Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) - Statement on Fiduciary Duty and Climate Change Disclosure

This project is an international consortium of business and environmental NGOs committed to advancing and aligning the global mainstream corporate reporting model to equate natural capital with financial capital. Recognizing the climate change-related information and financial capital are equally essential for understanding corporate performance, their work builds trust and transparency needed to foster resilient capital markets. The Statement on Fiduciary Duty and Climate Change Disclosure is a collective commitment by leading companies to report climate change in their mainstream annual report and institutional investors to make use of the information in their investment decisions.

Fast facts:

As of 2015, 81 signatory companies and investors have signed the Statement on Fiduciary Duty and Climate Change Disclosure;
The statement is applicable to 45,508 companies around the world, as well as their investors.

The problem

Climate change is affecting economic activity across the world, and many companies and industries are not reporting if their activities are exacerbating climate change.

The solution

The Statement on Fiduciary Duty and Climate Change Disclosure, convened by CDSB on behalf of a leading group of companies and investors is a call to action to their peers to follow their example and report climate change information in their mainstream annual reports. Through the provision of this information, investors and the world’s capital markets can allocate capital efficiently to support mitigation activities, thereby increasing market resiliency and progress towards a low carbon economy. Companies are able to communicate evidence of their commitment to addressing the challenges climate change presents in their annual reports. Through transparency, risks and opportunities can be realized.

Helping the planet

Economic benefits to companies who invest in climate smart business gain further investments into projects that reduce emissions from their operations.

Helping people

By signing the disclosure, companies commit to providing information climate change in their mainstream corporate reports, which in turn optimizes their decision making on allocating capital to increased environmental stability. The scope of beneficiaries extends beyond the companies and investors to their respective customers and target groups.

Scaling Up

This activity aims to triple the number of current signatories within the year.