Accountability Emergency

ClientEarth's review of 250 large UK-listed companies reveals a systemic failure to provide material climate-related financial information, with only 4% including such factors in financial accounts and 4% of auditors explicitly addressing them. While narrative risk disclosures are improving, they are often boilerplate. The report recommends mandatory TCFD-aligned reporting, stronger regulatory enforcement to prevent 'greenwash', and increased investor stewardship.

• A vast majority of the reviewed companies failed to integrate climate change into their financial accounts, with only 4% providing a clear reference to climate change-related factors. For the remaining 93%, no reference was made at all.
• Audit reports show a significant lack of accountability regarding climate risks; only 4% of audit reports clearly disclosed whether auditors had considered climate change-related factors.
• Narrative disclosures regarding principal risks and uncertainties are improving but remain inconsistent, with 40% of companies providing clear references to climate change, while 40% provided no reference at all.
• There is a marked disparity in reporting quality between the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, with FTSE 100 companies being significantly more likely to disclose detailed climate-related information.
• While 31% of companies disclosed targets aligned with the Paris Agreement or 'net-zero' objectives, these claims often lacked meaningful detail regarding strategies and methodologies, increasing the risk of 'greenwash'.
• Greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting is generally high for Scope 1 and 2 emissions (82% clear disclosure), but Scope 3 emissions are only disclosed by 33% of companies and often lack transparent calculation methodologies.
• Adoption of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations is uneven, with 44% of the total reviewed companies making a clear reference to them, though this rises to 71% for FTSE 100 companies.
• Companies not subject to the UK Companies Act 2006, such as investment trusts or those incorporated in other jurisdictions, exhibit very limited climate disclosures, creating a significant data gap.

APA

Etherton, J., Wiseman, D., & Williamson, A. (2021). Accountability Emergency. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/wbglw3r3/clientearth-accountability-emergency.pdf

Chicago

Etherton, Joanne, Daniel Wiseman, and April Williamson. Accountability Emergency. ClientEarth, 2021. https://www.clientearth.org/media/wbglw3r3/clientearth-accountability-emergency.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Etherton |first1=Joanne |last2=Wiseman |first2=Daniel |last3=Williamson |first3=April |title=Accountability Emergency |publisher=ClientEarth |date=February 2021 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/wbglw3r3/clientearth-accountability-emergency.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{etherton2021accountability, author = {Etherton, Joanne and Wiseman, Daniel and Williamson, April}, title = {{Accountability Emergency}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2021}, month = feb, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/wbglw3r3/clientearth-accountability-emergency.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }