The JSE has released its sustainability and climate disclosure guidance as part of its efforts to promote transparency among listed companies on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures.
The local bourse published its draft Sustainability and Climate Disclosure Guidance for public comment in December 2021, which was followed by a comprehensive consultation process with stakeholders including market participants, sustainability specialists and corporate-governance bodies. The move comes at a time when listed companies, as well as the banks and asset managers that finance and invest in them, are coming under increasing scrutiny from civil society and lobby groups aiming to encourage a transition to a more environmentally and socially conscious form of capitalism.
“The JSE recognises the need to create an enabling environment for better disclosure practices, especially in light of regulation and guidance that are changing rapidly globally,” said JSE group CEO Leila Fourie. “The Sustainability Disclosure Guidance is intended to help companies to align with recent and imminent changes in global standards and international best practice regardless of their experience in sustainability reporting.”
Fourie said the exchange had made every effort to combine global best practice with local relevance, particularly given SA’s unique set of socioeconomic challenges. The new framework simplifies ESG disclosure for both listed and private companies that are faced with a myriad of ESG frameworks, guidelines, standards and ratings across the various markets in which they operate.
The JSE’s sustainability disclosure guidance serves as an overarching reference document that uses a basic set of metrics rooted in established global standards, which act as a blueprint for locally listed companies to provide disclosures in accordance with what matters most in the local and international landscape. The bourse’s climate disclosure guidance clarifies the current global best practices and provides a step-by-step guide for listed entities, especially those looking to issue green-themed debt instruments.
“It is our hope that the JSE Sustainability Disclosure Guidance will help to improve business leadership, performance, accountability and transparency across the entire sustainability ecosystem,” said Fourie.
Though the JSE said listed entities will have the discretion to either “draw fully or in part” from its disclosure guidance to augment their existing disclosure frameworks, the bourse said it “supports the understanding” that high-quality disclosure methodologies would likely be similar across organisations.
The JSE Sustainability and Climate Disclosure Guidance documents are available on its website at: https://www.jse.co.za/our-business/sustainability/jses-sustainability-and-climate-disclosure-guidance
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