ACCA welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Draft Climate Reporting Roadmap issued by the External Reporting Board (XRB). This is a significant step in aligning New Zealand’s climate reporting standards with the global baseline, and we commend XRB for it.

In shaping this response, we convened roundtables to gather relevant perspectives from climate scientists, academic experts, consultants, and preparers at different Climate Reporting Entities (CREs). These discussions provided valuable insights which have informed our responses to the consultation questions.

ACCA advocates global alignment on sustainability reporting, including climate reporting. This is the best way to achieve broad comparability on sustainability disclosures, and to foster a robust sustainable finance ecosystem. We welcome XRB’s efforts and strategic direction towards aligning New Zealand’s climate reporting standards with the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards.

We note the difficult task that the XRB is presented with, having to strike a delicate balance between ensuring that the standard is internationally aligned and, at the same time, caters appropriately to the New Zealand and regional context.

We further welcome the XRB’s proposed shift in focus from domestic climate reporting standard setting towards greater engagement at the international level, including with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and Asian-Oceanian Standard-Setters Group (AOSSG)’s sustainability working group.

To read our comments in full, please download the consultation response document found on this page.