Having a robust climate strategy is now standard for many types of organizations. Almost two-thirds (65%) of the annual revenues of the world’s largest 2,000 firms are now covered by net zero targets, and nearly all of the world's top 250 organizations (G250) report on sustainability. This increasing momentum is driven by investor demands, consumer pressures and regulatory requirements to demonstrate an improvement in climate impacts.

Consequently, many organizations are reporting and disclosing their climate metrics, even those for whom it is not yet mandatory. Industry-specific benchmark studies from Verdantix have found that 80% of climate disclosures from Fortune 500 firms are voluntary – just 20% are defined by regulations.

The proportion and scale of mandatory disclosures may increase very soon, though, given the potential upcoming SEC ruling scheduled to come through in 2024. This would issue requirements for firms to report on their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate matters.

Managing the requirements to set climate targets and report and disclose climate metrics (whether voluntary or mandatory) can cause huge policy, data, infrastructure, legal and commercial dilemmas for sustainability, commercial and ESG decision-makers. They can face issues in navigating how to:

• Collect and account for various types of climate data to inform target-setting, ESG policy and reports.
  
  
• Integrate energy procurement, transition and efficiency activities and policies into a comprehensive climate strategy.
  
  
• Manage audit requirements and mitigate potential compliance, regulatory and climate litigation risks.
  
  
• Increase stakeholder and investor trust by choosing the appropriate frameworks (GRI, SASB, TCFD) to guide climate disclosures.

All these issues – and more – will take centre stage at the upcoming Verdantix Climate Summit North America, taking place on the 20^th and 21^st of February in Washington DC.

The event gathers 150+ sustainability practitioners and is an opportunity to gain advice on climate risk, ESG and net zero issues from Verdantix analysts, the event’s speakers and sponsors, including:

• Prabhjot Bal, Director, Environment, Social & Governance, Summit Materials
• Matthew Rusk, Head of GRI North America, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
• Derek Young, Vice President of ESG, CBL Properties
• Rochelle Routman, Chief Sustainability and Impact Officer, HMTX
• Chris Fenwick, Head of Sustainability, APi Group
• Deloitte
• Benchmark Gensuite
• Sphera

Find out the full speaker list and range of topics covered by the event on the Climate Summit NA webpage.