Simon Beattie: NZX Sustainability manager praises government's loosening of climate reporting rules

Praise for the Government's loosening of climate reporting rules.

It's proposing to lift the climate reporting threshold for listed companies worth 60 million dollars to one billion.

The changes would also see directors no longer have personal responsibility if their company breaks climate reporting rules.

NZX Sustainability Manager Simon Beattie told Mike Hosking that they're common sense changes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Changes to financial markets reporting are mandatory climate reporting threshold
is going to go from sixty million to a billion.
The claim as it costs a fortune to tell us
about the company's climate ideas and plans and impacts and
drives away investment. Apparently, Simon Beattie is the inzet Exis
general manager of Cooperative Affairs and Sustainability and as with
as Simon Morning Morning, Mike ca will you I'm well,
thank you, you into this.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Very pleased. These are very practical adjustments to the regime.
Man will be very welcomed by the listed market community.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Is it true that I wouldn't invest in something because
there's too much gobbledygook and a report about the climate
that may or may not be relevant to the company
I'm looking at.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, I'm not so sure about the ins and outs
of that. But what I can say around this regime
is that what we've had is essentially companies that have
had a market cap of sixty million or more they
have had to report that all disclosed their emissions, and
at the same time, their directors have become personally liable

(01:05):
for those statements and those emissions. And what that has
meant is that all the time, effort and money has
gone towards protecting directors around forward statements, around risk and
what's in the statements, rather than actually dealing with reducing emissions, transition,

(01:27):
et cetera. So that's where the focus has been and
hopefully these changes will reset and be tilt the balance.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
So it's common sense, it's very practical.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
And workable, and what we've been pushing for is a
regime that is right sized and workable for New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Fantastic, Simon, appreciate the insight Simon bt inz X with
us this morning. I mean, I've looked at nz me's report.
I look at the report every year, mainly for photos
for me, but in there, the amount of climate nonsense
that's in there is unbelievable. I've got no idea what
Enzyme is a broadcasting company, has to do with the climates.
And I mean, I'll be I'm good for the environment.
I think they state that each year that the mic
Hosking breakfast has been proven to be good for the environment.

(02:06):
But apart from that, the amount of energy look at
the pages and pages, it's absurd. So we've got something
good happening.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
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