The CDSB Framework draws on other reporting provisions including financial reporting standards and principles, legislative and regulatory reporting requirements, along with the work of CDSB Board members, as noted above, and guidance other authoritative sources issue.
To underscore this approach, here are a few key definitions and terminology from the Framework:
Investors — ‘The CDSB Framework adopts the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) definition of investors that is: “existing and potential investors, lenders and other creditors in making decisions about providing resources to the entity.” ’2
Natural capital — ‘The CDSB Framework adopts the IIRC’s definition that is: “all renewable and non-renewable environmental resources and processes that provide goods or services that support the past, current or future prosperity of an organisation. It includes air, water, land, minerals and forests, biodiversity and ecosystem health.” ’3
Sources of environmental impact — Sources of environmental impact are the activities of and outputs from the organisation that actually or potentially influence or contribute to environmental impacts, including:
GHG emissions
Renewable/non-renewable energy generation, use and consumption
Land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF)
Non-GHG emissions to air, land and water (e.g. noise, odour, particulates, pollutants, etc.)
Renewable and non-renewable material resource use (e.g. forest products, fish stocks, minerals, metals, etc.)
Water use and consumption
Waste and spillages (e.g. mining and hazardous waste, radiation and industrial by-products.)4
Also reflecting this collaborative and complementary approach, the CDSB, developed an extensive collection of resources, including:
The building blocks: Connecting CDP data with the CDSB Framework, a guidance paper for reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.
CDSB Framework: Application guidance for climate-related disclosures, which focuses on the first six reporting requirements and provides checklists and suggestions for reporting.
TCFD Implementation Guide: Using SASB Standards and the CDSB Framework to Enhance Climate-Related Financial Disclosures in Mainstream Reporting, created in collaboration with SASB, is a “how-to” guide intended to facilitate the implementation of the TCFD Standards.
TCFD Good Practice Handbook, a joint CDSB and SASB produced a follow-on to the Implementation Guide, identifies examples of good practices in reporting across the four core TCFD elements of governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets.
