Participants of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue – an initiative bringing together the major standard setters and framework providers globally – will announce the findings of their global market consultation on building better alignment via a webinar on Tuesday 25 June 2019.

Through an online survey and a series of global roundtables held in 11 countries – Australia, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, US and UK – from March until June 2019, around 250 stakeholders, including businesses and investors, were consulted on how to support effective disclosures, addressing the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, and identifying how non-financial metrics relate to financial outcomes and how this can be integrated in mainstream reports.

The consultation findings reaffirmed an urgent call from the market to unravel and solve inconsistencies in metrics for climate change reporting. Further consultation findings and implications will be discussed during the webinar.

Ian Mackintosh, Chair of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue, commented: “We have listened to the market, which expressed an urgent need to alleviate the confusion surrounding corporate reporting misalignment, especially regarding climate change.”

“All the participants of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue are committed to driving greater coherence, consistency and comparability. We will respond to the market demand for better information, with an initial focus on the alignment of metrics, to support businesses and investors in tackling climate-related risks by using the participants’ frameworks in a complimentary fashion.”

Experts from CDP, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) will review the Better Alignment Project global consultation findings in the interactive webinars on 25 June 2019 (repeated 8am / 4pm UK time). Webinar participants will be invited to share their views on the consultation results and engage with the experts to ensure that the work of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue remains grounded in the needs of the market.

The Better Alignment Project’s global stakeholder consultation process took place from March until June 2019. The consultation process included an online survey, available on www.corporatereportingdialogue.com from 20 March until 1 May 2019, and regional stakeholder engagement roundtables held in locations around the world up until June 2019.

Information gathered from the consultation period will inform an initial report due for publication in September 2019, showing the linkages of the TCFD recommendations with the respective frameworks and the commonalities between the frameworks. It will also inform potential areas for Corporate Reporting Dialogue participants to focus on going forwards as we drive better alignment.