New Zealand Retail Investors Want Climate Clarity

More than four in every five (81%) retail investors think climate related information is important to their investment decision making, with half saying companies have a responsibility to address climate change.

That’s the findings according to the annual Investor Confidence Surveyproduced by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) and released today. Other findings were:

• 86 per cent viewed voluntary disclosures of Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) information as important.
• 83 per cent said their confidence in sustainability information would increase if it was subject to independent assurance.

Chartered Accountants have long been trusted advisers to their clients and businesses and are now being asked to provide climate risk advice more frequently than ever before, said Amir Ghandar FCA, CA ANZ Reporting & Assurance Leader.

“We are all familiar with big institutional investors, superannuation funds and major banks calling for greater disclosures and management of climate risk, but what this survey shows is it is equally important to retail investors,” Ghandar said.

Despite the high level of interest, most investors are still mainly getting climate information from the news (49%) or company websites (41%), rather than company annual reports (36%) or sustainability reports (32%).

“The time for ‘green washing’ has passed, investors are now demanding credible and where possible assured information about climate and sustainability risks that they can rely on to make decisions,” Ghandar said.

524 New Zealanders participated in the survey. Respondents were aged 18+ with a minimum of $10,000 invested in either Managed Funds, Shares in a Private Company, Shares Purchased on the Stock Market, or Term Deposits.

More than half (57%) of the investors who believed ESG information was important said this was because companies should behave in an ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible way.

“Global capital markets are signalling the need for more climate-related financial disclosures in the coming years,” Ghandar said.

“Regulators worldwide have recently been taking bold steps forward in mainstreaming and mandating climate-related financial disclosures, including the US, UK, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.

“We applaud the efforts of the New Zealand Government and the XRB toward better and more widely available climate-related financial disclosures.”

“Managing climate risk is now becoming a permanent part of doing business in New Zealand, regardless of your industry, politics or location – and retail investors are signalling their intentions loudly in this survey.”

View the full results of the survey here.<

About Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand represents more than 128,000 financial professionals, supporting them to make a difference to the businesses, organisations and communities in which they work and live. Chartered Accountants are known as Difference Makers. The depth and breadth of their expertise helps them to see the big picture and chart the best course of action.

www.charteredaccountantsanz.com

© Scoop Media