Climate Change Impact on Financial Reporting – A Theoretical Approach

Abstract: Climate change has a dual effect on the financial dimension of companies: on one hand companies spend more to meet the requirements of climate impact and meeting climate targets and on the other hand the cli­mate regulations have increased the burden of financial regulation and fi­nancial reporting. This paper aims to discuss the theoretical approach that has been suggested in the literature to tackle the increased burden of disclos­ing financial information related to climate change. The paper discusses the main Climate-Related Risks, Opportunities, and Financial Impacts and what the preparers of financial statements have to keep in mind while publishing financial and non-financial information. Based on thorough research of re­cent theoretical and empirical publications the author finds that the most im­pacted financial reporting standards are standards on financial instruments, standards on Insurance Contracts on items such as asset impairment, chang­es in the useful life of assets, changes in the fair valuation of assets due to cli­mate-related and emerging risks, increased costs and/or reduced demand for products and services, potential provisions and contingent liabilities aris­ing from fines and penalties; and changes in expected credit losses for loans and other financial assets. As the requirement to disclose more financial and non-financial information related to climate impact is expected to increase in the future, the author concludes with several recommendations that will very soon be relevant for big and medium companies

9th International Scientific ERAZ Conference – ERAZ 2023 – Conference Proceedings: KNOWLEDGE BASED SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, hybrid – online, virtually and in person, Prague, Czech Republic, June 1, 2023

ERAZ Conference Proceedings published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ERAZ conference partners: Faculty of Logistics, University of Maribor, Maribor (Slovenia); University of National and World Economy – UNWE, Sofia (Bulgaria); Center for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET), Research Laboratory of the Department of Political Science of University of Crete (Greece); Institute of Public Finance – Zagreb (Croatia); Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Ohrid, University of St. Kliment Ohridski from Bitola (North Macedonia)

ERAZ Conference 2023 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-72-1, ISSN 2683-5568, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ERAZ.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

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References

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Additional reading

Deloitte. (2020a). A Closer Look – Investor Demand for Corporate Reporting in Line With the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. https://www.iasplus.com/en/publications/global/a-closer-look/corporate-reporting-climate-change  

Deloitte. (2020b). Annual Report Insights 2020 – Planet. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/about-deloitte/deloitte-uk-annualreport-insights-2020-planet.pdf  

Herzig, C., & Schaltegger, S. (2006). Corporate Sustainability Reporting. An Overview. Sustaina­bility Accounting and Reporting, 301-324. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4974-3_13 

IAASB.(2020). TheConsiderationofClimate-RelatedRisksinanAuditofFinancialStatements. https:// www.iaasb.org/publications/consideration-climate-related-risks-audit-financial-statement 

IFRS Foundation. (2017). IFRS Practice Statement 2: Making Materiality Judgements. https://ei­frs.ifrs.org/eifrs/bnstandards/en/PS02.pdf 

Manes-Rossi, F., Tiron-Tudor, A., Nicolò, G., & Zanellato, G. (2018). Ensuring More Sustaina­ble Reporting in Europe Using Non-Financial Disclosure—De Facto and De Jure Evidence. Sustainability, 10(4), 1162. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041162