CDSB has shown how the most widely used corporate natural capital-related reporting approaches align to help companies.
The explosion of reporting practice is a natural reaction to the desire for things to change – for companies to be accountable for their impacts on the economy, society and the environment and for value to be created for all stakeholders. However, unacknowledged and unresolved tensions in corporate environmental and natural capital accounting and disclosure practice can produce variation in the quantity and quality of information, which in turn undermines confidence in science, policies, markets and corporate reporting.
CDSB conducts research and works with others to resolve these tensions and promote consistency so that information is produced to support honest, effective, stable markets and coherent policy activity. We achieve this by aligning the highest common denominators of relevant corporate reporting provisions including International Financial Reporting Standards and reflecting shared characteristics in the CDSB Reporting Framework, which sets out an approach for reporting environmental information in mainstream (annual/ Form 10-K/20-F and equivalent) reports.
This table cross references the requirements in the CDSB Reporting Framework with commonly used reporting provisions such as CDP, SASB, GRI, Integrated Reporting, UN Global Compact and with regulatory requirements such as those outlined in the new EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive, UK Companies Act, German Sustainability Code and Grenelle II. This allows stakeholders to understand where requirements are similar and how information collected for one reporting audience/purpose can be used to satisfy the requirements of the CDSB Framework and the mainstream reporting model.
Driving consistency sits at the core of everything we do. We prepared a table showing how the requirements in the CDSB Framework align with some of the most widely used corporate environmental and natural capital-related reporting provisions to help companies navigate the different codes, frameworks, standards and guidance that inform corporate non-financial reporting practice.
The next edition of the Framework for reporting environmental information in mainstream reports will be published in April 2015. For an invitation to the launch event in London, register at cdsb.net/launch.
The report showing the alignment of environmental and natural capital related reporting standards and initiatives us available here.