Study of 600 listed companies throws cold water on ESG claims

A quarter of listed Australian companies claim they have no material exposure to environmental or social risks, although it is “unlikely” they can back up these claims, a KPMG study has found.

While the research found entities increasingly understood they need to report on the environmental and social material exposures, the fact one quarter said they had no exposure was “really odd”, KPMG’s ESG services partner, Julia Bilyanska, said. “Yet when you look at other peers, and when you look at the Taskforce for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures as a framework, it’s pretty clear that financial services organisations do bear the responsibility to identify what are the exposures within their portfolios, and tell the market as well.

“That’s really something for corporate Australia to sit back and say, ‘Hey, a laser focus on getting women onto boards has worked ... but it’s not sufficient.’ ” However, the ACSI report, which focused on ASX200 companies, also found 6 per cent of firms did not disclose any ESG risks to investors.

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