The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted revised sustainability reporting guidelines and the use of SuRe forms for listed firms starting this year despite calls for the deferment of their implementation.
The agency said a new memorandum circular should be out later this year.
“After careful consideration of the valuable feedback received, and in the interest of ensuring and maintaining meaningful compliance by publicly listed companies (PLCs), please be informed that the Revised Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for PLCs and the SuRe Form is scheduled for release in the year 2024,” the SEC said.
The SEC is looking at making compliance applicable to data covering the year 2024 with reporting due the following year or on 2025.
“For the Sustainability Reports covering the year 2023 or those due in 2024, PLCs (publicly listed companies) are advised to maintain compliance with the provisions of SEC Memorandum Circular No. 4, series of 2019, or the “Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for Publicly- Listed Companies,” it said.
Under the revised guidelines, the draft of which was first released in October, listed firms are mandated to submit sustainability reports in two formats—the SR Narrative and Sustainability Report Form.
Under the SR Narrative, firms submit a narrative report following the format outlined in MC 4 submitted in conjunction with the company’s annual report.
PLCs are required to submit filled out SuRe Forms through the SEC electronic filing and submission tool. Its template comprises three major sections—sustainability and climate-related opportunities and risks exposures (SCORe); cross-industry standard metrics (CISM); and industry-specific metrics (ISM).
Separate guidelines for ISM, largely considered the Philippine Standard Industrial Classification (PSIC), will be released at a later time.
The SuRe Form aims to boost the quality of sustainability reporting and ensure the consistency of non-financial information submitted by the firms.
The revised guidelines consider the latest global advancements in sustainability reporting frameworks, notably the IFRS S1 (General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures), both of which are aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.
The guidelines recognize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, International Integrated Reporting Council and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development-International Standards of Accounting and Reporting Guidance on Core Indicators, among other widely-adopted frameworks.
The SEC institutionalized sustainability reporting among corporations in 2019 through MC 4 that mandated listed firms to submit sustainability reports on a comply or explain approach. This allowed companies to disclose corporate sustainability data when available and provide explanations for items where there are none.
