30 August 2022

IFAC: Companies, investors and professional accountants add their voices to the call for global alignment between sustainability reporting s

65 organizations today endorse a joint statement calling for stronger alignment of regulatory and standard-setting efforts around sustainability disclosure. They encourage major actors, including the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) to continue to work closely together.

• Capital market participants are supportive of establishing a global baseline of sustainability disclosure requirements, on top of which local jurisdictions can add their own interoperable reporting requirements. 
• Find the full text of the endorsed statement here.

Sixty-five companies, investors and professional accounting firms from across the world add their voices to the call for major standard-setting efforts to more closely align with and support a global baseline for reporting sustainability-related information.

The endorsed statement was developed jointly by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). In addition to formal consultation responses, this public statement makes clear the momentum and encouragement behind stronger alignment between sustainability standard-setting efforts.

Significant efforts by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the European Commission together with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), all aim to address the need to enhance and evolve corporate reporting to include and consider sustainability information. However, current draft standards and initiatives are not technically compatible in terms of concepts, terminologies, and metrics.

As these proposed sustainability-related disclosure requirements are refined and finalized, leading financial market participants are asking financial market regulators to avoid regulatory and standard setting fragmentation by aligning on key concepts, terminologies, and metrics on which disclosure requirements are built.

A comprehensive global baseline of sustainability disclosures is required for reporting entities to avoid undue burden and for investors to make investment decisions that truly contribute to sustainable outcomes.

A globally consistent, comparable, reliable, and assurable corporate reporting system is indispensable in providing all stakeholders with a clear and accurate picture of an organization’s ability to create sustainable value over time.

IFAC

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