Chief financial officers are emerging as pivotal leaders in sustainability across the Asia-Pacific region, according to a new report by Deloitte.
According to the Asia Pacific Mandatory Sustainability Reporting, which highlights the critical role of CFOs in navigating complex and evolving sustainability reporting requirements, ensuring assurance-ready sustainability reporting, and driving business value through effective sustainability practices, 60% of organisations cannot forecast the number of people needed to meet their emerging sustainability reporting workload.
CFOs have a leading role in meeting obligations surrounding new and evolving reporting requirements set to be implemented across the Asia Pacific region by 2027.
Deloitte says that as sustainability performance gains greater visibility among boards, regulators, investors and the public, CFOs must take the lead to ensure their organisations are prepared for assurance-ready reporting.
In a recent Deloitte global study, 32% of organisations report that the CFO is the accountable executive, with a further 16% having joint accountability between the CFO and Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO).
However, CFOs face the challenge of achieving compliance while also navigating complex economic conditions and balancing multiple other priorities.
"Mandatory sustainability reporting requirements are not only new and complex, but also diverse and varied across different geographies, especially within the context of Southeast Asia," says Josette Soh, sustainability & climate assurance partner at Deloitte Singapore.
Soh notes that these requirements combine a high degree of visibility and obligation on the business with challenging requirements on a relatively new topic. It is unsurprising that few organisations report that they are ready to meet the increased standards, or are confident in their underlying capabilities and processes.
Meanwhile, Will Symons, Deloitte Asia Pacific’s Sustainability Leader says the challenge for the CFO is to maintain a focus on integrating sustainability reporting into business value creation.
"By looking internally for existing capabilities and externally for leading practices and support, CFOs can develop a strategic plan to not only achieve compliance, but also embed sustainability reporting into the organisation's decision-making and performance rhythm over time. The focus is on building confidence today, with an eye on tomorrow," Symons says.
