Prototype climate-related financial disclosure standard

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21 Dec, 2020

Following their statement of intent to work together towards a comprehensive corporate reporting system, the five internationally significant framework- and standard-setting institutions (CDP, CDSB, GRI, IIRC, and SASB) have published a prototype climate-related financial disclosure standard.

The group has published a paper that illustrates how their current frameworks, standards and platforms, along with the elements set out by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), can be used together to provide a running start for development of global standards that enable disclosure of how sustainability matters create or erode enterprise value.

In their joint statement of intent published in September 2020, the group stressed their willingness and readiness to work with the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation in this area. The paper demonstrates that standard-setting for sustainability-related financial disclosure is a natural extension of the IFRS Foundation’s current role, and provides insight into how such an ambition can be achieved by building on content that already exists.

In the paper, the group of five explain that enterprise value reporting “is not therefore a replacement for sustainability reporting, which serves a broad range of stakeholders, can offer input to public policy design and reveals issues that may emerge as material for economic decision-making over time.” They believe, however, that consistent communication of how sustainability matters affect drivers of enterprise value can be a “complementary enabler of change, since it creates a financial incentive for companies and their investors to improve performance on some sustainability matters as much and as quickly as they can”.

Following the paper’s launch, the group is co-hosting a webinar on 12 January 2020, where the CEOs of each organisation will come together to further outline the concepts and motivations behind the paper. 

joint press release announcing the paper is available on the CDP website.

Our related Purpose-driven Business Reporting in Focus publication is available here.

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