POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
— Sustainability-related disclosure frameworks may need to be flexible about the existing capacities of companies.
— Standard-setters should work together to make their standards as interoperable as feasible, reducing the costs for companies that must disclose sustainability-related information according to various standards.
— Regulators in regions where voluntary assurance is a common practice may consider requiring large listed companies to obtain assurance of their sustainability-related information.
— Wherever high-quality assurance for all sustainability-related information disclosed might not be possible or is too costly, jurisdictions may require companies to obtain assurance of specific sustainability-related disclosures, such as GHG emissions.
— Investors and regulators may need to pay special attention to whether executives can choose to hire the company’s external auditor to provide sustainability-related assurance without the approval of the board, the audit committee or shareholders.
— Whenever included in a company’s reduction targets, market participants and relevant stakeholders should consider ways to encourage the disclosure of scope 3 GHG emissions.
— Regulators may consider requiring or recommending the disclosure of information relevant for investors to assess the potential of companies to develop new technologies that may contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy.
— The fact that institutional investors hold the largest share of equity in the 100 listed companies with the highest disclosed GHG emissions highlights the importance of corporate governance frameworks in facilitating and supporting shareholders’ engagement.
— Boards should ensure that companies’ lobbying activities are coherent with their sustainability-related goals and targets.
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