A Global Trend, Local Impact – Sustainability Reporting

Effective and efficient reporting that fulfills SGX mandatory requirements

In 2014, the European Union (EU) passed a directive on non-financial and diversity information, which will be transposed into national regulations by the end of 2016. In the United States of America, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board is developing sustainability reporting standards for a considerable number of industries.

From 2016 on, Hong Kong is adopting after public consultation, a revised sustainability reporting guide on “comply or explain” basis; and in October 2015, starting from December 2016 to December 2018 and staggered over a period of 3 years, Malaysia revised its listing rules requiring all listed companies to include sustainability reports in their respective annual reports. In October 2014, Singapore Exchange (SGX) announced that it was time for sustainability reporting to be elevated from a voluntary to a “comply or explain” basis for listed issuers.

Now in 2017, it is be mandatory for all SGX listed companies to publish a sustainability report for each financial year.