CDSB guidance and climate-related disclosure
CDSB guidance focuses on how environmental and climate change information connects to financial reporting. The exam tests the CDSB principles, required content elements, boundary, and the framework's legacy after consolidation into the IFRS Foundation.
Framework
- Principles include relevance and materiality; faithful representation; comparability; verifiability; timeliness; understandability; and connectedness with financial information.
- Content elements include governance; strategy; risks and opportunities; sources of environmental impact; performance; outlook; organizational boundary; reporting policies; reporting period.
- The framework is not a set of prescriptive industry metrics. It provides a structure for integrating environmental information into mainstream reports.
Worked example
A food manufacturer reports water use. It defines the organizational boundary, identifies sources of impact (withdrawals and discharges), gives performance metrics with units and comparatives, explains related risks and outlook, and reconciles the information to the financial statements where relevant. The reasoning: CDSB asks for environmental information that is connected, comparable, and faithful, not a standalone green brochure.
Traps
- Treating CDSB as a metric-by-metric standard like SASB.
- Changing the organizational boundary without explanation.
- Reporting performance without definitions, units, or comparatives.
- Ignoring the link to financial statements and governance.