Skip to content

17 June, 2025

  • Saved Articles
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Log In
  • Log Out

Board Agenda

  • Governance
  • Strategy
  • Risk
  • Ethics
  • News
  • Insight
    • Categories

      • View all
      • Governance
      • Strategy
      • Risk
      • Ethics
      • Board Expertise
      • finance
      • Technology
    • public markets

      How can we boost public markets?

      Growing companies need adequate liquidity, together with smart regulation and corporate governance that is not...

    • global disruption

      5 essential tenets for coping with global disruption

      With global geopolitical tensions on an unprecedented scale, disrupting markets and data, how can governance...

    • crisis pattern

      How to avoid reputational pitfalls

      There are patterns to business crises, meaning boards can anticipate reputation threats across the stages...

  • Comment
      • View all
    • Warren Buffett

      CEO succession: what boards can learn from Warren Buffett

      The billionaire investor is handing the reins to Greg Abel, after a long, strategic succession...

    • gender pay gap Act now to close the gender pay gap

      This month, it is 55 years since the Equal Pay Act, yet pay inequality persists....

    • leadership on AI How to get ahead on AI leadership

      The question isn’t how AI will change business—it’s whether leaders can harness it to drive...

  • Interviews
      • View All Interviews
      • Podcasts
      • Webinars
    • UK Corporate Governance Code Board meetings ‘are not up to scratch’

      Nearly three-quarters of board members believe the board’s performance in meetings needs improvement, an expert...

    • financial sanctions Tariffs chaos drives boardroom focus on resilience

      Business leaders will prioritise the resilience of their organisations in the face of economic upheaval...

    • ai boards Corporate world has a ‘huge appetite’ for artificial intelligence

      AI could change boardrooms to the extent that directors’ duties would change too, a panel...

  • Board Careers
  • Resource Centre
      • White Paper Downloads
      • Book Reviews
      • Board Advisory & Corporate Services
    • ACCA sustainability reporting 2025 cover

      Sustainability reporting: risk and materiality 2025

      ACCA’s sustainability guide takes a practical approach to helping businesses with sustainability reporting.

    • Cybercrime Trends 2025 cover

      Cybercrime Trends 2025

      SoSafe’s report breaks down what’s shaping cybercrime in 2025, outlining six trends, including AI and...

    • UK Stewardship Code 2026 cover

      The UK Stewardship Code 2026

      The UK Stewardship Code 2026 is the FRC’s update of the 2020 edition of the...

  • Events
  • Search by topic
    • Governance
    • Strategy
    • Risk
    • Ethics
    • Regulation
    • ESG
    • Investor Relations
    • Careers
    • Board Expertise
    • finance
    • Technology

Corporates ‘make progress’ with climate disclosure

by Gavin Hinks on May 12, 2023

But the going is slow as the road is beset with difficulties, research on sustainability-related governance reveals.

climate disclosure

Image: r.classen/Shutterstock.com

The “disclosure” project approach to persuading companies to adjust to climate change is starting to work, according to leading figures in corporate governance.

In a co-authored article, Robert Eccles from Oxford University and Vanessa Havard-Williams, global head of the climate change practice at law firm Linklaters, argue that companies are beginning to reveal the ”obstacles” they face in achieving emissions reduction targets, a sign that progress is under way.

“We should expect more of this and it is a sign that robust governance is beginning to be put into place, that boards are taking their corporate targets seriously, and that the disclosure process is starting to work,” they write.

The article responds to a Financial Conduct Authority consultation on “sustainability-related” governance and surveys the governance landscape and its likely impact on the ability of firms to cut greenhouse gases.

Eccles and Havard-Williams identify some of the headwinds corporates will have to face in moving from an “initial phase of setting targets to the harder task of implementing and disclosing performance against them”.

Rules of engagement

One difficulty navigating the “disclosure project” is the sheer profusion of reporting schemes now affecting corporates, with the number set to increase in the coming months. The International Sustainability Standards Board will soon have new guidelines ready for adoption around the world (Rishi Sunak, when chancellor, had committed to implementation in the UK), while the European Union will soon enact new disclosure rules through the Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

Other stumbling blocks include “geopolitical forces” causing turbulence across markets. And, in some jurisdictions, ESG and climate risk reporting have become highly politicised.

While the left demands more disclosures, the right opposes “any kind of standards for climate, and sustainability disclosure more generally”.

The answer to navigating these difficulties may be better stakeholder engagement.

“Chairs, non-executive directors and chief sustainability officers should be spending time regularly with a representative range of investors and other stakeholders to understand their views and appetite on salient sustainability topics and to explain their own thinking.”

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail

Related Posts

  • EU delays vote on corporate due diligence law
    February 12, 2024
    EU delays vote

    There are fears the European Council may not gain the required votes to pass the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

  • Companies ‘will face growing climate litigation’
    January 18, 2023
    climate litigation

    ‘Do your homework’ and get ready for a rise in climate-related lawsuits, warn legal experts at this year’s Davos conference.

  • SEC votes in new US climate risk disclosure rules
    March 8, 2024

    The US regulator-approved rules mean companies must make extensive new disclosure on “material” climate change risks.

  • US regulator to vote on new climate disclosure rules
    March 5, 2024
    US climate disclosure

    The level of materiality in the new regulations from the Securities and Exchange Commission remains to be seen.

Search


Follow Us

Register Free

Stay in the know! Register to access the latest governance news; plus receive updates about our events and podcasts – Sign up here

 

Most Popular

Featured Resources

wef global risks 2025

The Global Risks Report 2025

The 20th edition of the Global Risks Report reveals an increasingly fractured global...
Supply chain management cover

Strategic Oversight in Supply Chain Management: A Guide for Corporate Boards 2025

Supply chains have become complex, interdependent and opaque and—according to research...
OB-Cyber-Security

Cyber Security: What Boards Need to Know

Maintaining firewalls, protecting servers and filtering malicious emails rarely make...

The IA’S Principles Of Remuneration 2024 2025

This guidance from the Investment Association is aimed at assisting remuneration...
Diligent 2024 leadership tech cover

Leadership, decision-making & the role of technology: Business survey 2024

This research report by Board Agenda and Diligent sheds light on how board directors...

Director Reference Guide: Navigating Conflict in the Boardroom

The 'Director Reference Guide' on navigating conflict in the boardroom provides practical...
Nasdaq 2024 governance report cover

Nasdaq 2024 Global Governance Pulse

This Nasdaq survey gathered data from more than 870 board members, executives, and...

Becoming a non-executive director (4th edition)

Board composition is the subject of much debate, while the role of the non-executive...
art & science brainloop new cover

The Art & Science of Creating an Effective Board

Boards are coming under more scrutiny and pressure than ever before from regulators,...
SAA First time NED guide

First Time Guide for Non-Executive Directors

The role of the non-executive director has never been more vital: to advise, support,...

Register Free

Stay in the know! Register to access the latest governance news; plus receive updates about our events and podcasts. Register


  • Editors & Contributors
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Board Advisory & Corporate Services
  • Media Marketing Solutions
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Board Director Network
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
|

Copyright © 2025 Questor Media Group Ltd.

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap