This report is a snapshot from the Digital Climate Reporting Roundtable: Reduce Reporting Burden, Produce Actionable Data, held Monday, September 22, 2025. The program started with keynote remarks from New York State Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick, followed by comments from California State Senator Scott Weiner. A roundtable panel discussion was held with speakers: Ami Beers, CPA, CGMA, Senior Director, Assurance and Advisory Innovation, AICPA; Corinne Dougherty, KPMG Sustainability Audit Leader; Karen Bodner, Head, Market Insights & Initiatives, BNY; Nick Hart, President and CEO, Data Foundation; Jeremy Osborn, AICPA & CIMA Global Head of Sustainability; Campbell Pryde, President and CEO, XBRL US; and Neil Stewart, Director of Corporate Outreach, IFRS Foundation.
Thank you to the AICPA & CIMA for hosting the roundtable and generating this AI summary report.
Watch opening remarks and speeches from New York State Assemblymember Glick and California State Senator Weiner.
Summary: Digital Climate Reporting Roundtable
🔧 Data Infrastructure Gap in Climate Reporting
Companies face a fundamental challenge in climate reporting: the data infrastructure doesn't exist yet. Unlike financial reporting where systems are established, organizations must build entirely new data collection and validation systems for emissions reporting.
The problem is there's nothing under the hood. What's under the hood needs to be created. It's not like there's a spreadsheet or people have a piece of information that they can just gather and give. They need to find a way to authenticate that there are data contracts between the various parts of these... This is a big uplift. It's not that easy.
🔄 Standards Organizations Collaborating to Reduce Reporting Burden
Major standards organizations are actively working together to create interoperability between different reporting frameworks, allowing companies to use one report to satisfy multiple jurisdictions' requirements and reduce compliance costs.
We designed the bill [SB253 California Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act] to be as user friendly and streamlined as possible... if a company is already disclosing everything that SB253 requires in another jurisdiction, they can simply submit that report or if it covers half of what we're asking for, they can submit the report and then supplement it with the remainder.
⚖️ Assurance Requirements Driving Data Quality Improvements
The requirement for limited assurance on climate data is forcing companies to significantly improve their data quality and internal controls, moving sustainability reporting from informal processes to finance-grade rigor.
The limited assurance requirement is really making companies focus on, can we actually pass a limited assurance engagement? The conversation with clients about getting ready for assurance requirements in SB253, focuses on the need for greater rigor around the completeness and accuracy and the reliability of the data, supporting the calculations and supporting the estimates. A lot of times that level of rigor isn’t there.
🎯 Reporting Fatigue Challenges Implementation
Organizations are experiencing 'reporting fatigue' as multiple climate regulations emerge and change, making it difficult for sustainability teams to maintain leadership buy-in and resources for compliance efforts.
In 2024, clients began preparing for the SEC climate rule. Now that they no longer need to comply with the SEC rule, they're starting to get this fatigue. Individuals on the corporate sustainability side are trying to continue to get leadership to buy into this reporting.
🌐 Reporting Complexity Increasing
Companies are facing an increasingly complex multi-jurisdictional reporting environment where they must manage different requirements across various countries and states, requiring sophisticated coordination and process management.
This year, as of February, we're starting to see a multi driver environment where it's CSRD plus ISSB plus state level disclosure, plus voluntary reporting... Second is reporting has also become multi-jurisdictional... How do we get the same level of process done at a decentralized level? Can we enforce the same rigor and controls, for example, for our Australian and for our Mexican reporting teams?
💡 Technology Solutions Emerging for Climate Data Management
Software providers are developing comprehensive platforms that support the entire climate reporting ecosystem, including consultant dashboards, audit trails, regulatory guidance, and AI-driven XBRL tagging to help companies manage complex compliance requirements. They aim to help companies by checking and tracing each piece of data on their platforms – what was the change? When was the change made? Who made the change? And they incorporate ISSB regulations within their platforms to make compliance easier.
📈 Supply Chain Reporting Creating Cascading Requirements
Large companies are extending climate reporting requirements through their supply chains, creating compliance obligations for smaller companies that aren't directly subject to regulations but must meet their customers' sustainability data demands.
We're also seeing these larger companies that are making commitments and setting targets, actually reach out through their supply chains, request this climate data and do GHG emissions requirements reports... they're even imposing assurance requirements. Big companies like Amazon and Microsoft are pushing out these requirements to small supply chain suppliers.
🌍 Rapid Global Adoption of ISSB Standards
The International Sustainability Standards Board has achieved remarkable adoption with 37 jurisdictions implementing or planning to implement ISSB standards, covering approximately 60% of global GDP and creating momentum for standardized climate reporting worldwide.
We're now up to 37 jurisdictions that have adopted or are working to adopt the ISSB standards worldwide... If you take those altogether, those 37, we get to around 60% of global GDP, 40% of market capitalization. If you were to take the U.S. out of the picture, it would be 80% of market cap.
📊 XBRL Digital Standards Enable Cost-Efficient Data Allocation
Digital reporting standards like XBRL are essential for creating transparent, machine-readable climate data that enables efficient allocation of environmental costs across the economy, moving beyond companies simply shifting costs to subsidiaries or other entities.
Business is in the business of minimizing costs to the maximum extent that they can. And you need systems and a process in an environment which allocates cost fairly across the environment... So companies are actually creating economic value and not just shifting costs between parties.
💼 Investor Demand for Climate Data Remains Mixed
While there's significant investment in sustainable assets, investor demand for climate data is not uniform. Some investors supported the rollback in CSRD requirements, noting concerns about compliance costs and data reliability.
