Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has commented on two separate climate disclosure standard proposals issued by the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In its feedback to the AASB’s exposure draft of the Australian sustainability reporting standards (ASRS), NBIM urged the body to align more closely with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), warning that ASRS 1 and ASRS 2 would introduce a number of key changes “which risk undermining the goal of global comparability [and] increase the reporting burden for any corporate operating across the border”. The AASB was also advised to include industry-specific disclosures within its standards. As a globally diversified investment manager, NBIM holds AU$31.9 billion (US$20.8 billion) of assets in Australian companies. Separately, NBIM welcomed the standard-setter GRI’s decision to revise its climate-related standards. “We have long encouraged our portfolio companies to use GRI standards for reporting on their significant impacts on people and planet, and continue to believe that they provide a useful complement to the ISSB standards, which are focused on financial materiality,” NBIM said. However, some of the proposed requirements, such as most of the just transition metrics, may be overly granular. “The GRI should aim to streamline and remove duplication whenever possible, including by combining disclosures related to the impact of both transition and adaptation plans on people and the environment.”
