Omega Ukama 
COMPANIES listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) will, starting in January, be required to report on sustainability issues as part of their financial disclosures.
This comes as investors have been increasingly incorporating non-financial factors — environmental, social, and governance (ESG) — into their analysis, which has prompted regulators to make them mandatory.
The ZSE and VFEX’s updated listing rules that were issued in 2019 allowed for a transitional period for such disclosures before enforcement.
Despite this reprieve, a number of companies have voluntarily adopted the practice, while a number of reporting institutions, such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures are either developing or have already established standards for such disclosures.
Justin-Bgoni
Since 2019, the ZSE also offered area-specific training on sustainability reporting.
“In light of the training sessions that have been conducted by the ZSE over the years, the ZSE now requires all issuers to adopt sustainability reporting,” ZSE chief executive, Justin Bgoni, said in a statement on Monday.
“The ZSE, having taken into account the GRI standards and IFRS sustainability standards, has developed the following core sustainability disclosure metrics for adoption as a minimum starting point.
“Issuers are, however, not limited to these core disclosure metrics and may provide additional information, including sector-specific metrics.
“Additionally, issuers are still required to conduct materiality assessments,” Bgoni said.
This also comes as Zimbabwe has taken a pre-emptive approach to corporate sustainability reporting through an early adoption of IFRS protocols, which are yet to be issued.
The Public Accountants and Auditors Board decided on early adoption of the standards last year, as Zimbabwe became the third African nation to do so.
Meanwhile, experts have warned that Zimbabwe could lose export markets if regulators and businesses do not prioritise ESG matters.
Other regulators in the country, such as the Insurance and Pensions Commission, are also working on ESG protocols, but the country still has some way to go to catch up with the developed world, according to Institute for Sustainability Africa chief executive, Rodney Ndamba.
“As a country, our exports are likely to fail to access high-value international markets because of the high sustainability standards expected in some of the markets,” Ndamba said at a recent business conference.
“We could end up being forced to sell to low-value markets and fetch little for our merchandise.”
newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw
