Speaking today during a virtual event, organised as part of Climate Finance Week Ireland, Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe T.D., noted the Government support for the work of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures TCFD, in providing clarity to companies reporting on climate risks and increasing the transparency required to meet the Paris Agreement goals. The implementation of the recommendations represent best practice for companies and opens up access to more sustainable pools of growth capital while addressing the needs of investors for greater transparency.
The TCFD, chaired by Michael R. Bloomberg, provides market participants with re-commendations to address the financial impact of climate change on their business. By increasing transparency on climate-related risks and opportunities, the recommendations promote more informed financial decision-making by investors, lenders and others.
Michael R. Bloomberg, Chair of the Task Force and Founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies said: ‘Climate change isn’t just a serious and growing threat to people’s health and livelihoods – it’s a major economic risk. Especially as countries build greener, more resilient economies in the wake of the pandemic, it’s encouraging to see them support Task Force recommendations for reporting climate-related financial risks and opportunities.. “Today we thank Ireland and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, especially, for their support of the Task Force’s work and their leadership on climate finance. We hope more governments around the world follow suit, and we look forward to building additional global support for our goals, together’.
Minister Donohoe noted that: ‘The Government welcomes the adoption of the TCFD by those corporates who are already engaged with the taskforce and is actively encouraging greater take up as more Irish firms look to accelerate and scale their own climate transition plans. The implementation of the recommendations represent good practice for good companies and opens up access to more sustainable pools of growth capital while addressing the needs of investors for greater transparency’.
The Minister was opening a panel discussion that included Mark Carney, Finance Adviser to the UK Prime Minister for COP 26 and UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance along with Mary L. Schapiro Vice Chair of Global Public Policy at Bloomberg L.P and Special Advisor to the Founder and Chairman.
“What gets measured gets managed. Ensuring that companies report their climate-related financial risk is helping to bring climate risks and resilience into the heart of financial decision-making,” Mark Carney said. “The Irish Government’s endorsement of the TCFD recommendations is an important signal to companies to help them manage the growing physical and transition risks from climate change and to finance the enormous opportunities to develop more resilient and sustainable economies. Efforts to embed and mandate the TCFD are truly vital: all countries now need to set themselves on the path toward mandatory disclosure.”
Speaking as one of the early Irish firms to support the TCFD, AIB Chief Executive Colin Hunt said: ‘In AIB we put sustainability at the heart of our business strategy, and we are deeply conscious of our responsibilities and our pledge to do more. We fully commit to be a leader in the transition to a low carbon economy. Last year we became supporters of the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures and this helps us to further understand the risks and opportunities within our business. The TCFD has allowed us to collaborate with individuals, organisations and industry experts across the globe, meaning we can share best practise, and ensure greater transparency around our sustainability activity’.”
Now in its third year, Climate Finance Week is part of the Ireland for Finance strategy and is organised by Sustainable Nation in association with the Department of Finance, and has developed into the agenda-setting event on sustainable finance. To increase the number of Irish TCFD supporters, Sustainable Nation Ireland is beginning a campaign to accelerate Irish firms’ commitment to reporting their approach to climate change. The campaign will using the model of the Japan TCFD Consortium as a template to add more firms to the current list that includes AIB, Euronext and Kingspan.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
More information on Sustainable Nation and the other events in Climate Finance Week are available at;
Over 1,500 organisations globally support the TCFD, including over 1,340 companies with a market capitalization of $12.6 trillion and financial institutions responsible for assets of $150 trillion.
Background on TCFD:
On December 4, 2015, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) established the industry-led Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) with Michael R. Bloomberg as Chair. The TCFD was asked to develop voluntary, consistent climate-related financial disclosures for use by companies in providing information to lenders, insurers, investors and other stakeholders, which were published in the TCFD Recommendations Report in June 2017. Since its inception, the Task Force has issued three status reports to describe the alignment and progress of companies’ reporting with the TCFD recommendations.
Implementing the TCFD recommendations provides companies with:
- Easier or better access to capital by increasing investors’ and lenders’ confidence that climate-related risks are appropriately assessed and managed
- Better ability to meet existing disclosure requirements by reporting material information in financial filings
- Increased awareness and understanding of climate-related risks and opportunities, resulting in better risk management and more informed strategic planning
- The ability to proactively address investors’ demand for climate-related information in a framework that investors are increasingly asking for.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system.
https://www.fsb.org/about/