The UK is the first country to make it compulsory for organisations to include emissions data for their entire organisation in their annual reports.

The lack of women in Britain’s boardrooms is holding back the country’s economic recovery, David Cameron, the UK prime minister, pronounced last week at a summit in Stockholm.

Sustainability is becoming as much of an important part of a large company’s annual reporting as their financials. But SMEs are catching up and recognising that acting sustainably brings business benefits.  

I was interviewed for an article in New Street Journal.com a few weeks ago and I'm pleased to say that the article is out today. It reveals five secrets of success for women in Asia. They apply to westerners trying to find their way in a new culture, as well as to locals aiming to move up the career ladder.

Good progress for diversity today. From October next year listed companies will have to report annually on their boardroom diversity policy, and progress against targets, or explain non-compliance.

Water is more essential to business than oil. Like most natural resources, it is running dangerously low. As reduced access to water threatens successful business models, pioneering companies are taking action. In this new context, management accountants have the skills needed to help organisations create sustainable business models.

Efficiencies, risk management, analytics and forecasting are vital as companies review their environmental impact, and the business ramifications of diminishing resources.

A group of the UK’s leading headhunters has committed to providing long lists where at least 30% of the prospective candidates are women.   The code, drawn up by 20 executive search firms, also puts a new focus on ‘skills’ such as good judgment and perceptiveness, rather than just focusing on experience, to allow for a wider selection of candidates.

And to support the point in my earlier blog about women's contribution to profits...

New research  by the law firm Eversheds, out yesterday, shows that the best performing companies globally have smaller boards and a high proportion of female directors. Read more here. http://www.cityam.com/news-and-analysis/women-board-members-lift-share-prices

If you've forgotten why we still need an International Women's Day, please read this article by Mariella Frostrup, a TV presenter and Observer newspaper columnist. Some reminders are:

Lord Davies, who today published his independent review into Women on Boards, stopped short of imposing quotas, but has urged FTSE 350 companies to set their own targets for female representation at board level, and to publicly report these targets. 

He recommends that UK listed companies in the FTSE 100 should be aiming for a minimum of 25% female board member representation by 2015 (and 20% in the next two years). That's more than double the number of women currently on boards. But he stopped short of imposing quotas, unless these voluntary measures fail.

Lord Davies, a former business minister, was asked by Vince Cable, the business secretary, to look for ways to boost gender equality in UK boardrooms. In the UK only 12.5% of directors in FTSE100 companies are women, and there has been no significant improvement in the last 3 years.

The secret of successful women is femininity, according to new research. Those with an aggressive approach are less likely to win promotion. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1348729/Why-acting-like-man-work-wont-promoted-work.html 

Climate Week is happening this year between 21-27 March. It's an opportunity for UK companies (small and large) to share the positive steps they've taken to tackle and reduce climate change.

They run awards that celebrate the UK’s most innovative, effective, and ambitious organisations, communities and individuals and their outstanding efforts to combat climate change.

The Department of Business Innovation and Skills has launched a consultation looking at why there is gender inequality on the boards of listed companies in the UK. The consultation closes on 30 November.

The launch of CIMA’s new Reflections from Asia Pacific leaders report in Kuala Lumpur’s plush Mandarin Oriental Hotel was a suitably grand affair.

Female finance professionals are six times less likely than men to make it to the top, according to our latest research. So why are women still under-represented at the top, especially when it has been proven that having women in senior roles is linked to stronger financial performance of organisations?

Join me talking about 'Pay and prospects — the big issues for women in finance'? 24 September, 1pm—4pm on Guardian Careers

I'm sure most are aware of the challanges women (and in many case men) face balancing work and family demands. So what can be done to help support women in the workplace and to ensure they continue to rise up the career ladder even when they have dependants?

Is it about educating employers and recruiters about the  business case for women in the workplace (especially at decision making and strategic levels)?

Is it about creating quotas for a minimum % of women on the Board?

Doreen Toben, who spent seven years as CFO of the $97 billion communications giant Verizon Communications, recently told CFO Magazine that "women in finance are in an entirely different spot now. From where we were 20 years ago, we've made great progress. But in the last five years or so, it's been very stagnant."

Most definitely yes.  I was guilty of assuming that developed countries also had more developed attitudes towards furthering women’s careers, but recent reading has made me question this.

I attended the Globe Forum and Awards ceremony in Stockholm yesterday. CIMA's research, Accounting for Climate Change, had been one of the 5 shortlisted research projects.

Catalyst's recent research paints a depressing picture of gender equality. Even the 'brightest and the best' women (post graduates from elite MBA programmes) still lag behind men in their career and earnings.