ISSB starts two-year plan and publishes feedback statement

June 26th, 2024

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has started on its two-year work plan to improve harmonisation and consolidation of sustainability disclosure guidance.

The ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber announced that the board was building on its work to develop relationships with sustainability disclosure guidance providers to improve cohesion between standards.

He said the board plans to support work to streamline and consolidate frameworks and standards for disclosures about transition plans in the coming two years under the work plan.

As part of this, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation – which established the ISSB in 2021 – will assume responsibility for the disclosure-specific materials developed by the Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT).

Alongside the TPT, the ISSB has strategic relationships with the GHG Protocol, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

The CDP will provide climate disclosure tools for companies to accurately measure their carbon emissions, which will support companies in creating their transition plans and tracking their progress.

International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) chair Jean-Paul Servais said: “Transition plans are increasingly being considered by investors as part of their broader review of climate disclosures and, where they are published by corporates, would benefit from a level of consistency and comparability to assist investors in their decision-making.

“In that context, the ISSB providing further educational material on its existing language will be helpful to market participants.”

The ISSB was formed in response to criticism of voluntary initiatives in the sustainability disclosure landscape, with firms stating that the wide range of reporting standards and variations within those standards across jurisdictions made sustainability disclosure processes unduly complex, particularly for large international companies.

In May, it partnered with the GRI to optimise how their standards can be used together.

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