Ireland’s plan to model its proposed climate change legislation on the UK Climate Change Act 2008 makes it more likely that, in future, companies here will have to report on emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) as part of their statutory filings and reporting.

The relevant part of the UK Act envisages directors’ annual reports containing information about GHG emissions. While in the UK the exact scope and level of information to be included will be stipulated in implementing regulations (to be made by the Secretary of State), already some important questions are arising there. For example, the reference in the UK Act to “emissions ……from activities for which the company is responsible…” leaves it unclear as to whether companies will have to report on direct emissions only or whether indirect – e.g. supply chain impacts – must also be covered

In announcing, in May, his expectation that drafting would begin in the next three to four months on Irish climate change legislation the Minister for Energy stressed the opportunity we have here to learn from the UK experience, and to adapt it where appropriate. This should mean greater clarity in Ireland on exactly what companies must analyse and disclose in terms of emissions, assuming of course that Ireland’s legislation will in fact deal with corporate reporting on GHG emissions. On balance it is likely to do so – there is certain to be considerable pressure from NGOs, from Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSR) advocates, from within the investment community and from some quarters of business and industry to use Ireland’s climate change legislation to achieve greater integration of climate change awareness with corporate and business activity.

In many countries with company and securities regulation similar to Ireland’s vigorous debate is already taking place regarding the extent to which existing statutory requirements to report on “environmental” issues covers exposure to regulatory and physical risk from climate change. In this regard Ireland’s companies legislation is fairly typical – Section 158 of the Companies Act requires large companies, in certain circumstances, to include “information relevant to environmental…matters” amongst the non-financial key performance indicators that directors’ annual reports must analyse. That, however, is as specific as it gets.