Standards lobby heads for climate summit

The world’s attention may be on President Obama and what the US will do about
emissions targets, but accountants will be in Copenhagen in force for the
climate summit next week.

They will push the message that companies need a proper reporting standard if
sustainability is to be high up the corporate agenda.

ICAEW president Michael Izza will chair a meeting, attended by the Big Four,
on 10 December that will present a reporting framework to summit delegates,
written by the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB).

The session will hear highlights from the public consultation on the
document, which has received unanimous support for the framework.

The panel hopes to discuss the opportunities and barriers to a standardised
global climate change reporting style.

But there is further subtext to the gathering. There is a clear belief that a
voice of authority needs to get behind accounting for emissions and that the
only body able to do that is the International Accounting Standards Board
(IASB).

Copenhagen will be the opportunity for some to call on world leaders to push
the IASB into playing a leading role in developing climate disclosure standards
for mainstream company reporting.

One campaigner said: “It requires a body like the IASB to give those
standards the authority of mainstream reporting.”

Unfortunately, the IASB will not be attending Copenhagen because the board
believes the summit is an inappropriate place to discuss standards owing to the
political nature of the negotiations on carbon reduction.

The CDSB will reveal its 2010 plans and special projects initiatives for
reporting on climate change at the Unity Or Diversity panel debate next week.

Further reading:

Comment – Carbon Count