net Zero Accelerator Programme, respectively — CIPFA has developed a series of three one-hour workshop webinars to help finance officers strengthen their skills and knowledge in delivering Net Zero objectives. The third session will focus on integrating sustainability into strategic planning to support public sector organisations in achieving effective Net Zero outcomes. It will explore organisational planning, embedding decarbonisation within local plans, and the crucial role of finance teams in this process.

This webinar is FREE to attend.

Date

09 December 2025
Starts: 12:30
Ends: 13:30

Location

online

Standard price

£0.00 excl VAT

Network Member Price

Book now

About this event

Who should attend?

This event is aimed at CFOs, Deputy CFOs, Finance Leaders.

How will you benefit from attending?

Key learning outcomes include:

Understand how to embed Net Zero within organisational operations, with insights from participants on current practices
Explore collaboration between local planning and finance functions

CPD hours

This carries one CPD hour.

Topics

Capacity building
/ Capital finance
/ Leadership
/ Local government
/ Performance improvement and policy
/ Sustainability

Speaker - Amit Verma, Sustainability Policy Manager, CIPFA

Amit is a Chemical Process Engineer with over fifteen years of experience in technical and policy management. He has worked across diverse industry sectors including Oil and Gas, Food and Drinks, Construction and Renewables in technical leadership positions delivering complex projects worldwide. Currently, Amit is leading Sustainability function of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) as Sustainability Policy Manager within the Policy and Technical team. His role involves developing a comprehensive carbon emissions reduction strategy for CIPFA to meet its Net Zero ambitions, working with diverse stakeholders for sustainability standards developments and implementation, responding to technical consultations, developing CIPFA thought leadership activities and projects both within the UK and internationally.

Speaker - Laurence Oakes-Ash

Laurence is a seasoned finance professional with over 25 years of experience and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. His career spans a broad range of roles, from managing one of the UK’s largest renewable energy investors to leading financial operations within local authorities. He founded City Science with the vision of helping Local Authorities accelerate their journey to net zero. City Science has been commissioned by Innovate UK to provide Finance and Investment technical support to places participating in the Net Zero Living programme, helping them identify and address the non-technological barriers to achieving net zero.