How to complete your climate disclosure report

FINANCE

With mandatory climate reporting soon to hit the Australian governance landscape, a panel of experts joined a recent AICD webinar to help directors grapple with the “alphabet soup” of acronyms and potential requirements. 

Published in Company Director. 

For any director yet to lean into the implications of the mandatory climate-related financial disclosure regime soon to land in Australia, now is the time. That was the clear message from experts on a recent AICD panel, which coincided with the wrapping up of initial consultations for Treasury’s planned reforms to company reporting, which could come into play as early as 1 July 2024.

While the specific design proposal is yet to be revealed, Chartered Accountants business reform leader Karen McWilliams GAICD told the session the government had committed to bring in “standardised, internationally aligned” climate- related reporting requirements, to be mandatory for large businesses first, and rolled out to smaller businesses over time. Although not entirely a new concept, as some Australian businesses volunteer climate-related disclosures, McWilliams and her fellow panellist, NAB non-executive director David Armstrong MAICD, agreed that the new obligations, which are based on the significantly more granular standards developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), would require greater detail from a broader cohort of businesses.

Read the article in Company Director magazine.