SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING IN SINGAPORE: SETTING THE BOUNDARIES FOR WHAT IS "MATERIAL".

In line with Singapore's Green Plan 2030, all companies listed in the SGX have recently been mandated to provide Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG"), especially climate-related, disclosures in their annual sustainability reports. Against this background, this paper investigates the central legal question that is faced by such companies when conducting sustainability reporting - what is the threshold at which a particular piece of ESG-related information is sufficiently "material", such that it needs to be disclosed to the public? By scrutinizing the existing disclosure framework in Singapore, this paper (1) argues that the prevailing legal test for "materiality" provides inadequate guidance for companies in the ESG context and (2) explains the potential legal consequences that could arise from haphazard sustainability reporting. To seek inspiration from overseas experience on this matter, this paper compares the sustainability reporting regimes adopted in the US, EU, and Hong Kong. As most stock exchanges are similarly undergoing a reformative period concerning ESG-related disclosures, it is observed that a fitting definition of "materiality" is usually absent, and a 'flexible' or 'voluntary' regulatory approach is generally adopted. However, this paper makes the case that Singapore should make a gradual shift towards enacting more concrete rules for regulating ESG-related disclosures. To facilitate this shift, three recommendations are proffered to refine the definition of "materiality" and improve the existing disclosure framework to suit the ESG context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]