In addition, ISS found the number of climate-related shareholder proposals and the levels of support for them have grown over the past three years.
The U.N. and ISS reports "demonstrate that the days of regarding climate disclosure and risk as 'non-financial' niche issues targeted by a relatively small number of activists and NGOs are over," ISS said in a news release.
A separate report, Flying Blind: The glaring absence of climate risk in financial reporting, issued Thursday by Carbon Tracker and the Climate Accounting Project found many companies are failing to assess climate risk or disclose it in their financial statements.
The study of 107 companies in a range of sectors found that more than 70% of some of the world's biggest corporate emitters did not disclose climate impacts in 2020 financial statements, 80% of their auditors showed no evidence of assessing climate risk, and 72% of companies did not appear to follow through on discussions of climate risks or emissions targets.
Of the 107 companies covered in the report, 94 are part of the Climate Action 100+ focus companies that investors have identified as having significant carbon footprints and/or as crucial to the energy transition.
"Based on the significant exposure these companies have to transition risk, and with many announcing emissions targets, we expected substantially more consideration of climate matters in the financials than we found," Barbara Davidson, senior analyst at Carbon Tracker and lead author of the report, said in a news release. "Without this information there is little way of knowing the extent of capital at risk, or if funds are being allocated to unsustainable businesses, which further reduces our chances to decarbonize in the short time remaining to achieve Paris goals."
