EU to ammend social, environmental transparency rules for large companies-IPE- April 17th 2013, The European Commission has proposed an amendment to existing accounting legislation to improve the transparency of certain large companies on social and environmental matters.Read the article
Climate change negatively affects the global economy-Engineering News-March 29th 2013, Through the increase in severe weather events, climate change is no longer an issue that can be avoided by companies. It is a material issue which has the potential to impact on a company's performance. Thus companies need to encompass these material issues into their reports. Climate change reporting and Integrated Reporting have much in common as they both equip companies with the tools to identify risks and opportunities to their business. Read the article
UK govt drafts greenhouse gas reporting regulation - The Accountant - July 25th 2012, After plans were confirmed at the Rio+20 Summit last month to introduce mandatory greenhouse gas reporting, Defra has issued a draft regulation outlining the requirements for UK listed companies that are to report on their greenhouse gas emissions starting April 2013. The legislation should point companies towards CDSB's Framework. Read the article
Carbon reporting key to company fortunes - Financial Times - July 8th 2012, Despite GHG reporting by two-thirds of FTSE 350 companies, investors’ demand and usage of these numbers are lacking. Yet, these numbers represent opportunities for corporations to mitigate their environmental risks and in turn produce business growth or significant savings. CDSB’s climate change reporting framework allows standardised and comparable reporting which helps to level the playing field in carbon reporting. With management of natural capital becoming central to corporate performance in the coming decades, investors need to be ready to use those numbers. Read the article
What will carbon reporting mean for companies? - economia - July 4th 2012, For the companies listed on the main market, depending on whether they have previously disclosed GHGs or not, the mandatory reporting will have different influences. But across the board, it will force them to take a hard look at their measurement techniques, work on any material GHG, report those numbers and get an independent recognised assurance. Corporations are going to find that they will be increasingly responsible for accurate accounting of their carbon footprint. Various reporting challenges exist but these are addressed by CDSB’s climate change reporting framework, such as materiality, boundaries and scope. Read the article
British government to mandate LSE greenhouse gas disclosure - The Sustainability Report - Jun 20th 2012.The UK government will introduce legilsation that companies listed on the London Stock Exchange will have to disclose their greenhouse gases. CDP and CDSB welcomed the news and have recommended that the UK Government adopt CDSB's Framework as a method of compliance. Read the article
UK government moves on carbon reporting and executive pay - Responible Investor - Jun 20th 2012, The UK government has announced that companies listed on the London Stock Exchange must report their annual greenhouse gas emissions,making the UK the first country to do so. Read the article
UK listed companies to report carbon emissions - The Accountant - Jun 20th 2012. UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said more than 1800 companies are going to have to report greenhouse gas emission levels from April 2013. Read the article
ESG roundup: Green infrastructure, mandatory climate reporting - Investment & Pensions Europe - Jun 20th 2012, As the world faces greater environmental challenges, business and investment opportunities are emerging. It is within this context that the UK has outlined new regulations for mandatory greenhouse gas reporting. Read the article
UK Mandates Emissions Reporting for Public Companies - SocialFunds - Jun 20th 2012, At the +20 sustainability conference, the UK Deputy Prime Minister announced the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by companies listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE). CDP appreciates the move and recommends the adoption of CDSB’s climate change reporting framework as a standardized format for climate change-related disclosure. Read the article
U.K. Mandates Corporate Greenhouse Gas Reports - Compliance Week - Jun 20th 2012, Responding to the market needs and demands and to move towards a low carbon economy, the government of United Kingdom has mandated reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by the companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) from the next financial year. A move much awaited by CDP and CDSB. Read the article
Corporate Responsibility Magazine - The Future Quotient - Jan 5th 2012, John Elkington identifies 50 stars in the areas of sustainability and innovation. CDSB is described as a 'constellation' and features alongside China's 5 year plan and Google. Read the article
BusinessGreen - Mandatory emissions reporting decision could be delayed further - Jan 4th 2012, Will Nichols looks at the delay in the decision regarding mandatory emissions reporting, and how the decision may not be made by the April 6th 2012 deadline set by the Climate Change Act. Features a quote from CDSB's executive director, Lois Guthrie. Read the article.
Social Funds - Sustainability News - Largest South African companies are responding to climate change but need to more- Dec 6th 2011, Robert Kropp analyses a report by EIRIS commissioned by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) to look into the corporate responses to climate change of the 40 largest companies listed on the JSE. Read the article.
