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As we progress through our series exploring the connectivity between climate-related disclosures and financial reporting, we turn our attention to the eleven recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and their intersection with the International Sustainability Standards Board's (ISSB) imminent sustainability disclosure standards.
Between increasing stakeholder demands for transparency in sustainability reporting, a global commitment to reducing emissions, and greater regulatory interest in climate-related disclosures, adoption of the TCFD framework has been increasing in Australia and around the world since its inception in 2017.
TCFD framework
The TCFD recommendations provide a framework for considering climate-related risks and opportunities. This can also be a useful management tool, if a business is able to build resilience by identifying, measuring and managing the potential impact of climate change on their business as well as identifying opportunities.
As you'll recall, the TCFD framework has been designed as a neat package of eleven recommendations, which have been structured into four core pillars, being:
- Governance
- Strategy
- Risk management, and
- Metrics and targets.
This structure is intended to help guide users in their analysis and disclosures. The four pillars do not operate in isolation, and the interdependence between the pillars is evident throughout the provided guidance, as are the common themes and challenges that can occur. You can read more about this in our previous article, The four pillars of TCFD recommendations.
Eleven recommended disclosures
The framework supports a consistent reporting format so that end-users are able to contrast and compare like-for-like information. The eleven recommendations help organisations to articulate leadership involvement in climate-related risks and opportunities, the resilience of strategic directions to and expected impacts of climate-related risks, climate-related risk identification, assessment and management, and the metrics used to manage climate-related issues and the ongoing progress against targets.
Notably, organisations do not have to report on all eleven recommendations, though consideration should be given to all recommended disclosures to ensure relevance and transparency.
The TCFD has provided general guidance to support organisations from all industries to assess and report on the recommended disclosures, as well as industry-specific guidance – where necessary – for the financial sector including banks, asset owners and managers, and insurance companies, as well as non-financial groups, including energy, transport, materials and building and agriculture.
The eleven recommended disclosures as structured into the four pillars are:
Governance |
Strategy |
Risk Management |
Metrics and Targets |
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Disclose the organization's governance around climate-related risks and opportunities. |
Disclose the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organization's businesses, strategy, and financial planning where such information is material. |
Disclose how the organization identifies, assesses, and manages climate-related risks. |
Disclose the metrics and targets used to assess and manage relevant climate-related risks and opportunities where such information is material. |
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RECOMMENDATIONS |
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a) Describe the board's oversight of climate-related risks and opportunities. |
a) Describe the climate-related risks and opportunities the organization has identified over the short, medium, and long term. |
a) Describe the organization's processes for identifying and assessing climate-related risks. |
a) Disclose the metrics used by the organization to assess climate-related risks and opportunities in line with its strategy and risk management process. |
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b) Describe management's role in assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities. |
b) Describe the impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organization's businesses, strategy, and financial planning. |
b) Describe the organization's processes for managing climate-related risks. |
b) Disclose Scope 1, Scope 2, and, if appropriate, Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the related risks. |
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c) Describe the resilience of the organization's strategy, taking into consideration different climate-related scenarios, including a 2°C or lower scenario. |
c) Describe how processes for identifying, assessing, and managing climate-related risks are integrated into the organization's overall risk management. |
c) Describe the targets used by the organization to manage climate-related risks and opportunities and performance against targets. |
Connectivity with the ISSB sustainability standards
It is at the guidance level for each recommendation where the nuance between the TCFD recommendations and IFRS S2 – Climate-related disclosures come to light. As noted in the ISSB's comparison paper, some wording in the Exposure Draft for IFRS S2 remains the same as the TCFD guidance. Although IFRS S2 'differs substantively' from the TCFD guidance in only very few instances, where these differences do occur generally relate to the greater level of detail required by IFRS S2.
Understanding more about the TCFD recommendations
Our free course, TCFD Explained - overview and examples in practice, introduces the TCFD recommendations.
We've also prepared a consolidated checklist incorporating the recommended disclosures and 'guidance for all sectors' across the four core elements to help organisations as they embark on TCFD reporting.
Here to help
Our national sustainability team can support your organisation to:
- Determine the scope and applicability of the TCFD recommendations
- Conduct gap analyses between your current climate-related processes, controls and disclosures against the TCFD expectations and requirements
- Calculate scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and
- Draft and prepare TCFD reports.
Contact us today.