17 December 2021 (Singapore): Commenting on the Singapore Stock Exchange’s (SGX) recent announcement, that it will mandate TCFD-aligned disclosure among a subset of high-impact sectors, CDP’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific Donald Chan said: “This announcement represents a big step forward for corporate climate action in Singapore. The alignment of this regulation with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) is an important starting point which will allow companies to disclose in a comparable and consistent way that is relevant and accessible to the global economy.
However, we hope that this will indeed prove to be only a starting point, paving the way to more ambitious regulation that will require Scope 3 emissions and transition plans, embrace the double materiality approach, and encourage target setting using the Science Based Targets initiative methodology (SBTi).These additions will ensure disclosure truly drives forward the environmental agenda in Singapore and throughout the region. Furthermore, we encourage disclosing organizations to ensure that they consider not only climate, but a wider range of metrics in their reporting, including water security, deforestation, and biodiversity. Whilst high-impact sectors are a logical first target of regulation, a timeline is now needed that sets out when this regulation will be expanded to cover all sectors of the economy.
We look forward to the SGX making these mandatory reporting requirements more expansive in the future and CDP stands ready to further support the SGX in its journey towards the implementation of high-quality mandatory disclosure regulation, including through the adoption of the upcoming International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards.”
ENDS