The Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting,
Recognizing the growing importance of climate-related impacts on societies, economies, companies’ businesses and value creation, which was significantly facilitated during the coronavirus disease pandemic,
Underlining that climate-related financial disclosures are critical to understand the possible exposure of companies’ activities to the medium- and long-term effects of climate change, as well as their impacts on society, and to properly manage those impacts, risks and opportunities, including the efficient allocation of capital supporting a transition to a more sustainable, low-carbon economy,
Taking note of recent trends in enterprise reporting on climate-related financial issues and of the need for further efforts to overcome the challenges in achieving reliable and consistent reporting in this area, useful for decision-making for a variety of users,
Acknowledging the need for a concerted global response, including by entities in the private sector, to limit the negative impact that climate change could have on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,
Reiterating the importance of the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, established by the Financial Stability Board, as well as the recommendations of other public or private initiatives to significantly improve disclosures in this crucial area,
- Commends the UNCTAD secretariat for the insightful panel discussions and very good quality of the background document TD/B/C.II/ISAR/94 it prepared for consideration at the session;
- Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to continue monitoring progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, as well as of the recommendations of other initiatives, with a view to facilitating the exchange of experiences and good practices on this topic in future sessions of the Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting;
- Encourages the UNCTAD secretariat to promote the implementation of the guidance on core indicators for entity reporting on contribution towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals as a useful tool that improves the harmonization, consistency and comparability of companies’ baseline data on climate change, in cooperation with key national, regional and international institutions promoting work in this area, with a view to facilitating the alignment of different frameworks and practices.
