The Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, set up by the European Commission in the summer of 2018, published its first report on the disclosure of climate-related information by companies on Thursday 10 January.
On the basis of this report and as foreseen in its Action Plan on Sustainable Finance (see EUROPE 11977), the Commission should update its non-binding guidelines on non-financial information with specific reference to climate-related information by June 2019.
In their report, the experts make several recommendations to disclose not only how climate change can influence a company's performance, but also the company's own impact on climate change.
“Climate-related information is an critical contributor to efficiently directing capital to investments that drive solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation”, they write.
According to them, the process of disclosing climate information can lead to increased awareness and understanding of climate-related risks and opportunities within the company, better risk management and more informed strategic planning.
The report sets out three categories of information, ranging from "highly expected from all companies” to expected only for "companies most exposed to climate-related risks and opportunities".
Disclosures for all companies include how their governance processes take into account climate-related risks and opportunities, how climate change is integrated into their strategy and risk management processes, and their greenhouse gas reduction results.
For those that are highly exposed to climate-related risks and opportunities, the information to be provided would include, for example, the resilience of the company's strategy to these risks, information on the relationship between the company's financial position and its impact on climate change or any dependence on climate-related risks and opportunities that affects the company's financial position.
Stakeholders have until 1 February to comment on these initial recommendations. See this report: http://bit.ly/2PBrdfi. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)