This page provides highlights of our benchmarking of climate-related disclosures included in the 2021 annual reports of 35 major global banks. Climate-related risks and their business impacts are the focus of attention for annual report readers like never before. However, this report shows that global banks' progress in disclosing climate-related matters in their annual reports has slowed.
Heightened regulation generally results in enhanced disclosures in annual reports.
Although all the banks surveyed provide disclosures of climate-related matters in their 2021 annual reports, the nature and extent of information disclosed vary significantly and appear to be driven by whether there is regulation (or regulatory guidance) in a country or region. Consistent with our benchmarking last year, the banks mainly provided their climate-related disclosures in the front part of their annual reports.
A small number of banks mention 'climate' in the notes to their financial statements.
- All the banks that mention 'climate' in financial statements are from Australia, Europe or the UK.
- The nature and extent of information disclosed in the financial statements by these banks are often minimal, e.g. disclosing that climate-related impacts have been considered in cash flow projections used for goodwill impairment assessments in a single statement.
Get more insights
Read our benchmarking analysis on how banks reported on climate-related matters in the 2021 reporting season. The report includes the scope and approach of our analysis, and how we have assessed the disclosures as ‘more detailed’, ‘less detailed’ or ‘no disclosures’ provided.
