The key objective of the meeting was to define the role of the PAO-Academia working group, validate its composition, confirm the structure, develop a meeting calendar, and validate the list of activities.
The working group's proposed objectives are split into two prominent roles, strategic and operational. The substantial role includes the establishment of cooperation mechanisms between universities and PAOs to create awareness and build capacity on SDG/sustainability requirements for corporate reporting, and to harmonize, and implement the academic curriculum at tertiary and professional levels on sustainability and SDG reporting as well as defining key topics and tools in line with ongoing trends and upcoming international standards.
The operational roles focus more on the committee's structure as well as the manner and frequency of conducting meetings. The committee will monitor the implementation progress against the action plan; implement and adapt the objectives of the action plan to establish national strategies for SDG/sustainability reporting; organize regular meetings for the group and report on progress to the Steering Committee.
The issues that have been identified to ensure the effectiveness of the group include the establishment of efficient means to disseminate information; appointing focal points and mainstreaming the ESG agenda to academic curricula as well as aligning with the competency requirements of PAOs. The participation and commitment of all the stakeholders is critical to implementing the action plan.
The action plan for the objective was presented and the annual targets were agreed upon.
