Financial Impact of Climate-related Matters and Presentation in Financial Reports: A Case of an Airline Company

Abstract

Climate-related risks and opportunities (climate change, climate crisis) have not only environmental but also social and economic effects. These effects, of naturally, have an impact on the operations (production, supply chain, human resources, and so on) and financial indicators of the economy's major actors, the businesses. As a result, many business stakeholders, including investors, demand that financial reports contain information regarding the impact of climate-related or other non-financial issues on business operations. In recent years, international institutions (TCFD, CDSB, EFRAG, and others) have conducted studies in order to meet the growing demand for climate-related concerns to be included in financial disclosures. The IFRS Foundation's announcement that it has established the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is expected to simplify the complex and several structures created by these studies. The Board intends to finalize and make available to businesses the two standards, IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures, as soon as possible. Thus, the international standardization provided in financial reporting by the IASB operating within the IFRS Foundation is expected to be provided in non-financial reporting by the ISSB. While these developments are evolving on a global basis, there remains a gap in how Turkish businesses will report on climate-related issues in their financial reports. This study fills that gap by presenting a conceptual framework to those who are interested in the subject, as well as demonstrating how climate-related issues affect the financial reports of the enterprise in a chained manner and how this effect can be presented in the reports using an airline company case study for a concrete understanding of the subject.