Climate risk reporting: bridging the compliance gap

af EY

A recent event in London focused on the impact of climate change on the business world, from investing in renewables to the prospects for a true carbon market. Delegates attending the Financial Times Climate Finance Summit, part of Clean Energy Week, heard from regulators, investors, academics and corporate leaders about how they are addressing, leading and managing change.

One of the most powerful presentations at the event focused on how climate risks are affecting corporate reporting strategies. Alice Garton (pictured above) has been at the forefront of efforts in this area in her role as Company and Financial Project Lead at ClientEarth, a non-profit organization of environmental lawyers.

Headlining a session called “Climate Change Disclosure and Liability: Implications for Companies and Investors,” Garton outlined how recent developments in climate litigation will affect companies that are in the process of adapting to the ongoing energy transition, away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable and renewable energy.

She explained: “The cases can be divided into three main categories: failure to mitigate risk, failure to manage risk, and failure to adequately disclose and report on risk.”

The last category was the focus of Garton’s talk and she broke the issue down further into four risks companies will need to focus on in the coming years.

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