The high-level Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) should call on firms to engage third-party experts to help with reporting, according to a senior accounting industry figure on the panel.
Speaking on a panel discussion in New York this week Diane Larsen, EY’s Americas Assurance Markets Leader and a member of the task force, said it was seeking to avoid “pie in the sky” disclosures from companies on their exposure to climate risks.
“It’s all about consistency and making sure you’ve got the right folks involved. To do these kind of analyses, you’re going to have to look outside your core financial people, and find the experts.”
The Task Force was set up at the behest of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and is chaired by former New York Mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg. Currently working on its phase two report, it includes senior investment industry figures such as David Blood of Generation Investment Management, Eloy Lindeijer of PGGM and Principles for Responsible Investment Chair Martin Skancke.Larsen said: “An audit verification or hiring a third party to help you prepare this analysis – they’re the kind of things we’d be looking for.”
The task force will push for climate-related disclosure to be published within main company reports, which will automatically require it to be audited.
“You’re going to have to look outside your core financial people, and find the experts.”
Accounting giants EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC are all represented on the FSB’s task force.
The Task Force, which grew out of Carney’s ‘Breaking the tragedy of the horizon – climate change and financial stability’ speech in September last year, is currently holding a plenary meeting in New York. With further meetings scheduled for September 13-14 (Paris) and November 15-16 (London), it plans to deliver its recommendations to the FSB at the end of December.
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