Research / Insights - 2021
The overwhelming majority of top listed companies in the UK are woefully inadequate at disclosing in corporate reporting how climate change will affect their business – with many potentially breaching the law – a new study shows.
Existing UK laws require all large companies to disclose material information about their climate change-related risks and impacts.
Clear investor demand means that companies must provide a detailed picture of how their business is positioned as the global economy shifts towards ‘net-zero’ greenhouse gas emissions, including how it will impact their strategy, long term viability and balance sheet. Company auditors must also sign off on their work.
To see how firms and auditors meet this demand, lawyers reviewed the entire FTSE 100 and the largest 150 companies on the FTSE 250, studied each company’s most recent annual report, and developed a quantitative assessment of how company disclosures match up against existing disclosure requirements.
Keywords
Climate-related risk, Disclosure/reporting