CASI Webinar: Strengthening Readiness for Sustainability Reporting in Zambia and Across Africa
About this Event
Zambia is entering an important transition phase in the adoption of sustainability reporting, including ongoing stakeholder engagements and readiness assessments to support alignment with the International Sustainability Standards Board (“ISSB”) Standards, such as IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. In parallel, Zambia’s national Green Taxonomy was officially launched in December 2025, establishing a common reference framework for sustainable economic activities. While these initiatives are still at an early stage of implementation, they lay the institutional foundation for closer alignment with international sustainability standards and signal a growing regulatory expectation around sustainability-related disclosures.
As a result, investors, regulators, and other market participants are beginning to face increased demands to build technical capacity, develop supporting systems, and prepare for effective and consistent implementation.
Despite this progress, recent researches highlight significant market challenges:
Framework gaps: Zambia currently lacks a standardized sustainability reporting framework, complicating consistent data collection and disclosure.
Capacity constraints: Both issuers and regulators have limited internal expertise, particularly in data management, risk assessment, and reporting processes.
Weak climate risk practices: Organizations have yet to systematically integrate climate risk into governance, financing, and operational decision-making.
High implementation costs: Technical tools and processes are insufficient, increasing the effort required to comply.
Limited ESG Data Availability: Most organizations do not collect comprehensive data or reliable data on emissions and environmental impacts suitable for reporting.
With support from The ESG Exchange, this CASI Technical Assistance Programme is designed to contribute to ongoing efforts to address these challenges through a phased approach, providing practical and targeted support that may help build longer-term readiness across Zambia’s reporting ecosystem.
As an initial step, this TA webinar, intended to introduce key concepts and gather feedback from participants. The webinar is also intended as an open platform for knowledge sharing, bringing together a broad range of stakeholders, including regulators and supervisors, financial institutions and investors, as well as other relevant participants with a focus in Zambia and broader Africa.
Agenda
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 09:10 | Welcome Remarks – Dr. Ma Jun, Chairman of CASI |
| 09:10 – 09:25 | Presentation 1: Regulatory Expectations – Mwelwa Mwaba, Director Standards and Regulation, Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) |
| 09:25 – 09:40 | Presentation 2: Sustainability Reporting from Capital Markets Perspective – Nonde Sichilima, Director Market Operations, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) |
| 09:40 – 09:55 | Presentation 3: Experiences and Lessons from other EMDEs – CHENG Lin, Director of Center for International Collaborations, IFS, and Head of Secretariat, CASI |
| 09:55 – 10:10 | Presentation 4: Practical Sustainability Disclosure – Koketso Modise, Senior Market Risk Analyst, South Africa Reserve Bank |
| 10:10 – 10:20 | Q&A |
| 10:20 – 11:30 | A Multi-Stakeholder Panel Discussion: Bridging Sustainability Capacity Gaps in Zambia (includes 10 min Q&A) – Moderator: Peadar Duffy, CEO, The ESG Exchange:
|
| 11:30 – 11:50 | Open Discussion / Q&A |
| 11:50 – 12:00 | Closing Remarks & Next Steps – CHENG Lin, Director of Center for International Collaborations, IFS and Head of Secretariat, CASI |