The Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) has published a consultation paper that is suggesting bolstering disclosure requirements for companies around climate risk.
According to Regulation Asia, the proposals from the consultation paper include changes to the listing rules for both the Mainboard and Catalist markets to support better disclosure around climate-related information.
The paper suggests a phased approach to mandatory climate reporting where all issuers will be required to adopt climate reporting on a ‘comply or explain’ basis for financial years beginning in 2022. Climate reporting will then become mandatory for certain sectors in the following years.
Alongside climate reporting, the SGX is also planning to encourage listed firms to disclose 27 ESG metrics in their sustainability reports, which were identified as the most regularly reporting items through a review of over 330 sustainability reports.
These metrics cover areas such as GHG emissions, water and energy consumption and waste generation.
SGX RegCo said this was the ‘first step’ to better preparing issuers for reporting against anticipated global baseline sustainability reporting standards.
The paper stated, “While not mandatory, all issuers are encouraged to consider reporting against this list of metrics as a baseline. Issuers should still conduct a materiality assessment to ensure the relevance of reported metrics.”
Copyright © 2021 FinTech Global
