[SINGAPORE] The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) has proposed extending the deadline of Singapore Exchange (SGX)-listed companies’ compliance to the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)-based climate-related disclosure by possibly one to two years.
This is one of the four recommendations released by the SBF on Thursday (Jun 26) in relation to the said disclosure.
At present, under the SGX Regulation (SGX RegCo)‘s prevailing sustainability reporting regime, all listed companies are required to make climate-related disclosures for financial years (FY) commencing on or after Jan 1 this year, using the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards.
Data was collected by SBF and SGX RegCo in April and May from 40 SGX-listed companies on the Mainboard and Catalist boards through a roundtable and survey, which showed that only 4 per cent are confident in meeting this timeline, even though all the engaged listed companies are in progress of preparing for ISSB disclosures.
More than 90 per cent of them also said extending the timeline for mandatory ISSB disclosures, for example by one or two years, would be useful for them to prepare higher quality ISSB reports. They also added that a time extension will not detract them from the work that they had already begun.
With this in mind, the four recommendations from SBF are:
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Grant small- and mid-cap listed companies more time to comply, for example, by one to two years;
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Make disclosure requirements proportionate for small- and mid-cap listed companies;
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Provide Singapore-relevant cross-sector and sector-specific guidance; and
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Designate a central platform for digital reporting of climate-related disclosures.
These recommendations account for 83 per cent of SGX-listings, since not all listings are subject to sustainability reporting requirements such as secondary-listed issuers, as at Monday.
Kok Ping Soon, chief executive of SBF, said: “Our key recommendation is to extend their compliance deadline, after engaging close to 40 small- and mid-cap listed companies. This does not represent a step back from Singapore’s climate reporting ambitions, but is a practical measure to provide smaller listed companies more time to strengthen internal capabilities and incorporate best practices after larger listed companies make their ISSB disclosures for FY2025.”
While preparations for ISSB climate reporting is underway, a deadline extension would enable small- and mid-cap companies could, for example, prepare subsidiaries which may be based overseas; strengthen data collection systems; and take guidance from FY2025 ISSB reports by larger listed companies to produce higher quality research.
Extending the deadline would also enable small- and mid-cap listed companies to be eligible for the Sustainability Reporting Grant (SRG) by the Economic Development Board and Enterprise Singapore, as SRG is only applicable for reports before compliance for mandatory climate-related disclosures sets in.
He also stressed SBF’s recommendation of increasing awareness and application of proportionality mechanisms, with more guidance within and across sectors relevant to the city-state.
“These will help smaller listed companies in Singapore take full advantage of any compliance deadline extension to more effectively transition their business,” Kok said.
