Full Title: Beyond The Horizon: Corporate Reporting On Climate Change
Author(s): Fatima Maria Ahmad
Publisher(s): Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
Publication Date: September 1, 2017
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
While many companies across a variety of sectors recognize and disclose their climate risks and opportunities, reporting is not consistent and often not included in financial reporting. Some investors and stakeholders have called for increased disclosure of material information in financial filings and others are focused on the opportunity to improve the quality and consistency of voluntary reporting. Recommendations from an industry-led task force are a promising first step that may lead to greater transparency and consistency in all forms of climate-related disclosures. This will help companies respond to growing concerns and better position themselves to take advantage of potential opportunities and prepare for risks. Increased disclosure in financial reports, however, is not without challenges, including uncertainty about climate impacts, implications for other types of risks and relevant timeframes for analysis, the need to determine materiality under U.S. securities laws, data quality and precision, internal coordination, costs and complexity, and divergent perspectives on the usefulness of scenario analysis and metrics and targets. Over time and with experience, we anticipate that companies will develop best practices that address many of these challenges facing reporting of climate risks and opportunities