Exploring corporate weather accounting by the UK food retail industry

Abstract

This chapter explores the extent to which companies in the UK food retail and production industries are disclosing information on weather-related risk, especially in relation to climate change-induced weather risk, in their annual/integrated reports, their sustainability (or equivalent) reports and on their corporate websites. The primary focus is on UK food retailers and producers and the changing British climate. However, we also consider the impact of climate change in other countries which affect the companies under study, due to their inclusion in the supply chain, as well as disclosures relating to non-food areas of their businesses. More specifically, our study seeks to assess the quality and consistency of these disclosures, from a critical perspective and draws conclusions as to whether these weather disclosures are discharging adequate accountability to stakeholders in terms of their information content, depth of discussion and detail.