A framework to help companies integrate information on the environment and natural capital in their corporate reporting has been launched by the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB).
The board says the framework will connect an organisation’s environmental risks and opportunities with its overall strategy and performance in line with the financial information that is reported through annual or integrated reports. It also provides a guide to help companies report information on natural capital.
Bringing such issues into a mainstream company report means the information is targeted firmly at investors, said Michael Izza, chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Richard Samans, chair of the CDSB, said that better information will lead to investment supporting both long-term shareholder value and a healthy environment.
“There is a shared concern that financial markets do not take sufficient account of environmental risks and opportunities relevant to future shareholder value due in significant part to insufficiently comprehensive and comparable environmental information in mainstream corporate reports,” he said.
From 2017, over 5,000 companies will be required to report environmental information in their annual reports by the EU non-financial reporting Directive.
