In other words, more than 90% of listed companies face challenges in climate-related information disclosure. Their pain points include insufficient understanding of disclosure requirements, lack of time and resources to build disclosure capabilities internally, and the need to establish sound data collection processes to meet more detailed and broader disclosure requirements.

The Federation of Industry and Commerce and Industry issued a statement on Thursday (June 26) saying that it and SGX regulators conducted a questionnaire survey or roundtable discussion on nearly 40 listed companies between April and May and found that only 4% of these companies listed on the main board or Kelly board said they were "very confident" to complete compliance work on time.

After comprehensively analyzing the feedback from listed companies, in addition to extending the compliance period, the Federation of Industry and Commerce also put forward three suggestions.

Executive President of the Federation of Industry and Commerce Guo Bingxun said in a statement: "This does not mean Singapore's regression in the climate disclosure process, but a practical measure aimed at providing more time for small listed companies to strengthen internal preparations and find the best practices after large listed companies complete the disclosure of fiscal year 2025."

After communication, listed companies of the same size believe that if the compliance period for climate-related information disclosure can be extended based on ISSB standards, one to two years will help them prepare better compliance reports. Moreover, any decision by the authorities to extend the period will not affect the preparations already carried out by the company.

First, adjust the climate-related information disclosure requirements to the extent that small and medium-sized listed companies can adapt. In addition, the Federation of Industry and Commerce recommends providing "cross-industry" and "specific industry" guidance related to the Singapore market. Finally, it is recommended that the Singapore Exchange regulatory companies formulate a central digital platform for listed companies to disclose climate-related information in digital form.

The statement pointed out that these suggestions are especially aimed at small and medium-sized listed companies, which account for 84% of the total number of listed companies on the SGX. Currently, 521 of the 618 listed companies are small and medium-sized.

In order to ensure that climate-related information disclosures of small listed companies are more quality, more efficient and more comparable, the Singapore Federation of Industry and Commerce has made four suggestions to the Singapore Exchange Regulatory Company (SGX RegCo), including extending the compliance period for local small listed companies to make climate-related information disclosures.

Four suggestions from the Federation of Industry and Commerce

The current sustainability reporting system of SGX regulated companies stipulates that all SGX listed companies must comply with the International Sustainable Development Guidelines (ISSB) standards, that is, to disclose climate-related information in the fiscal year starting from January 1, 2025.