The Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) has recently issued its exhaustive final report—Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures—and supporting materials, designed to provide a standardized framework and detailed guidance for “voluntary, consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies in providing information to investors, lenders, insurers, and other stakeholders.” To develop its recommendations, the task force spent 18 months consulting with a wide range of business and financial leaders. According to the press release, “[o]ver 100 business leaders and their companies with a combined market cap of around $3.5tn and financial institutions responsible for assets of about $25tn have publicly committed to support the recommendations.” The disclosure recommendations are organized around four core elements—governance, strategy, risk management and metrics and targets. The Task Force also developed supplemental guidance for financial industries along with companies in energy, transportation, materials and building and agriculture food and forest products. This type of information is expected to enable markets to better “price risk” and allow investors to make more informed decisions. The task force urged companies to include this information as part of their annual SEC or comparable filings to ensure the application of adequate governance processes. Although there is no specific timeframe for adoption, the task force encouraged companies to adopt as soon as possible, keeping in mind that climate reporting will certainly evolve over time.
