Mandatory climate-related financial disclosure: current developments in Australia, the UK and EU

With Treasury's recent consultation paper seeking views on the design and implementation of aligning Australian climate risk disclosure requirements with international standards, it is clear that we can expect to see the implementation of a mandatory reporting regime, perhaps as early as 2024.

To explore the questions this poses for Australian businesses, and to hear insights from the UK and EU – where climate and ESG-related reporting requirements are further developed – Brendan Bateman (Partner, Environment and Sustainable Development) and Geoff Hoffman (Partner, Corporate), are joined by Simon Witney (Senior Consultant) and Sarah-Jane Denton (Consultant, Risk & Operational Regulatory) from UK firm Travers Smith.

The discussion covers an overview of activity in the UK – which has already mandated TCFD reporting across much of its economy – and the EU. We also take a closer look at the standards that underpin the EU Taxonomy as well as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This will likely impact on a number of Australian-based organisations with business interests in the UK and EU, as well as Australian assets owned, or part-owned, by EU-based asset managers who will have to demonstrate EU Taxonomy alignment across their entire portfolio.