← Back to all briefings
Governance 6 min read Published Updated Credibility 40/100

Governance Briefing — August 11, 2022

Philippines SEC Memorandum Circular No. 4, Series of 2022, revised sustainability reporting guidelines for publicly listed companies, mandating enhanced ESG disclosures, board oversight, and KPI tracking starting with 2023 filings.

Zeph Tech Research Lead

Research lead, Zeph Tech

Timeline plotting source publication cadence sized by credibility.
2 publication timestamps supporting this briefing. Source data (JSON)

Executive briefing: On 11 August 2022 the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (SEC) issued Memorandum Circular No. 4, Series of 2022, updating its Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for Publicly-Listed Companies (PLCs) to require enhanced environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures beginning with 2023 annual reports.1 The revised guidelines integrate international frameworks – including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) metrics – and mandate boards to oversee sustainability strategy, risk management, and data quality.1 PLCs must submit the Sustainability Reporting (SuRe) form through the SEC’s Online Submission Tool (OST), providing narrative and quantitative data on material ESG topics, targets, and progress.2

The circular builds on the SEC’s 2019 voluntary framework but raises expectations by embedding sustainability reporting into regulatory compliance. Companies are now required to disclose governance structures for sustainability, stakeholder engagement processes, policies, risk management, and performance indicators across environmental, social, and economic pillars.1 The SEC emphasises the importance of value chain coverage, supply chain due diligence, and climate resilience. PLCs must also explain how sustainability considerations influence strategy, capital allocation, and enterprise risk management, aligning with the Philippines’ commitments under the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Finance Roadmap.

Scope and reporting timeline

Memorandum Circular No. 4 applies to all PLCs, which must submit their sustainability report concurrently with the 2023 Annual Report (SEC Form 17-A) and annually thereafter.1 Companies are encouraged to adopt the revised SuRe form for 2022 reporting on a comply-or-explain basis, allowing them to pilot data collection before mandatory submission. The SEC may consider extending the guidelines to other registered corporations in future phases, so broader corporate groups should evaluate readiness.

PLCs must upload their SuRe forms via the OST within the deadlines set for annual report filings (typically 105 days after fiscal year-end). Late or incomplete submissions may result in penalties or suspension of report acceptance.2 Companies should integrate sustainability reporting timelines into disclosure calendars, ensuring alignment with financial statement audits, board approvals, and investor communications.

Disclosure content requirements

The revised SuRe form is structured into three sections: (1) General Disclosures (sustainability governance, business profile, stakeholder engagement, materiality determination); (2) Management Approach Disclosure per material topic; and (3) Metrics and Targets covering environmental, social, and economic indicators.1 General disclosures require companies to describe board oversight, sustainability committees, management roles, policies, and risk management processes. PLCs must explain how sustainability objectives integrate with corporate strategy, product development, and financial planning.

For each material topic, companies must detail policies, board and management oversight, risk assessment, due diligence, remediation processes, and training. Metrics include energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2 at minimum), water usage, waste generation, employee engagement, diversity, occupational health and safety, community investments, supply chain audits, and anti-corruption controls.2 Companies should disclose targets (short-, medium-, and long-term), baseline years, performance trends, and explanations for variance. The SEC encourages entities to align metrics with sector-specific standards (e.g., SASB industry metrics) and to provide forward-looking information on climate transition plans.

Governance, assurance, and data quality

Boards must provide oversight of sustainability strategy and reporting. The SEC recommends appointing a board-level sustainability committee or expanding the mandate of existing governance committees to supervise ESG issues, risk integration, and disclosures.1 Senior management should designate sustainability officers responsible for coordinating data collection, performance tracking, and reporting. Internal controls should ensure accuracy, completeness, and consistency of ESG data, mirroring financial reporting controls.

Although external assurance is not yet mandatory, the SEC encourages PLCs to seek limited or reasonable assurance on key metrics, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and social indicators.1 Companies should establish data management systems that document methodologies, boundary definitions, calculation factors, and assumptions. Integrating ESG data into enterprise resource planning (ERP) or sustainability platforms can enhance auditability and support future regulatory requirements, such as potential convergence with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

Materiality assessment and stakeholder engagement

PLCs must conduct materiality assessments to prioritise ESG topics based on significance to the business and stakeholders. The guidelines reference double materiality, considering both financial impacts and outward impacts on society and the environment.1 Companies should develop structured methodologies, combining quantitative (e.g., risk scores, revenue exposure) and qualitative inputs (e.g., stakeholder interviews, surveys). Documentation should cover assessment frequency, stakeholders consulted, criteria used, and validation by leadership.

