UK: The Climate Change Bill, the Business Review and greenhouse gas emissions

The Climate Change Bill, which was introduced in the House of Lords, is now awaiting debate in the Commons. During debate in the Lords, an amendment was made concerning company reporting the result of which was the insertion of Clause 80:
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80 Guidance on reporting

(1) The Secretary of State may issue, or cause to be issued by an authorised body, guidance regarding the information concerning a company’s greenhouse gas emissions which should be publicly disclosed by such a company as part of its annual reporting.

(2) The guidance may relate to the appropriate content and form of such disclosures or any matter necessary to promote the provision of transparent and comparable data regarding the greenhouse gas emissions of companies.

(3) The guidance issued under this section may distinguish between different categories of company according to criteria to be determined by the Secretary of State, such as turnover or market share or number of employees or any other criteria he or she deems relevant, and may contain different standards for each category of company in respect of the content and form of the disclosures or other matters referred to in subsection (2) above.

(4) Any company which is required to produce a business review under the Companies Act 2006 (c. 46) must report on greenhouse gas emissions having regard to any guidance given under this section, and the Secretary of State may provide that compliance with any such guidance will be presumed to constitute compliance with section 417 of that Act (contents of directors’ report: business review) in respect of reporting on such emissions.
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There is, of course, no guarantee that the Commons will accept this amendment.