The Cervest 2021 Climate Related Financial Disclosure Report

Three events over the last year have brought climate-related financial disclosure to the forefront of boardroom agendas in the US and UK.

First, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) released recommendations for organizations to disclose their climate risk strategy, taking into account different climate scenarios.

Second, the UK government announced its “intention to make TCFD-aligned disclosure mandatory across the economy by 2025, with a significant portion of mandatory requirements in place by 2025”.

And finally, President Biden released an Executive Order “to advance consistent, clear, intelligible, comparable, and accurate disclosure of climate-related financial risk.”

These events, occurring in the run-up to COP26 and against a backdrop of an increasingly volatile climate and extreme weather events, are making it impossible for businesses to ignore the financial impact of climate change.

To understand businesses’ view of their climate risk and the disclosure regulations, Cervest conducted a survey of over 800 decision-makers in the US and UK. In The Cervest 2021 Climate Intelligence Outlook, published in October, we examined how corporate leaders are managing climate adaptation strategies. The second part of our survey looks at business preparedness to report on their climate-related financial risks.

The findings reveal that while the overwhelming majority of companies (90%) understand the impacts of climate change and the pressing need to disclose their risks, most are not yet prepared to take action — with 80% saying they still need to invest in talent and software to implement their climate risk disclosure strategy.

Read the full Climate Related Financial Disclosure Report here.