Here’s the relevant section of a speech THURSDAY by Mary Shapiro, Bloomberg data, at the Paris summit for a new global financial pact:

“So as we know in 2015, the Financial Stability Board under Mark [Carney (GFANZ – the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero)]’s leadership, established the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) to try to address the fragmentation of climate reporting and to really increase firm-level climate disclosure.

“Eighteen months later, the TCFD recommendations were delivered to the G20 leaders and now virtually the entire financial sector demands TCFD disclosures.

“And what we’re seeing that’s super encouraging to us is that regulators and policymakers in multiple jurisdictions have also sought to base disclosure rules and requirements on the TCFD recognising that it’s really important for them to draw on a globally accepted framework that the private sector developed to ensure that investors and other stakeholders have access to that decision.

“The IISB International Sustainability Standards Board next week will release its first climate standards, again building on the framework created by the TCFD.

“TCFD also identifed the need for companies with climate commitments, or that were operating in jurisdictions that had climate commitments, to have transition plans.

“Building upon that recommendation, GFANZ developed a global framework for net zero transition planning to provide a real a roadmap for how financial institutions would incorporate climate objectives into their strategies and operations.

“But even with widespread disclosure, there were still challenges with accessing and comparing data across institutions.

“So that’s when President Macron and Michael Bloomberg who was co chairing GFANZ with Mark recognised those challenges with the state of the art of data and launched the Climate Data Steering Committee, which is really a peerless group of policymakers, regulators, standard setters and leaders of international organisations to try to address the gaps and guide the development of a platform solution that could bring greater standardisation and transparency to climate data.

“At COP27 (not COP28), the Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC) released a white paper outlining its recommendations for the design and the development of the Net Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU). It will provide free and open access to data that’s needed by financial institutions on the transition and it will allow free and open access to all stakeholders to monitor progress towards climate goals on in the development of the NZDPU.

“It will allow free and open access to all stakeholders to monitor progress towards climate goals. With the support from the largest data providers in the world.

“A pilot will be up and running later this year at COP28 in an accessible user interface, and it will include scope one, two and three emissions data emissions reduction targets, the relevant metadata to provide users with greater transparency and confidence.

“And in 2024, the data will be included on the use of carbon credits, and then it’s the CDSC’s intention that once the system is up and running, it will be ultimately housed in the United Nations. So over time, additional data will be added to the utility so it can continuously meet stakeholders needs.

“And I really insist it’s going to be free access. It’s going to be at the United Nations because what we hear from so many countries, and it was very sad in very large way this morning is that some countries really want to have access and they cannot afford so this is an important element.

“So the system is being built through Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropy. And once it’s up and running and has a stable and and a core amount of data, it will go to the UN but there’s no intention that any day to be behind a paywall.”

(Put together with help of Otter AI – if you spot a mistake please email mathew@carrzee.net)

NOTE FROM CONFERENCE ORGANIZER

ENSURE MORE RELIABLE AND COMPARABLE INFORMATION AND DATA

All participants agree that rigorous and reliable data on companies and financial institutions is essential to mobilize the trillions of dollars needed to:

• Halve global emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050; And
• Halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

They recognize the urgent need to adopt a global approach allowing a better allocation of resources, in particular for the benefit of the countries most in need to achieve sustainable development.

They consider their work on climate and nature reporting, data availability and business scenarios to be closely interconnected and essential components of the New Global Financial Deal, as well as a key enabler of the transition. .

They are determined to continue to work together to seek synergies and avoid excessive compartmentalization, in particular:

• the initiative for a public platform of data relating to the absence of net emissions , launched by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and Michael Bloomberg, will provide elements to launch at COP28 a central, open and free directory providing stakeholders with easy access to key climate transition data commitments and the progress made by businesses and financial institutions to implement them. This will encourage action and monitoring of commitments made. All efforts to improve the quality and comparability of data will be extremely useful to this directory.
• In September 2023, the Nature-Related Financial Disclosures Task Force will release a Framework for Managing Nature-Related Financial Disclosures, enabling markets to adhere strictly to the criteria for monitoring climate commitments based on the recommendations of the task force on climate-related financial information, in order to progress towards future standards relating to the nature and the biodiversity. In addition to the work of the initiative for a public platform for net zero emissions data, the task force on nature-related financial information, which works within a global network of scientific partners and nature, examines possible approaches to establish an initiative for a public nature data platform in order to improve the availability,
• The Network of Central Banks and Supervisory Authorities for Greening the Financial System continues to provide guidance on all aspects of climate and environmental finance. It develops and extends its climate scenarios, especially in the short term, which have become an important tool for the financial sector. Heis also preparing its first scenarios on [the conservation status of] nature , which will allow the financial sector to assess its impact on nature and its dependencies on it. This network also promotes capacity building, contributes to increasing the financing of mitigation of climate change mitigation and adaptation actions thanks to its forthcoming manual on blended finance, and guides the reflections of international fora on transition plans;
• In June 2023 , the International Sustainability Reporting Standards Board will publish its first standards as part of the global repository of sustainability reporting standards for financial markets  ; these standards are essential to leverage the efforts of the Voluntary Initiatives for Net Zero Emissions and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. According to the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria , the International Sustainability Reporting Standards Council should pay particular attention to the needs of emerging and developing economies to ensure that jurisdictions concerned do indeed adopt these standards. The support provided should cover a wide range of areas, from capacity building and technical assistance to advocacy, special incentives for early adopters and policy advice.
• The report of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Net Zero Emissions Commitments by Non-State Entities clearly states that accessible, consistent and quality data is essential for monitoring commitments of transition plans and for frameworks and standards voluntary measures on the absence of net emissions become binding.
• At COP27, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero Emissions provided a framework for planning transitions to net zero emissions that is used by major financial institutions. This will encourage greater transparency in transition plans and data from financial institutions and businesses, in line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework from Kunming to Montreal.

This global approach constitutes a common global roadmap in the run-up to COP28 and beyond. It is complementary to the role that the G20 can play in establishing clear and globally relevant guidelines for financing the transition.