69% of companies that responded to ACRA’s survey1 have published or intend to publish non-financial reports in 2023. Most of them are from the real sector of the economy and have many years of experience in releasing this sort of reporting.
An analysis of the websites of the 50 largest companies in terms of revenue and the public statements of their representatives show that as of mid-June 2023, only 34% of them (17 out of 50) had published non-financial reporting or plan to publish it in the near future. The Agency estimates that by October or November of this year, two-thirds of the largest companies will publish these reports.
In the coming years, ACRA does not expect the introduction of mandatory requirements for the publication of non-financial reporting and its contents, and the number of companies publishing such reports annually should not exceed 150.
More than half of the companies that took part in ACRA’s survey plan to disclose or are already publishing information about the impact of climate risks on their activities, as well as information about direct greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.
For the majority of companies surveyed, the relevance of climate risks has not changed since the beginning of 2022, and 19% of respondents noted that the importance of these risks has increased despite the drastic changes in external economic conditions.
Two-thirds of the companies either already have or are planning to adopt programs to adapt to climate changes or other documents that describe measures to adapt to these changes.
1 ACRA’s approaches to the survey are described on page 5.
69% of companies that responded to ACRA’s survey have published or intend to publish non-financial reporting in 2023.
69% of companies that responded to ACRA’s survey have published or intend to publish non-financial reporting in 2023 (Fig. 1). Most of these companies belong to the metallurgical, chemical, mining, and power industries. As a rule, these companies have published non-financial reporting for the past four or more years and do not plan to abandon this practice.
An analysis of respondents who answered No to the question in Fig. 1 (26%) shows that they are mainly part of the financial sector or the machine building sector and do not have any experience in publishing non-financial reporting. Companies that chose Other (6%) had not determined their plans regarding the publication of non-financial reporting for 2022 as of the survey date or intended to disclose information about sustainable development in the corresponding sections of annual reports.
An analysis of the websites of the 50 largest companies in terms of revenue and the public statements of their representatives show that as of mid-June 2023, only 34% of them (17 out of 50) have published non-financial reporting or will publish it in the near future (Fig. 2). Given the standard annual publication cycle of non-financial reporting, ACRA believes that by October or November 2023, two-thirds of the largest companies will publish non-financial reporting, which is approximately in line with the trend of previous years. Most companies will continue to disclose limited information about corporate governance in their reports, including on the membership of boards of directors, in order to minimize sanctions risks.
In the base case scenario, ACRA does not expect the introduction of mandatory requirements for companies to publish non-financial reporting and its contents.
ACRA’s base case scenario does not include the introduction of mandatory requirements on the publication of corporate non-financial reporting and its contents, despite the directives of the President of the Russian Federation following the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in March 2023. In the next few years, the publication of non-financial reporting is most likely to remain optional, but it is very possible that various types of new recommendations will be made by relevant agencies and organizations. According to ACRA’s base case scenario, no more than 150 companies will annually release non-financial reports.
57% of respondents plan to disclose or have already disclosed the impact of climate risks on their activities.
57% of respondents plan to disclose or have already disclosed the impact of climate risks on their activities (Fig. 3). At the same time, 56% of the companies plan to disclose or have already disclosed their Scope 1 GHG emissions (Fig. 4). Thus, most companies that publish non-financial statements disclose information about climate risks, as well as calculate the basic indicator of GHG emissions. In addition, 57% of the companies disclose or plan to disclose information on energy consumption in their reports.
At the same time, 50% of companies disclose or plan to disclose their Scope 2 indirect GHG emissions 2 and only 30% plan to disclose Scope 3 GHG emissions (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, respectively). The last indicator is the most difficult to calculate, so only the largest companies include it in their reports.
The introduction of mandatory reporting on GHG emissions for the largest issuers from 2023, in ACRA’s opinion, will not increase significantly the number of companies disclosing this information. First, most of the reporting companies are already in the perimeter of the largest public companies. Second, the current regulatory framework does not include any obligation to disclose the submitted reports. At the same time, after the emergence of national GHG regulations, some companies began to disclose their GHG emissions not only under international standards, but under national standards as well.
The survey shows that, for the majority of companies (63% of respondents), the relevance of climate risks has not changed since the beginning of 2022 (Fig. 7). At the same time, companies evaluate them differently: the relevance of climate risks remains consistently low for most financial organizations and companies operating in the domestic market. On the contrary, for exporters, especially those from the metals and chemical sectors, these risks remain consistently high.
19% of respondents indicated that the relevance of climate risks has grown for them despite the drastic changes in foreign political and economic conditions. It is worth noting that this answer was chosen by both exporters and companies focused exclusively on the domestic market, as well as financial institutions.
19% of respondents indicated that the relevance of climate risks has grown for them despite drastic changes in foreign political and economic conditions.
11% of companies believe that the relevance of climate risks has decreased or significantly decreased for them. From the comments of representatives of these companies, it can be concluded that this is due either to a significant change in the supply chains and sales markets or a general change in development priorities.
The climate agenda remains relevant to a significant part of large businesses, which is partially confirmed by the fact that 59% of companies plan to adopt a program or strategy for climate change adaptation (Fig. 8). A significant part of the companies that chose Other (17%) commented that they have a document in the form of an action plan or roadmap. Thus, in fact, a larger number of respondents plan to adopt or have already adopted corporate documents on climate change adaptation. Some of the companies that answered No to the above question indicated that such documents may be drawn up in the medium term.
Figure 9. Industries of respondent companies, % of respondents
Source: ACRA’s calculations based on the survey data
This research is based on a survey conducted by ACRA among its clients and counterparties from late April to mid-June 2023. Representatives of the companies were asked to answer eight questions by choosing one of the answers, and there was also an opportunity to comment on each answer. Detailed interviews based on the results of the survey were not conducted.
The survey covered 54 companies. ACRA thanks the National ESG Alliance, the RSPP and the Telegram community Green Drinks for their assistance in conducting the survey. The industry breakdown of the respondent companies is shown in Fig. 9.
The analysis of the fact of publication of non-financial statements by the 50 largest companies in terms of revenue was carried out on the basis of open sources: the websites of companies were reviewed, as well as public statements of their representatives as of June 2023.