Unburnable Carbon - Are the world's financial markets a carbon bubble? 2011, a report by the Carbon Tracker Initiative, calls into question the treatment of oil reserves as assets if the enforcement of GHG targets means that the reserves cannot be combusted or sold. Climate scientists have calculated that if 886 Gt CO2 is released globally during the period 2000 – 2050, there is a 20% chance that global warming will exceed 2°C. In 2011, the world has already burnt over one third of this 886 Gt CO2 budget, and the known fossil fuel reserves easily exceed the remaining allowance. The report refers to the reserves beyond this limit as unburnable carbon. Its authors have approached CDSB to explore working together to progress this work. Of particular interest to them is CDSB's input into how accounting rules and the regulatory architecture support the continuing characterisation of reserves as assets, notwithstanding that reduction targets might impair them. Download the report
Accounting Futures Edition 03, 2011 published by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, introduces a series of articles on The Age of Integration: A New Dawn for Corporate Reporting? The articles focus on the International Integrated Reporting Committee. and summarise its goals, including climate change disclosure as advocated by CDSB. The outcome of corporate reporting 'would be a more holisitic picture of the reporting entiity that covers risks and opportunities, and reflects the interconnections between ESG and financial factors'. Dowload the articles
World Investment Report 2011: Non-equity modes of International production and development published by UNCTAD, highlights the increasing focus on corporate social responsibility standards within the investment policy landscape, by means of voluntary and regulatory initiatives.The report singles out the investment opportunities in renewable energy which combine competitive financial returns with environmental and social gains. Download report
OECD’s transition to a low carbon economy report, 2010. The report summarises policy frameworks, regulations and other drivers of corporate action in support of a low-carbon economy and documents business practices in addressing climate change, building on principles of responsible business conduct as identified in the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. It is structured around three broad areas of corporate action: accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; achieving reduction of GHG emissions; reaching out to suppliers, consumers and other stakeholders. Dowload the report
Disclosing Climate Risks and Opportunities in SEC Filings: a Guide for Corporate Executives, Attorneys and Directors, 2011 was published by CERES. This report helps companies review and improve their disclosure. It provides clear guidance for companies on how to assess and disclose climate risks and opportunities, as well as give concrete examples of what investors view as quality disclosure. It refers to the Climate Change Reporting Framework as guidance covering all aspects of the framework developed by the Global Framework for Climate Risk Disclosure. Download the report
The Landscape of Integrated Reporting: Reflections and Next Steps, 2010, edited by Robert G. Eccles, Beiting Cheng and Daniela Salzman, is a free EBook with eleven Parts, published by Harvard Business School. This followed the School’s Workshop on Integrated Reporting: Frameworks and Action Plan. In Part 10 on Lessons from Experience, Lois Guthrie of CDSB contributed the article Carbon Disclosure Standards Board – setting a standard for realism and resilience which discusses the background to the Climate Change Reporting Framework published the same year. Download the Ebook
Carbon reporting to date: seeing the wood from the trees, 2010 was published by Deloitte LLP. It examines how a sample of 100 UK listed companies publicly report their greeenhouse gas emissions or 'carbon footrpint', compared to Defra's guidance. Disclosures showed a high degree of variation in carbon footprint reporting practices. The report singles out CDSB's Climate Change Reporting Framework as a tool for integrating climate change-related information into mainstream corporate reporting. Download the report
All together now: a common business approach for greenhouse gas emissions reporting, 2009 was published by the CBI. It presents a set of proposals developed through a substantial programme of business engagement across the UK for a common approach to greenhouse gas reporting. The report presents CDSB's key aim and recommends the use of the financial control methods to define company boundaries, aligning emissions reporting with financial reporting. Download the report
Rising to the Challenge: a Review of Narrative Reporting in UK Listed Companies, 2009 was published by the Financial Reporting Council and the Accounting Standards Board. The report aims to help companies improve their narrative reportting, and identifies risk reporting as the area most in need of improvement. The list of proposals for carbon reporting requirements and guidance includes CDSB's Reporting Framework Exposure Draft. Download the report
The Materiality of Climate Change and the Role of Voluntary Disclosure, CLPE Research Paper 47,Nov 30th 2009 explores the role of voluntary disclosure in response to the demands of investor groups in North America for clarification about the application of existing disclosure requirements to climate change-related risks. Even if issuers are meeting their current obligations on disclosure of climate change risks, the “materiality” threshold for disclosure would still be likely to leave a gap between legal requirements for issuers and the demands of investors for information about how issuers are responding to climate change challenges. CDSB is singled out as an initiative where organisations collaborate on voluntary disclosure. Download the report