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Publishing the standards ushers in a new era for global capital markets in which businesses can better identify and communicate significant opportunities for sustaining long-term value creation.
Covering 77 industries, the standards were approved on October 16, 2018, by a vote of the Standards Board after six years of research and extensive market consultation, including engagement with many of the world’s most prominent investors and businesses from all sectors.
By addressing the subset of sustainability factors most likely to have financially material impacts on the typical company in an industry, SASB’s industry-specific standards help investors and companies make more informed decisions.
“What makes SASB standards unique in the marketplace is their focus on industry specificity and financial materiality, universal concepts that are important for investors and businesses around the world,” said SASB Chair Jeffrey Hales, PhD. “This is an important milestone for global capital markets. Companies and investors around the world now have codified, market-based standards for measuring, managing, and reporting on sustainability factors that drive value and affect financial performance.”
SASB standards support robust, investor-grade reporting in a range of communications channels, including financial filings, sustainability reports, annual reports, and corporate websites. As corporate users have demonstrated, SASB standards can be used alongside other sustainability frameworks. For example, the standards are well-aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and are complementary to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).