Financial and corporate disclosure of climate change risk - Its role and recent developments

Conor Linehan focuses on financial and corporate disclosure of climate change risk and its role. As regards legal mechanisms, the central plank of enquiry is in relation to existing financial disclosure and accounting mechanisms. All developed economies routinely require periodic disclosure and reporting regarding the affairs of large or public companies to regulators and to the investing public through systems of financial reporting and accounting. The system of financial reporting for large, especially publicly- quoted companies is practiced in reasonably similar ways in most developed economies. The Recommendation however does not contain any explicit declaration or expectation in that regard. There are important links also between the Recommendation and a later series of Community Regulations that, in effect, adopt international financial reporting standards into Community accounting practice. Whatever form moves towards a better quality climate change risk reporting take equally important is a seriousness of intent as regards the regime being observed.