Stakeholder engagement disclosures should explain how companies identify and manage relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, investors, regulators, and communities. Firms should describe dialogue mechanisms (town halls, grievance channels, supplier forums), issues raised, and actions taken. Integrating stakeholder feedback into strategy and risk management can demonstrate responsiveness and inform target-setting.

Climate and environmental reporting

The SEC encourages alignment with TCFD recommendations. PLCs should disclose governance arrangements for climate risk, strategy impacts under different scenarios, risk management processes, and metrics/targets such as emissions intensity, renewable energy usage, and climate-related capital expenditures.1 Companies should evaluate physical and transition risks affecting operations and supply chains, performing scenario analysis (e.g., 1.5°C, 2°C pathways) and resilience planning.

Environmental disclosures must cover resource efficiency and pollution management. Firms should report energy consumption by source, progress towards renewable energy goals, water withdrawal and discharge data, waste generation and diversion rates, and initiatives to reduce emissions and resource use. Sector-specific issues (e.g., biodiversity for mining, waste management for manufacturing) should be detailed, including mitigation measures and partnerships. Companies should outline compliance with environmental laws and any violations or fines.

Social and governance metrics

Social disclosures include workforce demographics, recruitment, training hours, employee engagement, labour relations, health and safety performance (lost-time injury frequency rate, occupational disease cases), and wellness programmes.2 Companies must also report on diversity and inclusion, gender pay gaps, human rights due diligence, supply chain labour standards, and community investments. The guidelines emphasise responsible supply chain management, requiring policies on supplier screening, audits, and remediation.

Governance disclosures cover board composition, independence, skills matrix, evaluation processes, executive compensation alignment with sustainability goals, anti-corruption programmes, whistleblowing mechanisms, and data privacy controls.1 Companies should explain how they manage conflicts of interest, ensure ethical conduct, and enforce compliance. Providing case studies on investigations, disciplinary actions, or remediation can demonstrate effectiveness.

Integration with financial reporting and investor communications

PLCs should align sustainability reporting with financial statements and management discussion and analysis (MD&A). The SEC encourages companies to discuss how ESG factors influence revenue streams, capital expenditures, cost of capital, and risk provisioning.1 Linking sustainability targets to financial metrics (e.g., climate CapEx, sustainable financing) can support investor expectations and credit assessments. Companies should ensure consistency across sustainability reports, integrated reports, investor presentations, and regulatory filings.

Investor relations teams should prepare to answer detailed ESG inquiries from analysts and rating agencies. Establishing disclosure controls, FAQs, and talking points will help maintain consistent messaging. Firms can leverage sustainability reporting to access sustainable finance instruments (green bonds, sustainability-linked loans) by demonstrating credible targets and measurement systems.

Implementation roadmap

  • Gap assessment: Compare existing sustainability disclosures with the 2022 SuRe form to identify data, governance, and process gaps.
  • Data architecture: Build or enhance ESG data warehouses, integrating operational systems and manual data collection with validation workflows.
  • Governance structure: Establish board and management committees with defined charters, responsibilities, and reporting cadence for sustainability oversight.
  • Capacity building: Train finance, risk, operations, and sustainability teams on reporting requirements, data quality standards, and assurance readiness.
  • External communication: Develop stakeholder engagement plans and narrative content that align sustainability reporting with corporate strategy.

Sources

Zeph Tech supports Philippine issuers in building sustainability data systems, governance, and assurance to meet SEC SuRe reporting requirements.

Timeline plotting source publication cadence sized by credibility.
2 publication timestamps supporting this briefing. Source data (JSON)
Horizontal bar chart of credibility scores per cited source.
Credibility scores for every source cited in this briefing. Source data (JSON)

Related briefings

Curated signals from the same pillar or overlapping topics.

Continue in the Governance pillar

Return to the hub for curated research and deep-dive guides.

Visit pillar hub

Latest guides

  • Sustainability reporting
  • Philippines SEC
  • ESG governance
  • Publicly listed companies
  • Disclosure controls
Back to curated briefings