BDO Global conference “Natural Resources and Energy”

One of such industry conferences was attended by representatives of the Ukrainian company, namely the event dedicated to the topic of Natural Resources and Energy, that was held on October 4 and 5 in the office of BDO UK in London. The conference was attended by 70 participants from 25 countries.

According to Sherif Andrawes, Head of Global Natural Resources, this year's focus has shifted since the last offline meeting of the group in 2019. The main topic currently being raised by the entire world, and by us as well, is the issue of Sustainable Development, which is quite close to the Natural Resources sector.

Indeed, almost all presentations and discussions touched the issues of Sustainable Development and ESG, as the Natural Resources sector really matters for global change. ESG was mentioned in the context of scaling up or phasing out extractive activities as part of the energy transition. Thus, the global energy crisis was also one of the TOP topics discussed. The development of the alternative and renewable energy sector worldwide are key areas of our time that will minimize the energy and resource dependence of countries. For example, the potential of using hydrogen is extremely large, which has both pros and cons. The advantages include the absence of CO₂ emissions during combustion and high energy content. But there are also disadvantages. To produce blue (and gray) hydrogen, which accounts for about 95% of all hydrogen currently produced in the world, it is needed to keep extracting fossil fuels. The cost of hydrogen production is quite high and there are also significant legislative regulations in this process from the world community. However, this is just a challenge, and we believe that the world will surely find a solution to produce this type of energy more efficiently with minimal impact on the environment.

Decarbonization is also an issue that I would like to focus on and figure out why the world merits so much attention to it.

Climate change. Climate change poses key risks that are forcing many companies to transform and adapt their businesses and transactions, namely physical (e.g. extreme weather), transformational (e.g. technology, market changes, demand), regulatory (e.g. government policy/carbon tax).

Supply chains. Demand in value chains to disclose information on ESG issues keeps growing.

EU taxonomy. To deliver on the political promise that the EU will be climate neutral by 2050, the EU has allocated 30% of its 2021-2027 budget in euros to climate change and introduced a strong new EU climate law.

Finance. The world is witnessing the largest reallocation of capital towards low-carbon business and innovation. SDFR (EU Sustainable Finance Regulation) requires asset managers to disclose information about ESG risks in portfolios and how they are being addressed.

The mining industry is quite energy intensive, so new energy management and carbon reduction strategies are rapidly being integrated into the industry and its operations to address local and global market pressures.

BDO globally has committed to supporting the goal of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or earlier, along with our GPPC colleagues, with whom we joined the New Zealand Financial Services Providers Alliance (NZFSPA) in September 2021. Therefore, the sustainable development issues for our company are not just words, but actions that we do together to achieve the goal.

We keep up with the times and cope with the challenges that our company, like all others, has on the way of development to provide customers with pioneering solutions and use the resources we have to the best of our ability.