Why are sustainability-related disclosure standards needed?
The publication of the first two ISSB Standards represents a vital step forward in establishing a global baseline for sustainability reporting. Consistent and comparable sustainability information, paired with financial information, empowers investors and stakeholders to gain a comprehensive understanding of a company’s performance and their commitment to driving sustainable value creation. We look forward to our continued collaboration.
The primary intent of the ISSB is to create a global baseline of high-quality sustainability disclosure standards that are compatible with jurisdiction-specific requirements to meet investors’ needs. The basic idea is for the IFRS Standards to serve as a foundation for comprehensive disclosure requirements that jurisdictions can use and add incremental disclosure requirements as necessary.
Developing standards that provide consistent, comparable, decision-useful information not only addresses duplicative reporting and fragmentation of disclosures, it also facilitates the effectiveness of capital markets. Pairing ‘investment-grade’ sustainability disclosures with financial information provides companies with the medium to tell their sustainability story. This, in turn, enables investors to make more effective decisions about where to invest their capital.