The Impact of Climate-Related Reporting on the Financial Performance of Aotearoa New Zealand Companies

What the paper says

Effective 1 January 2023, Aotearoa New Zealand has implemented mandatory climate-related reporting requirements, aligning with global developments in climate-change regulatory frameworks. Changing from voluntary reporting to mandatory reporting may incur financial consequences for Aotearoa businesses. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the impact of climate-related reporting requirements on the financial performance of Aotearoa businesses during the voluntary reporting period and post-implementation periods of mandatory reporting. Twenty-six listed companies were selected for the study as sample companies based on the regulatory guidelines of the New Zealand External Reporting Board (XRB). By reviewing five years of annual reports of sample companies, return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) data was collected as financial performance measures. For the same period, the climate reporting score was measured based on the climate reporting checklist published by KPMG New Zealand. Two regression analyses were conducted using the panel data collected to achieve research objectives. The analysis provided mixed results. Only one element of climate-related reporting, metrics and targets, has a significant positive impact on ROA. All other climate reporting variables, such as governance, risk management, consistency and comparatives, have no significant relationship with either ROE or ROA in both the voluntary reporting period and the post-implementation periods of mandatory reporting. The study provides recent evidence from Aotearoa on the impact of climate reporting on company performance, comparing pre- and post-mandatory periods.