Da apresentação:
«The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ASCI)
and the Financial Services Council (FSC) are delighted to introduce this
inaugural ESG Reporting Guide for Australian Companies.
Over recent years,
investment managers (represented by the FSC) and asset-owners (represented by
ACSI) have grown in sophistication in their recognition of the critical
importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to the
long-term performance of the companies in which they invest.
While the drivers
of this trend are many and varied, there is no question that ESG issues will
invariably impact the ability of companies and their investors to achieve
sustainable growth and prosperity into the future.
Thus far, institutional
investors and companies have struggled to find common ground in defining the
ways ESG factors influence their shared goals to achieve sustainable long-term
growth and prosperity. Likewise, there has been relatively little shared
understanding of how to report on those factors, and how to reconcile them with
financial metrics that have traditionally dominated company reporting and
investment analysis processes.
The Guide has been prepared to fill precisely
that gap.
From the investors’ perspective, there is a need for meaningful,
accurate, timely and comparable data to help them identify and manage their
exposure to ESG investment risks. The provision of this data will assist
investment managers in their decisions about selection and holding of stocks in
their portfolios. It will also prompt investment managers, broker analysts and
asset owners (principally superannuation funds) to constructively engage with
companies on these matters.
From companies perspective, it is reasonable to
expect consistency and predictability in the data requirements being sought by
the institutional investor community, and for reporting obligations not to
impose undue costs, competitive disadvantages or other commercial burdens.
Recognising these goals, the Guide has been prepared jointly by ACSI and the
FSC to highlight the minimum information and reasonable data requirements that
are needed for our member organisations to successfully price, analyse and
manage ESG investment risks.
The Guide has been developed to complement
reporting requirements spelt out in other best practice guides such as the ASX
Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations, and the existing best
practice guides issued by each of our associations.
We look forward to the
Guide facilitating an improvement in the disclosure levels, consistency and
quality of engagement over ESG issues between Australian companies and their
institutional investors».
