The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has released a new paper titled ‘Empowering business: navigating nature-related reporting.’
The paper aims to guide accountants in assisting organisations with nature-related reporting and promoting actions to address sustainability challenges.
This comes at a time when organisations are said to be disclosing their environmental impacts, particularly with the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in Europe.
The International Sustainability Standards Board has also signalled its intention to delve into biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services.
Over the next two years, the board plans to develop global reporting standards. Accountants are encouraged to broaden their knowledge in this field.
Such reporting involves detailing an organisation’s nature-related impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities, highlighting the interplay between natural, social, and human capitals.
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By GlobalDataACCA regional policy lead and report author Jessica Bingham will discuss the key messages from the ACCA report at COP 16 on biodiversity in Colombia, scheduled from 21 October to 1 November 2024.
The event will feature a panel that includes representatives from the Global Reporting Initiative, credit agency S&P, and Astra Zeneca.
Bingham said: “Nature is the foundation for all life on Earth, and our research suggests that an overwhelming number of organisations do not effectively assess and communicate their impacts and dependencies on nature’.
Research conducted by ACCA, in partnership with the University of Glasgow, has revealed that a high percentage of early adopters of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures guidelines have policies aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss.
Only a minority of these organisations are reported to have policies informed by the 2030 and 2050 global biodiversity frameworks.
Organisations engaging with accountants on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures are positioning themselves in developing nature-related reporting, enhancing resilience, and managing their environmental impact.
The evolution of nature-related reporting presents opportunities for accountants and the broader profession in areas such as strategic planning, value creation, risk management, and more.
Earlier in October 2024, ACCA published a report addressing the ethical challenges faced by the accountancy sector.
The study, which surveyed more than 1,100 professionals from 135 countries, found that 64% of accountants perceive ethical issues as more complex than they were three years ago.
