The future of climate reporting: more streamlined, more efficient and more strategic

As Climate Reporting Entities (CREs) in New Zealand head into their third year of mandatory climate reporting, this article explores potential future trends in climate reporting. It does this by looking at the changes we have seen play out over the last four years as CREs have worked to prepare for and develop their early reports against the New Zealand Climate Standard (NZ CS). The article also considers the maturity curve we have seen historically within other types of corporate reporting. Three themes emerge from this study.

More streamlined: Future NZ CS reports are expected to be shorter as CREs focus on the most material components and move repetitive disclosure elements outside the main report. CREs will also tailor their reporting to the specific information needs of primary users, rather than addressing all stakeholders.

More efficient: CREs will seek operational efficiencies by automating data capture, quality controls, and disclosure drafting, leveraging AI tools. The cost-efficiency focus applied to other forms of reporting will be deployed into the climate space as this work becomes normalised.

More strategic: The up-skilling of staff, management, and board members due to the climate disclosure process will enable CREs to focus on elements with genuine strategic value. Directors and a broad cross-section of people within reporting CREs are now aware of substantive climate-related risks and opportunities, helping future reports to target the most important measures for primary users.