24 September 2019

The Corporate Reporting Dialogue shows high level of alignment between major global reporting frameworks on TCFD recommendations

The Corporate Reporting Dialogue – an initiative bringing together the major standard setters and framework providers globally – released a report showing high levels of alignment between the frameworks on the basis of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.

As part of the Dialogue’s Better Alignment Project, CDP, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) collaborated intensively to assess alignment on the TCFD’s disclosure principles, recommended disclosures and illustrative example metrics.

The report was launched amongst businesses and investors at the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit, during Climate Week NYC, reaffirming the Dialogue participants’ commitment to respond to the urgent need to resolve the barriers to effective climate reporting.

Entitled “Driving Alignment in Climate-related Reporting”, the publication maps the Better Alignment Project participants’ standards and frameworks against the seven principles for effective disclosure, the 11 recommended disclosures and 50 illustrative example metrics detailed in the TCFD recommendations. It also documents the commonalities and differences between the Dialogue participants within the parameters of the TCFD recommendations’ example metrics.

The results of the technical mapping provide a practical guide to assist organizations in understanding and implementing the TCFD recommendations when using the participants’ well-established and globally applicable frameworks and standards.

The mapping showed strong alignment between the participants’ frameworks and standards and the TCFD recommendations, specifically:

• The TCFD’s seven ‘Principles for Effective Disclosures’ are harmonious and complementary with those of the participants’ frameworks and standards, with the mapping showing no sources of conflict.
• The participants are well-aligned with the TCFD’s 11 recommended disclosures, each of which is comprehensively covered by the frameworks and standards.
• Overall, 80% of the TCFD’s 50 illustrative metrics are fully or reasonably covered by CDP, GRI and SASB indicators.
• There are high levels of alignment between CDP, GRI and SASB for the TCFD’s illustrative example metrics, with 70% of the TCFD’s 50 metrics showing no substantive difference between the participants’ indicators. For the remaining 15 indicators, substantive differences are limited.

Full press release on the Corporate Reporting Dialogue

Full report “Driving Alignment in Climate-related Reporting”