Climate is an economic issue and a capital opportunity

Tracey Berry
June 2024
Sustainability

"Climate is an economic issue and a capital opportunity" was a sentiment expressed at this mornings FSC Climate Change breakfast.

Good to be in attendance, along with a number of our clients and hear the Minister and XRB share their views. Given the audience is in full CRD implementation mode, the CRD regime formed the basis for most of the panel questions. What was shared, included:

  • Climate change is a key strategic focus area for the coalition government with a 5-pillar strategy in place.
  • XRB are not looking to harmonise the NZ climate standards to global / Australia standards in the near future. There is however much "interoperability" between them (those based on TCFD).
  • The principle-based NZ regime means disclosures under the regime will not be directly comparable between entities but should enable users to compare an entity year-on-year (i.e., to measure its resilience).
  • The effectiveness of the regime won't be known for some time.
  • There was a message of hope for NZ Inc. to be leaders in climate and nature, including an abundance of renewable energy and sustained biodiversity.