The International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS) is planning to establish global sustainability reporting standards, and may announce to set up a sustainability standards board at the meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 this November, as reported by ESGToday on February 3. Last October, IFRS published a consultation document on sustainability report for opinions and thoughts on the standards. The main content of the consultation document included establishing the sustainability standards board, collaborating with existing sustainability standard and framework providers, and adopting a climate-first approach and the method of materiality.

National standards for sustainability reporting are evolving alongside international frameworks. There are several sustainability frameworks and standards recognized internationally, including Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standards, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, UN Global Compact’s Communication on Progress, International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility, and the International Integrated Reporting Council’s (IIRC) International Framework. Among these, the most popular and comprehensive standard is GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

In 2015, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) established the climate-related financial information disclosure working group, where IFRS also joined in to report periodically. In the same year, SASB, GRI, CDSB, and CDP published a joint statement that proposed to collaborate with IFRS to form the building block of global non-financial reporting indicators.

Sources:

https://www.esgtoday.com/ifrs-takes-next-steps-towards-establishing-global-sustainability-standards/

https://www.casc.org.cn/2020/1015/209479.shtml