Jessica Fries

Feature News

Sustainability - Canada’s Strengths and Weaknesses
A large scale study comparing Canadian companies to their world peers finds Canada leads in capturing cost reduction from sustainability initiatives but lags global leaders in driving profitability through collaboration.
Next Generation of Sustainability Reporting Guidelines Released
Global business leaders have called on companies and organizations around the world to embrace G4, the next generation of the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
Low-Carbon Energy Strategy for North America Recommended
Creating a North American energy strategy makes “a lot of sense” says a Nobel Prize winner and U.S. presidential advisor who also warns that not addressing climate change is like “playing Russian roulette.”
Ballard Sees Positive Developments in Fuel Cell Material Handling Market
Ballard Power Systems sees great potential in material handling applications powered by Ballard fuel cell stacks
Where have all the flowers gone?
It is said one of every three bites of food eaten worldwide depends on pollinators, especially bees, for a successful harvest. If this is true, what happens to us when the bees are gone?

Jessica Fries

Executive Chairman, The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project & Board Director, The International Integrated Reporting Council

Jessica is Executive Chairman of The Prince's Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S), established by The Prince of Wales to "help ensure that we are not battling to meet 21st Century problems with what are, at best, 20th Century decision-making and reporting systems". Over the past two years, she has been Executive Director of both A4S and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), responsible for establishing and running the IIRC. She is now on the IIRC's Board and Deputy Chairman of its Working Committee. She has been on secondment to A4S and the IIRC from PricewaterhouseCoopers where she has worked with a wide range of companies, governments, investors and not-for-profit organizations to help them integrate sustainability into core business processes and activities. Jessica will shortly be returning to PwC to lead global activities on the future of corporate reporting and accounting for sustainability.

Jessica is co-editor of a book comprising case studies on 'integrated reporting' and 'integrated thinking' by leading academics published in June 2010, "Accounting for Sustainability: Practical Insights". She is a member of the UK Treasury's Sustainability Reporting Steering Committee, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's Sustainability Committee and a member of the European Commission's Expert Group on Non-Financial Disclosure.

Jessica is a chartered accountant, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, has an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.