Presenting Climate-related Disclosures in the Automotive Sector: Practical Possibilities and Limitations of Current Reporting Prototypes and Methods

• Published in: Chemical engineering transactions 2022-09, Vol.94
• Main Authors: Alex Suta, Árpád Tóth, Katalin Borbély
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2283-9216
• DOI: 10.3303/CET2294063

The eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) digital reporting system presents the annual accounts and financial data in a standardized format, thus producing comparable reports. This study examines how new sustainability reporting requirements proposed by the recent International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) S2 exposure draft could affect current reporting conditions of public listed European automotive manufacturers, from a taxonomical perspective. It was attempted the IFRS taxonomy to be linked with the ISSB's (International Sustainability Standards Board) proposed factors. Based on the changes in the regulatory environment and the existing digital reporting methodology, the paper proposed the inclusion of climate-related disclosure of automotive companies in the existing IFRS Taxonomy. In the taxonomical assessment, it was found that the recent sustainability reporting prototypes will likely affect certain financial statement sections, mostly the Notes to the financial statements. At present, there is no direct information available to investors and consumers on the environmental performance, which could be verified in the financial statements. There is no detailed emissions data that the company produces, as it is mainly the emissions compliance of the final product that is declared, especially in the automotive industry.