The SASB standards and its reporting methodology focus on producing organisational decision-useful information for the investment community. Corporations reporting against the SASB standards can communicate with their investment community, producing comparable non-financial information and analysis of critical ESG issues affecting their ecosystem. The investment community is then able to compare industry performance, as well as risks and opportunities across the environmental, social and governance factors. It enables them to look beyond the traditional financial statements before making investment decisions.
In his January 2020 annual letter to corporate executives, Larry Fink, the chief executive officer of BlackRock, placed sustainability and the climate change issue at the centre of its investment process. Fink set out that, ‘climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects’ and ‘we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance’.4
In their investment stewardship approach, Fink and BlackRock calls out the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) for providing ‘a clear set of standards for reporting sustainability information’.
