IOSCO reviewed its Sustainable Finance Task Force sustainability recommendations. (See "Sustainable Finance and the Role of Securities Regulators and IOSCO" and previous coverage.) IOSCO stated that there is an "urgent need to improve the consistency, comparability, and reliability of sustainability reporting, with an initial focus on climate change-related risks and opportunities."
IOSCO identified the following areas as priorities for improvement:
- encouraging progress towards achieving "a globally consistent application of a common set of international standards for sustainability-related disclosure";
- placing greater emphasis on "industry-specific, quantitative metrics" in the sustainability-related disclosures of companies; and
- promoting greater coordination among investor sustainability information needs under existing accounting standards and facilitating the independent confirmation of companies' disclosures.
IOSCO explained that it will focus on creating a Sustainability Standards Board within the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation ("IFRS Foundation") that can (i) receive enough market acceptance to act as a standard for consistent and comparable methods of imposing required sustainability-related disclosures, (ii) work with current accounting reporting standards and (iii) establish a foundation for the creation of an audit and assurance framework. Additionally, IOSCO expressed that it welcomes the efforts of "the alliance of leading sustainability reporting organisations" to assess the impact of their combined principles, frameworks, and guidance on the formation of "a future common set of international standards for sustainability-related disclosures."
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
