Last week saw several important reports published about climate disclosures, most likely timed for COP29:
- The 2024 EY Global Climate Action Barometer. Among its key findings – “While most of the companies are aware of the physical risks they face related to climate change, a mere 19% have adopted plans to mitigate those risks.”
- IOSCO’s Report on Transition Plans, highlighting that “market participants are concerned about the current lack of standardization of transition plan disclosures with entities using different definitions and reporting frameworks or standards – or none. Above all, market participants called for consistent and comparable transition plan disclosures. Comparable, consistent and reliable disclosures on core components of transition plans may have a positive effect on market participants’ ability to make informed decisions. On the contrary, the provision of poor-quality disclosures may result in inefficient capital allocation and investor harm. With this in mind, the Report highlights the five most useful components of transition plan disclosures that were suggested by participants in IOSCO’s outreach activities: 1) Ambition and targets; 2) Decarbonization levers and action plan; 3) Governance and oversight; 4) Financial resources and human capital; and 5) Financial implications.”
- The IFRS Foundation’s Progress on Corporate Climate-related Disclosures—2024 Report, which “shows that the number of public companies disclosing TCFD-aligned information continues to grow, but that more progress is necessary. In particular, few companies are disclosing climate-related financial information that provides information about the company’s governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets. The report also finds that to date, jurisdictions representing approximately 57% of global gross domestic product have made progress towards the adoption or other use of IFRS S1 and IFRS S2.”
- FSB’s Achieving Consistent and Comparable Climate-related Disclosures 2024 Progress Report demonstrating “almost three-fourths of the FSB jurisdictions have already set or proposed voluntary or mandatory climate-related disclosure requirements, which are based on or reference the ISSB Standards and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations [Ed. note – remember that ISSB took over TCFD’s responsibilities earlier this year, so ISSB is now responsible for monitoring TCFD disclosures]. The large majority of jurisdictions have enacted regulations, issued guidelines, or developed strategic roadmaps for climate-related disclosures, which is a significant step forward since 2021. Many jurisdictions state that they have or are putting in place structures or processes to bring the ISSB Standards into local requirements. Moreover, several jurisdictions highlight concrete steps taken towards assurance requirements…”
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