Understanding climate risks in New Zealand's business community
28 September 2022
As the effects of climate change start to take hold, it's important to understand how your business will be affected. Government policy, changing consumer habits, potential litigation and reputational damage can all have a significant impact on NZ businesses. But climate change also presents opportunities to those businesses who embrace more sustainable practices.
New Zealand became the first country in the world to make climate-related risk disclosures mandatory in the financial sector. Though the legislation currently only applies to around 200 of the largest finance firms in Aotearoa, it is expected that these requirements will soon trickle down to the wider SME community.
The law requires affected businesses to disclose information about the risks and opportunities climate change presents, thereby making environmental sustainability a central pillar of business decision making.
The finer details of the requirements have now been developed by the XRB in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures (TCFD), and reporting becomes mandatory from FY23.
There are a number of actions affected businesses, as well as other organisations that want to improve their understanding of climate risk, can take to prepare.
We've created a handy framework to help you understand and mitigate your climate risks.
Download the guide below:
