The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board must broaden its climate-related disclosures to combat greenwashing, both ICAEW and CIPFA have warned.
In a joint represnation on the Sustainability Reporting Standards Exposure Draft 1 on Climate-related disclosures, the chartered bodies expressed concerns over proposals that limit company disclosures to policies with climate-related outcomes as their primary objective. This is just too narrow and risks allowing companies to greenwash.
Instead, they suggest broadening the scope to include all material policies that contribute to a country’s climate targets, to ensure genuine and comprehensive climate reporting.
It would also make requirements more meaningful by enabling the comparison of trade-offs between different measures.
The two also warned against pausing the introduction of climate reporting, which they believed would send the ‘wrong signals’.
Amit Verma, CIPFA Sustainability Policy Manager, said: “We urge the IPSASB to broaden the scope to include all material policies that contribute to a jurisdiction’s climate goals. A more comprehensive approach would provide a clearer picture, capturing both positive and negative climate impacts, as well as the trade-offs involved. Expanding the scope will enhance transparency, better meet user needs, and reduce the risk of greenwashing in public sector climate reporting.”
